Roasted Turkey

I started thawing a whole turkey (about 18lbs.) in the fridge 3 days prior to wanting to cook it.  The day before cooking the turkey you may want to brine the turkey. This consists of putting the turkey in a large stock pot and using 2 gallons of water with 2 cups of salt.  The morning of cooking, you can take it out and put it in the roasting pan and use a marinade consisting of...

• ½ cup of melted butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup of cilantro
• 1/3 cup parsley
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon of sage
• 2 tablespoons ground pepper
• ½ cup of orange juice
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth

Combine these ingredients in a blender.  Use a flavor injector to allow the marinade to go deep into the meat of the turkey. Insert the needle into the marinade liquid and pull up on the plunger to draw the liquid into the injecting syringe. Then you can begin injecting the marinade into the turkey. The liquid should be spread throughout the turkey with the fewest possible punctures.

Use the leftover marinade to season the turkey's body cavity and the neck cavity. Lightly brush the skin with 4 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine. Use one of your favorite turkey stuffing recipes; then proceed to prepare the turkey for baking  My turkey being about 18 lbs, I will be cooking it at 325-350 for 4.5 to 5 hours. 


Once you have cleaned the bones of the meat you can boil them down and create turkey soup. If you have a large metal colander or basket put the carcas in that first. This will make it easier to get all the bones out of the stock later.

Add enough water to cover the carcass. If doing it in a stock pot: Bring to a rolling boil and boil for about 15 minutes, then turn it down to medium-low and let it cook for about 2 hours.  Once that's done, add your favorite vegetables and seasonings.