Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Select a young turkey.
Remove all feathers carefully.
Singe the turkey over a burning newspaper on the top of the stove.
Draw the turkey nicely, being careful not to break internal organs.
Remove the crop carefully.
Cut off the head.
Tie the neck close to the body by drawing the skin over it.
Rinse the inside of the turkey with several waters.
Mix a teaspoonful of baking soda into the next to the last rinse.
Wash the turkey.
Wipe the turkey dry inside and out with a clean cloth.
Rub the inside with some salt.
Stuff and roast
Stuff the breast and body with dressing for fowls.
Sew up the turkey with a strong thread.
Tie the legs and wings to the body.
Rub the turkey over with a little soft butter.
Sprinkle over some salt and pepper.
Dredge with a little flour.
Place the turkey in a dripping pan.
Pour a cup of boiling water into the pan.
Set the pan in the oven.
Baste the turkey often.
Turn the turkey occasionally so all parts bake uniformly.
When pierced with a fork and the liquid runs out perfectly clear, the bird is done.
If any part is likely to scorch, pin over it a piece of buttered white paper.
Serve with cranberry sauce.
Make the gravy
Put the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard into a stewpan with a pint of water.
Boil until they become quite tender.
Take them out of the water.
Chop the heart and gizzard.
Mash the liver and throw away the neck.
Return the chopped heart, gizzard, and liver to the liquor in which they were stewed.
Set it to one side.
When the turkey is done, add it to the gravy that dripped from the turkey, having first skimmed off the fat from the surface of the dripping-pan.
Set it all over the fire, boil three minutes.
Thicken with flour.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Turkey (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole so it stays juicy inside.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH of the rinse water, which can help the skin brown and feel more tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the skin brown and gives a richer flavour.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the gravy by binding to the liquid as it heats.
The step that matters
Testing for doneness with a fork. Turkey can dry out quickly. Checking that the juices run clear, rather than relying only on time, shows whether the thickest parts are cooked through. Basting and turning help the bird cook evenly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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