BACON BUTTER TURKEY RECIPE

Happy very early Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Or happy turkey any day day?  LOL

So…we had an extra turkey and decided to make this delicious bird because we had leftover celery and bacon that needed to be used.

INGREDIENTS:

• turkey
• celery
• sliced onion
• 1/2 a stick of butter
• bay leaf
• bacon slices cut in half
• salt and pepper
• celery salt
• fresh garlic cloves (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Stuff the turkey with sliced onion and celery as shown in the picture.
2. Rub the skin of the turkey with a fresh garlic clove cut in half.  When done stuff the garlic clove or two under the skin.
3. Rub the skin with half a stick of butter and stuff the excess under the skin.
4. Sprinkle the whole thing with celery salt, salt, and pepper.
5. lay strips of bacon over the turkey as shown in the picture.
6. Cover your turkey with foil for the over half of the baking time (according to the temperature and time per pound of turkey)
7. Uncover and bake until the rest of the way, but keep an eye on the bacon as it can burn easily.  If the bacon is burning and the turkey is not done yet, remove the bacon and cook the turkey the rest of the way.
8. When done, let cool slice and enjoy!

 

GRAVY DIRECTIONS:

Note: too much fat can cause your gravy not to mix properly.   So, be careful.  Remember the rule about fat. So, if there is too much fat in your turkey drippings you may want to separate the fat from the broth before making the roux.

1. Cook and drain some bacon and drain the fat or use the bacon from the turkey and break into bits.
2. Make a Roux–Take a tea spoon of bacon drippings and a 1/2 cup of turkey drippings and mix it with a about a cup of flour (add the flour a little at a time and it should create a thick paste.  Keep cooking the Roux until the fresh flour smell is gone (about 5 minutes).
3. Slowly add a more turkey broth from the pan or chicken broth from the store until you get the desired consistency and amount of gravy you want.