My Granddaddy Watson would “call” the turkey, my Uncle Henry would shoot the turkey, and then Grandmama Watson would say, “Now, ya’ll clean him up so I can cook that turkey!” Now when it comes to stuffing a turkey here’s the deal, I don’t stuff my turkey with dressing.
I cook my dressing separately. I make one pan of regular cornbread dressing and one pan of Daddy’s Oyster Dressing. This way, I know that the turkey is cooked through nice and evenly.
Fresh Roasted Turkey
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Dinner/Holiday
Cuisine: Southern
INGREDIENTS
1 fresh wild turkey
4 bacon strips
1 onion (cut in half)
2 celery stalks
1 carrot (cut in half)
½ stick of butter
salt, pepper, garlic powder (or granulated garlic)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°.
Git out yer roastin' pan and criss-cross three strips of foil goin' one way and on top of that...three strips goin' the other.
Place the fresh turkey on that foil. Open them turkey legs and stuff the cavity with the onion, celery , carrot and butter.
Now, salt, pepper and garlic powder that bird real good...inside the cavity, too.
Criss-cross those bacon strips across the top of the turkey. This'll keep it real moist.
Now, pull that foil over the top and close it tightly so it'll keep the juices in...be sure to give it a little extra room for expanding.
Cook that bird according to directions on package or 20-25 minutes per pound.
Once that bird's three-quarters done, take it out of the oven, pull back the foil, remove the bacon (and eat that bacon because it is soooo dee-lish!) and baste the bird from the juices in the bottom of the pan.
Put that uncovered bird back into the oven and brown for the last half hour.
Take the bird out when it's done and place it on yer carving board. Save the juices for the giblet gravy (see recipe below in the Notes section).
Let him rest on the board a bit before carving. Dadgum! This is makin' me hungry!
NOTES
If you can't git a fresh turkey from your local butcher, or online, or from your local organic turkey farm, and have to buy it from your grocery store, well, then that'll just have to do. Just be sure to take the bag of frozen giblets that they stuff into the turkey OUT before you bake him! Then, you take them giblets...throw 'em in a pot with a half an onion, a stalk of celery, a carrot, salt and pepper...fill the pot up with water and boil them giblets 'til done. Then use the juice from them boiled giblets for the dressing.
Time For Some Huntin’