Barbara & Harry's Excellent Roast Turkey with Gravy

Author Notes

My husband, Harry, doesn’t cook. When I met him, he was subsisting on frozen stir-fry dinners. The occasional egg. Jarred spaghetti sauce. Canned soup and vegetables. (His Food52 handle is eateronly. Seriously.) When we married and hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner, he insisted on being in charge of the turkey. I was skeptical. But ours is a second marriage, and the currency of second marriages is generosity and acceptance. What the hell. Make the turkey.

Imagine my surprise when that turkey was delicious. Moist and flavorful. With one of the best gravies I had ever had. Over the years (14 now), we’ve tinkered a little. I bought good paprika. Added the sherry to the gravy. But really, this is his technique, and his recipe.

In this recipe, the turkey is as much a part of the gravy as the rest of the components so I’ve included his technique for seasoning the turkey. He prefers a stuffed turkey—makes a bread stuffing, but you can use whatever stuffing you prefer—and uses oil instead of butter because his family kept kosher, and therefore did not mix dairy and meat. The Yiddish word for the little brown bits that stick to the bottom of the pan is gribenes, and he calls a roux an einbrun. All measurements are approximate and really depend on the size of the turkey.

Last year did not use a kosher turkey so I dry brined it a la the judy bird http://food52.com/recipes..., and it was fabulous.
—drbabs

Test Kitchen Notes

The method of pan-roasting this hearty onion gravy is what makes it a stunner. As the turkey rests, drbabs brilliantly instructs us to deepen the flavors of the gravy in the roasting pan, along with a welcome dose of sherry. It's the kind of technique we wish we thought of long ago! Feel free to strain the onions out, but we like it served "chunky", the onions adding satisfying texture to the Thanksgiving plate. - Maddy —The Editors