After nearly 3 days of dry-brining in the refrigerator, the time had come to get this bird into the oven for our early Christmas dinner on Sunday! More online searching lead to me making an herbed butter spread, using Earth Balance Spread instead of actual butter, for the sake of the family member with the dairy allergy. I rubbed that concoction under the skin of the breast and legs, and all over the outside of the turkey.
My large pan still hadn't arrived, so I roasted the turkey in my old broiler pan with the legs sticking out over the edge. Yes, it dripped in the bottom of the oven. Yes, I cleaned the oven the next day! It needed to be done, anyway.
As promised in the recipe, this 13 pound turkey was done in 55 minutes! I could hardly believe it! Everything else was ready or nearly so, and by the time the turkey had "rested" for 20 minutes, it was perfect timing to carve it. Again, I watched online videos first. The process went well except for the thighs. I still don't quite understand how those chefs got the meat off the bone so neatly, and sliced it into tidy pieces. Those who wanted thigh meat got strangely-shaped chunks at my house.
And that is the story of the Big Turkey Experiment. The flavor was pronounced stupendous by all, and the breast meat was very moist. The brining process must have soaked up the juices nicely, as there was very little in the pan.
