Roast Turkey with Sage Stuffing

Total time 4 hours
     A stuffed 8 - 10 pound turkey will take 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours to took.  You need a meat thermometer so you don't over cook it.  It is overcooking that causes dryness.  BTW, I checked some of my many cookbooks for roasting times and they ranged from 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours for an 8 lb bird...that's a big range - get a thermometer.  I considered brining, and decided not to - it's a challenge to find a place to keep a turkey, covered in brine, cold.  Besides, if you use a meat thermometer you won't have an overcooked, dried out bird! This recipe will work with a brined bird, as well.  

The Bird

 Ingredients:

• 1 small turkey, large chicken, medium capon 6 - 8 lbs,  3500gr, 123oz, 7.8lbs
• 3 tbs soft butter, 42.6gr, 1.5oz
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp Dijon-style mustard, 5gr, .17oz
• 1 - 2 cups turkey or chicken stock see below, 340gr, 12oz
• 1 cup Madeira, 240gr, 8oz
• 1/4 cup regular coffee or 1/4 tsp instant granules
• 2 - 4 tbs cornstarch dissolved in 2 - 4 tbs chicken stock or more, depending on how much stock you have from the turkey, 24gr, .85oz

 Instructions:

• Mix 2 tbs of the butter, the herbs and the mustard. 
• Loosen skin across top of bird by pinching gently.  Work your hand under the skin on the breast.  With your finger tips rub butter mixture over the breast under the skin, covering as much of the surface as you can. 
• Rub the remaining 1 tbs of butter over the outside of the skin. 
• Spoon some stuffing inside the cavity loosely, about 3/4 full, and tie legs together. 
• Spoon some more stuffing inside the neck cavity and skewer the neck flap closed.  (I have used anything from proper turkey skewers to toothpicks to safety pins.) 
• Put turkey on a rack in a roasting pan and into a 450F (230C) degree oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 325F (165C) and roast until temperature in thickest part of thigh reaches 180F (82.2C) or 170F (76.6C) in breast, or until juices run clear when pierced with a knife.  For a 6 lb bird this should take about 2 1/4 hours; an 8 lb bird 3 hours. 
• To baste: Combine the coffee and 1 cup turkey stock.  Baste the bird every 15 minutes or so alternating between stock, Madeira and the pan drippings.

The stock - if making

Turkey Stock                                                                            Time: 1 hour - earlier in the day

• If your bird came with the neck and giblets - lucky you.  This is what you do with it - before you make the stuffing: Heat 2 cups of chicken stock with 2 cups of water. 
• Add some celery tops (the ones you cut off the stalks for the stuffing, an onion, cut in half, a carrot cut into chunks and the neck. 
• Bring to a boil, skim off any scum that rises.  
• Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then add the gizzard and heart.  Simmer another 20 minutes, skimming. 
• Then add the liver.  Simmer another 20 minutes.  Strain the stock into a bowl and use in both stuffing and turkey basting. 
• Discard the vegetables. 
• Finely chop the giblets.  
• Pull the meat off the neck and chop. 
• Add the meats to the stuffing along with the onions, celery, Prosciutto.   

The stuffing

Sage, Prosciutto, (Giblet) and Celery Stuffing

 Ingredients:

• 12 slices white bread, dried lay it out the night before to let it dry.  It, doesn't have to be perfectly, evenly dried, 360gr, 12.7oz
• 1 - 2 cups turkey or chicken stock, 340gr, 12oz
• 1 large onion, 175gr, 6.2oz
• 4 ribs celery, 200gr, 7oz
• 3 - 4 slices Prosciutto, 100gr, 3.5oz
• 4oz (125gr) mushrooms optional, instead of giblets
• chopped giblets, if you have them
• 1 tbs sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbs butter, 28.4gr, 1oz
• 1 egg, 65gr, 2.3oz

 Instructions:

• Chop the onion and celery.
• Trim and chop the mushrooms, if using. 
• Heat the butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, celery,  (mushrooms) and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.  
• Chop the Prosciutto and add to the onions.  Sauté another 5 minutes.   Set aside. 
• Tear bread into small chunks and put into a large bowl.  Add sage and thyme and mix well. 
• Add celery/onions and chopped giblets and mix well. 
• Now comes the hard part: I can't tell you how much stock to use.  It depends on how dry your bread is, how moist the celery and onions are, etc.  Start with 1/2 cup and drizzle over the top of the bread chunks.  Mix well.   Continue adding 1/4 cup at a time and mixing well.  Mixture should just start to cling together, not all of it but most of it, and none of the bread cubes should be totally dry nor should they be mushy.   Got it?   At this stage stop adding stock. 
• In small bowl lightly whisk egg. Fold into stuffing mixture and combine thoroughly. 
• Stuff turkey. 
• Refrigerate the remaining stuffing until ready to bake. 
• An hour before dinner, (turkey should be almost done) put the stuffing into a roasting pan, cover and put into the oven.   Bake the stuffing for 30 minutes, remove cover and bake 15 minutes longer.  Oven temp is whatever works for the rest of the dinner. 
• The stuffing in the turkey will be very moist and in the pan rather dry - mix the 2 before serving.  
• The finish: 
• Remove the turkey and put on a platter.  Cover with a foil 'tent' and let rest for 20 - 30 minutes. 
• Pour juices from the roasting pan into a saucepan, adding stock to roasting pan to help scrape up the bits on the bottom if necessary. 
• Skim off as much fat as you can (butter?).  Add any remaining stock and/or Madeira and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Taste - need anything?
• Give cornstarch mix a stir and slowly whisk into the stock, stirring until thickened to your liking - more or less cornstarch as needed. 
• Keep the gravy warm while you carve the turkey. 
• Remove stuffing from turkey - both ends, and combine with baked stuffing. 
• Carve turkey, serve with stuffing and gravy on the side.

---------------------------------------------------------

Nutrition Information               Recipe serves 8             Entire Recipe / per serving Calories:  8050 / 1006 Total Carbohydrates:  240 / 30           Dietary Fiber: 18 / 2.5 Total Fat:  411 / 51.5          Saturated Fat: 137 / 17.5 Cholesterol:  2723 / 340 Protein:  776 / 97 Calcium:  1288 / 161 Sodium:   8489 / 1061

General Technical Details and Disclaimer:

Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.

I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it.  I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.

My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/