I wouldn't have an amazing Thanksgiving meal, that's for sure! If you're a fan of bacon, then you might have seen the photos floating around Facebook and Pinterest about a bacon turkey. I can tell you right now that I'm betting this will be the next big thing to come to Thanksgiving tables around the country by next year. It'll be as big of a deal as deep-fried turkey became 10 years ago. And I'm happy to say, I'm finally ahead of the "cool" curve!
This year I made my very own bacon turkey. 'MERICA!!!!
I spent quite a bit of time researching tips and tricks on how to achieve a juicy turkey without setting my oven on fire. Nothing I found quite did the trick to help ease my fears of jacking up the most important meal of the year.
There was a lot more to it than I realized, because I also had to consider the turkey juices and how they would affect the gravy. After all, quality gravy is a must! But it was still pretty easy and not that much more time than making a regular, 'ol boring turkey.
So here are Betty's tips and tricks to an easy bacon turkey. (I recommend this for any time of year, not just Thanksgiving. It's that good!)
First, start with a good brine. I hadn't done this before. I'm generally a religious baster, but with a toddler running amuck while I was going to be cooking, I knew I'd forget. The brining makes a difference people!
I found this brine on Pinterest. What I liked the most about it was the brilliant idea at the end- where to stick your turkey while it gets juiced up! If your turkey is small enough, you can stick it in your empty, cleaned meat drawer in the fridge. Not only does this save you space in the fridge, it's just flat out genius!!! (There are also some tips out there on how to store it in a cooler over night while it brines if you've got a big bird.)
(Volia! A perfect storage spot in the fridge for your turkey!)
I allowed my turkey to brine for about 15 hours. I washed off the turkey and stuffed it with a regular stuffing. Nothing too fancy, just a lot of seasoning. I'm personally a fan of a good mix of fresh poultry herbs. So I stuff it with extra herbs in the stuffing. ('I'll probably go with a bacon stuffing next year!)
For a crispy skin, I ran my hand under the skin and slipped in some butter pats and more fresh herbs. The key is to get it into every nook and cranny of the turkey. Once the turkey is prepped, you stick in on the rack in the roasting pan and pour some chicken broth into the bottom of the pan. I'm not a fan of letting the turkey sit in its juices, hence the rack in the pan. I also had some extra fresh herbs, so I just tossed those into the broth too.
Begin roasting. Nope, not time for the bacon yet! My turkey took about 4 hours to roast. I added the bacon for the last hour/ hour and a half.
When you pick your bacon, you need to think of what kind of end-taste you want. A lot of reviews I read people didn't like the smoky taste it left in the turkey. I thought those people were dumb. You buy smoked turkey deli meat at the store, don't you? Then why would you not like a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving? But whatever.
Others used maple bacon. They liked the turkey, but didn't like the taste of the gravy afterward. Gravy is near and dear to my heart, so I didn't want anything that would screw that up. I chose plain, original bacon, because honestly, you can't go with the original!
While the turkey roasted, I laid out the weave of the bacon on a flexible cutting mat.
After a couple hours of roasting (about 2/3 of the total cook time) I pulled the turkey out....
And added the bacon...
The flexible cutting mat helped a lot in flipping the bacon weave onto the turkey. Although I did have a rogue piece fly off. I just weaved it back on and used toothpicks to keep everything in place. (Toothpicks are like the duct tape of cooking, I swear!)
Back into the oven it went for another hour and a half or so. (1/3 the cooking time.)
I did baste throughout the entire roast process. The bacon never got too crispy where I needed to worry about adding tinfoil. And because the bacon was on it, I didn't have to worry about the turkey getting too crispy on the top.
The finished product was delicious!!!!
YUMMY!!!!
Thanksgiving success!!!!
I carved it the same way you'd carve a (sad) turkey without bacon. I drained the pan drippings (and strained out a few of the large fresh herb pieces) to make the gravy. It had a slightly different taste than traditional gravy, but it wasn't bad. In fact, it was the perfect complement to the bacon. The turkey itself was incredibly juicy and tender. The bacon was crispy but not burnt and a nice complement.
Overall, it was a huge success and I absolutely recommend facing your fears and making bacon turkey for your family.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I truly think this should be on every table next year!
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