Thyme to Flip the Bird

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone.  It has certainly been a year to be thankful.  I've spent the day cooking and wanted to share my way of cooking the star of the platter:  The Thanksgiving Turkey!!

The secret to my tasty turkey is compound butter with lots and lots of Thyme.  I love this fragrant, earthy herb and use it right from my own garden.  If you don't grow thyme yet, please consider it.  It is really easy to grow and adds just the right touch to so many dishes.

  To make it you need softened butter, Meyer lemon zest, minced garlic, salt, pepper and a big handful of fresh thyme.

Later, you use that same Meyer lemon to add the juice to butter, garlic and more thyme to baste the turkey at least every hour.

The easiest way to get the leaves off the stems of the thyme sprig is to pinch the stem between your thumb and index finger and ZIP those leaves right off - like this... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Mix all those ingredients together and loosen the skin on the turkey and tuck that wonderful butter right up next to the flesh so it will melt right in and keep your turkey moist and flavorful.
With any compound butter you have remaining, slather the whole bird with it.  Now for the Flip the Bird part....what in the world do I mean by that?

I roast my turkey breast side down for the first hour to be sure that the moisture gets into the part of the turkey that can be the most dry.  After the first hour, I flip it breast side up and continue roasting as usual.  There are many ways to roast a turkey and this one works well for me.  I would like to hear your traditions so please comment if you have a couple of secrets you are willing to share.  

Until tomorrow, I'll leave you with a little quote from Reba McIntire, "To thrive in life you need three bones.  A wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone."

We need all three to keep our sanity when we cook a feast.  :)

Peace,

Star Schipp