Salt-Roasted Turkey with Lemon and Oregano

{the best — juiciest, most flavorful — turkey I’ve ever made}

I’ve made a fair number of turkeys in my day. I was a pretty precocious child when it came to the kitchen, and I think that I was a freshman in high school the first time that I declared that I was going to make Thanksgiving. And this was no joking around Thanksgiving. This was a Thanksgiving with lists, with weeks of prep, with freezing, with soup and salad and biscuits, and two pies, and stuffing, and two sides, and a turkey with gravy.

I’ve since simplified.

Now, running Thanksgiving on my own for the second year, I’m sticking to the vague potluck method. Vague as in, I will make the turkey and a vegetarian entree, and probably also a salad (likely a version of this raw kale salad, but with slightly more delicate chard) and some munchies (likely a mini version of these arancini, with butternut squash risotto) for beforehand, to be popped along with a bottle of Prosecco.

But I won’t be making any pies or any other sides, and I definitely won’t be making gravy. Every year, I think I’m going to make gravy, and every year, by the time gravy-making time comes around, I just want to be done, and I look at the shimmering pan juices, and I think, well, those look plenty delicious. And I think they are. Any other day, maybe I would make gravy, but paradoxically, on Thanksgiving, I think pan juices are just fine.

At any rate — let’s talk turkey. After maybe eight or nine turkeys, I can say with some great confidence that this is the best turkey I’ve ever made. It was so easy, and the salt brine makes it so juicy and so flavorful — and forgiving. Not a part of this bird was dried out, which is near impossible, given the different cooking rates of breast and thigh/leg on these enormous birds.

There was no question in my mind that I was going to make this turkey again…until I spied this tandoori turkey, and I couldn’t resist. I will report back. It’s hard, I’m finding, to be faithful to just one turkey recipe, even when it’s such a winner. What do they say about love and turkeys?

But this, my friends, this one is a winner. I’ve never met a turkey recipe before that was so good that I was conflicted about leaving it. I will come back to you, Salt-Roasted Turkey. Someday, I will come back.

Salt-Roasted Turkey with Lemon and Oregano

Serves 8-10 (says Bon Appétit), for us 11 people only ate half of it, along with the sides

Adapted from Bon Appétit

NB: If you, unlike me, have the stamina to make gravy, then check out this recipe for Greek-inspired fresh oregano and giblet pan gravy

Ingredients

Rub

- 1/3 cup coarse kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal brand)

- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried oregano

- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Turkey

- 1 14- to 16-pound turkey (clean out the neck, heart, and gizzard and reserve for stock)

- 3 lemons, coarsely chopped

- 2 celery stalks, chopped

- 1 onion, chopped

- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

- 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth, divided

1. For salt rub: Mix all rub ingredients in a bowl.
2. For turkey: Rinse turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Empty out anything else in the turkey (metal inserts, fat pads, etc.), so that you just have turkey. Place the turkey on the roasting pan you’ll use and sprinkle 4 Tbsp. salt rub inside cavities. Sprinkle remaining salt rub over the turkey and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate turkey 18 to 24 hours.
3. To roast turkey: Preheat oven to 350ºF with rack set at the lowest spot in the oven. Rinse turkey of the salt and pat dry (rinse the roasting pan too, if there’s a lot of salt in there). Place the turkey back in the roasting pan.
4. Combine lemons, celery stalks, onion, oregano, thyme, black pepper, salt, ¼ c. olive oil and 3 Tbsp. lemon juice in a large bowl. Spoon everything into the main cavity of the bird.
5. Whisk remaining ¼ c. oil and remaining 3 Tbsp. lemon juice. Tuck wing tips under. Brush with lemon oil (or spoon over and rub in with your hands if you don’t have a brush).
6. Place roasting pan with turkey on the bottom rack of the oven. Pour 2 c. stock into the roasting pan. Roast turkey for one hour. After an hour, brush all over with remaining lemon oil.
7. Roast turkey for 45 minutes; after 45 minutes, pour 1 cup stock into pan.
8. Roast turkey for another 45 minutes; after 45 minutes, pour ½ – 1 ½ c. stock into pan (to maintain the level of the liquid). Turn pan around to distribute the heat evenly.
9. Continue to roast turkey until a thermometer stuck in the thickest part of the thigh registers 165ºF. (It should be about 45 minutes more, but if it looks done to you – golden, crisped skin, etc. — check it out earlier.)
10. Take turkey out and transfer it to the serving platter (reserve the roasting pan with juices). Tent with foil and let rest 30-45 minutes (temp will rise 5 to 10 degrees while it rests).
11. Carve and serve with pan juices or Greek-inspired fresh oregano and giblet pan gravy.