To Roast a Turkey

Ingredients

• a seven-pound turkey
• the prepared crumbs
• strong thread
• a thin gravy
• a little boiling water

Method

1. 1

   Place the cleaned turkey in a bowl, fill the neck with crumbs, sew it up, and secure the wings and legs.

2. 2

   Roast breast down until the back is light brown, then turn it over.

3. 3

   Baste with thin gravy and add boiling water as needed to prevent burning.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The art of cookery (1899) by Emma P. Ewing, page 20. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a seven-pound turkey will cook just right in two hours ; and with the oven at the proper 54 The Art of Cookery. temperature, twenty minutes to the pound is as much cooking as any turkey will bear. Turkey, when prop- erly roasted, is juicy, tender, and high-flavored ; when over-done it is dry and tasteless ; but when under- done it is nauseating and unfit to be eaten. To Roast a Turkey. — Place the turkey, after it has been properly cleaned, in a large bowl, tail downward, put the prepared crumbs, for which see page 27, in at the neck until the breast becomes plump, then draw the skin together, and fasten over on the back. Reverse the position of the turkey in the bowl, put the remain- ing crumbs in the body, at the opening through which the entrails were removed, and sew it up with strong thread. Press the wings and legs as close to the body as possible, and secure them firmly in position with strings or skewers. Lay the turkey, breast downward, on a rack in the roasting pan, and let it remain in that position until the back is a light brown color, then turn it over, and let the breast and sides brown in a similar manner. Do not put any water in the pan during this process. When the entire turkey is nicely browned begin basting with a thin gravy. As this basting gravy evaporates, add a little boiling water

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.