Traditional Thanksgiving Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing & Homemade Gravy
If a traditionally prepared turkey for Thanksgiving is part of your holiday table, you will appreciate the nostalgic look and delicious taste of this recipe. The warm aroma of chestnuts and apple will certainly bring images of a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving portrait to mind. Enjoy!
10 lb. turkey, completely thawed properly
An hour or more before stuffing the thawed turkey:
At least one hour before cooking time, prepare your turkey. Remove any giblets and rise well (inside and out) with cold water, then pat dry with paper towels. Generously rub turkey with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and place back in refrigerator until time to cook. (You can do this the night before cooking if desired.)
Prepare stuffing:
½ cup whole chestnuts
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced small
1 egg, lightly beaten with fork
5 cups stale bread, crusts removed, cubed
1 ¼ cups chicken broth
¼ cup butter, melted
olive oil
salt (sea salt is preferable)
pepper
To roast the chestnuts, cut an X on the flat side of each chestnut and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 375F oven. Let cool for 10 minutes and then peel and chop.
Leave oven on to preheat for cooking the turkey.
In a large pot over low heat, heat the olive oil then add onions and celery. Saute for about 3 minutes or until soft. Stir in crushed garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme and apple and sauté for a further 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in egg, then add chestnuts and bread cubes. Toss mixture well. Stir in warm broth and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
Stuffing the turkey:
Remove turkey from fridge and loosely stuff the neck cavity with chestnut stuffing, fold the skin under and secure in place with a toothpick. Then loosely stuff the main cavity, making sure to leave room for expansion and the air to flow through.
Then prepare your roasting pan. Use a large roasting pan and at the bottom add two roughly chopped carrots, onion and celery. Place the rack over the vegetables. Now place your turkey, breast side up, on the rack. Drizzle with melted butter if desired.
Bake, uncovered, at 375F for the first 30 minutes, then baste and reduce oven temperature to 325F. Continue basting turkey every 25 to 30 minutes. The cooking time should be approximately 20 minutes per pound of turkey, which would be about 3.5 hours for a 10 pound turkey. To check if the turkey is cooked pierce the thigh bone, juices should run clear without any pink. Also use a meat thermometer on the thickest part of the thigh. The temperature should show 180F. Turkey should be golden and crispy on the outside too.
Remove the turkey from roasting tray and cover loosely with a foil tent.
Tip: For extra added safety, I like to remove the stuffing from turkey once turkey is cooked and bake on a separate dish for approximately 10 extra minutes.
Making the gravy:
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
corn flour
chicken stock (richer than broth, but you can use broth if you wish)
butter (if desired)
Mash the vegetables that were cooked with the turkey right in the roasting pan with a potato masher, then scoop into a colander or sieve placed over a large saucepan, and push all ingredients through to strain out any bones, etc. Place the sauce pan with the strained liquid on the stove and simmer over low heat. If you don’t have enough liquid then add 1 cup or more (depending on how much gravy you need) of chicken stock; you can also add a butter if you like.
In a small bowl add two tablespoons of corn flour and mix with cold water (about ½ cup) until all lumps dissolve. Slowly add a little of this mixture (tablespoon by tablespoon) to the saucepan, stirring well after each addition and allowing time for gravy to thicken. Keep adding corn flour/water mixture until gravy thickens.
Tip: You can also add a couple of tablespoons of red wine to the gravy for a richer, darker gravy. The alcohol will dissolve during the cooking process.