Cajun style roast turkey
Cooking Con Claudia · ♥ 3.6K likes · 89.7K views · 9 min video
Read about whole bird in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
Thaw the turkey one day for every five pounds, remove the insides and pat it completely dry.
Thawing and patting the turkey dry
- 18 lb turkey
- 3 tbsp coarse salt
Sprinkle the salt all over the turkey, working it into the back, under the skin over the breast, the cavity, the legs and the wings, at half a teaspoon per pound.
Set the turkey on a roasting rack over a baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered at least 24 hours.
Take it out four hours before roasting to come to room temperature, then pat it dry again.
Tying the legs with twine
Truss it: tuck the loose neck skin under, run the twine underneath and down the wings, crisscross it under the tail, then wrap and secure the legs tightly.
- 2 whole lemons
- 1 whole lime
- 1 whole orange
- ½ whole onion
- 1 head garlic
Stuff the cavity with the lemons, lime, orange, onion half and head of garlic.
Stuffing the cavity with citrus and aromatics
- 3 stick butter
- 4 tsp all-purpose seasoning
- 1 tbsp lemon pepper
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 4 tsp onion powder
- 4 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp crushed pepper
Mash the room temperature butter with the all-purpose seasoning, lemon pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne and crushed pepper until well combined.
Push the Cajun butter under the skin over both breasts and the thighs, then rub the rest all over the outside and the bottom.
Buttering under and over the skin
Transfer to the roasting pan and pour in the chicken broth.
- 4 cup chicken broth
Roast 13 minutes per pound at 325F without opening the oven, checking the temperature 15 minutes before the end.