Roast Turkey & Turkey Gravy

After much thought I have decided that my Thanksgiving Turkey was just not THE BEST that I could Blog! He fell apart when I took him from the pan . Usually that would not bother me as I would just carve him up and present him at the table arranged in slices already on the platter. I tried a new method of prepping the turkey that I saw on Americas' Test Kitchen and their recipes are usually very good. They use coarse sea salt & a baking powder mixture that they rub all over the skin of the turkey with butter tucked under the skin. I thought WOW your very own butterball version ! So I did that & roasted the turkey at 325 degrees for 4 hours then 350 degrees for the last 1/2 hour with the turkey covered & basted often for the first 4 hours then uncovered for the 1/2 hour. The turkey was a little to salty for me , not as brown as I like and some of the breast drier than I wished. Could have been the turkey I bought or could have been the baking powder mixture and I will have to go back to the kitchen & try this again. Now the GRAVY was PERFECT so if you need a GREAT GRAVY recipe the one below is NO FAIL every time!

GRAVY from all those flavorful juices.
Place all the juices into a deep saucepan. Add about 2 cups of water from your potatoes that you cooked for mashed potatoes. If you do not have potato water use water. Bring pot to the boil. Stir 3 TBS of cornstarch into 1 cup of cold water. Stir until completely smooth. Now whisk this into the boiling turkey juices that you had added water to. As soon as gravy is thick & clear turn heat to low. Add seasonings, checking FIRST to see if you need salt. I am so glad I did because my turkey had just enough salt in the juices and had I added more it would have been to much salt ! Add pepper, ground sage, onion powder & parsley flakes all to taste as you prefer. I use about 1 tsp each of onion powder, sage & parsley & taste to adjust the salt & pepper. You will have smooth perfect gravy ! This will make enough gravy for 10 people + but hold onto the leftover gravy for TURKEY PIE ! I'll be blogging that recipe in the next day or so . Save about 2 cups of turkey a cup and 1/2 of gravy & a cup of vegetables ( corn, peas & carrots or mixed veggies work best ) for a double crust Turkey Pie !