Roasted Turkey with Lemon Herb Butter (檸檬香料奶油烤雞)

This year's Thanksgiving came and went with...a turkey! The full course of what we made & ate for Thanksgiving can be found here. This post is just a quick documentation about that juicy turkey 😀

今年的感恩節當然少不了火雞! 感恩節大餐的紀錄可以點這邊回顧. 這篇主要是紀錄那個多汁的火雞!

Due to COVID-19, we really didn't want to do grocery shopping for Thanksgiving in-person at any store. We still go inside some grocery stores from time to time, but we thought there'd probably still be a lot of shoppers for Thanksgiving, so we really wanted to stay away from having to go inside the grocery store that week (though an exception was made for getting that Roomba at Costco on Black Friday lol There was an issue during online checkout so we had to go to the store).  Because of this pandemic, we limit ourselves to be inside any store to around once to twice a month for certain special items that don't do delivery or pickup, and about twice a month we do online grocery order & pickup outside the store.

The turkey was pre-ordered Walmart's website. I wanted a small turkey because it's only for us, just two people. Initially was just about to finish check-out on Amazon Fresh (Amazon's online grocery shopping service where they'll ship your grocery to your doorstep), but got a notification that the small turkey I had placed in the cart was no longer available. "Small whole turkey" was the only reason that made me want to order a turkey from Amazon, so I deleted everything else that was in the cart on Amazon. Long story short, after going over different shopping carts from different websites, the order was placed with Walmart and a 20lbs turkey came instead of the 8-12lbs turkey that I initially had planned for. 

因為COVID疫情的關係, 真的是很不想去店裡買感恩節餐要準備的材料. 其實平常我們偶而還是會進去超市店裡買東西, 但是我們覺得感恩節那星期大概還是會比平常多人潮, 所以故意要避開那星期去超市 (不過黑色星期五那天破例去了Costco為了買Roomba, 網路上要結帳時發生狀況, 只好去店裡). 因為這個疫情, 我們大約一個月進店裡一兩次買無法網路訂或不能門口取貨的特殊東西, 另外大約一個月有兩次我們會網路買菜 然後去店門口外面領菜.  

火雞是Walmart網站上訂的. 我想要的其實是一隻小火雞, 因為我們只有兩個人. 原本正要在Amazon Fresh (Amazon的網路買菜服務 菜會送到家門口)完成購物車結帳的步驟, 但卻收到通知說小火雞沒貨了. "小火雞" 是原本唯一讓我想在Amazon上買感恩節餐食材的原因. 總而言之, 用了幾個不同網站的購物車之後, 最後下單的地方是在Walmart網站, 然後一隻20磅火雞就這樣來了, 而不是我原本計畫的8-12磅的小火雞.

20lbs turkey!

Here I share the steps of making this Roasted Turkey with Lemon Herb Butter. As always, cook with what you have. These are suggestions and of course you can substitute things around. Only got salted butter? Then use that salted butter and skip adding more salt! No lemons but have limes? Sure, use limes instead! Experiments in the kitchen also help with further understanding of personal preference, maybe you'll create something you love! 

Main Ingredients:

Turkey, 20lbs, thawed (started thawing inside the fridge on Sunday, roasted on Thursday)

2 Lemons, cut into wedges

1 Onion, sliced or quartered

Butter Mixture Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons herb spices (rosemary, thyme, Italian seasoning)

1/2 lemon, juiced and save the lemon wedges

1 tablespoon black pepper 

1 tablespoon salt (optional)

Twine (optional)

Instructions

1. Clean the turkey if needed, take out giblets/neck, pat dry inside and out using a paper towel.
2. Use a twine to tie the drumsticks together (optional). I honestly find it's just useful for helping the fillings to not fall out so easily. If you don't have any twine and the fillings fall out of the turkey cavity, no big deal :)
3. Mix everything for the butter mixture together. Save the lemon wedges used for juicing. Use the wedges with the rest of the ingredients in Step 6.
4. Preheat oven for 325°F.
5. Rub the turkey with the butter mixture while the mixture is still soft. Massage the entire turkey! Don't forget to rub butter inside the cavity too. If the mixture hardens before you finish rubbing butter on the turkey (cooler temperature will make it go hard faster), can reheat using a microwave or a saucepan to often it up.
6. Place lemon wedges and onion slices inside the turkey cavity. Cover the turkey with a sheet of tinfoil. 
7. Roast the turkey at 325°F. The actual amount of time spent roasting varies depending on the weight of the turkey and if any adjustment's been made for the temperature. Uncover the tinfoil about halfway through roasting to allow browning. If the wings start to brown too fast and other parts are still far away from desired browning, cover the wings with tinfoil to protect the wings from overbrowning/getting burned. For our 20lbs turkey, it roasted for 4 1/2 hours at 325°F. 
8. When you're happy with the way the turkey looks (and sure of its doneness), take it out of the oven, and let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes as it allows the juice to redistribute & settle! Cover with a tinfoil if you got cats who will jump on your counter. 

• Note 1. I've heard of a general rule of 13-15 minutes per pound of a stuffed turkey at 350°F and find it quite useful. The trick is if roasting at lower temperature (325°F is considered lower) then it needs more time to roast. On the other hand, a higher temperature (400°F or 425°F) requires less roasting time. To me, choosing a lower temperature or higher temperature is a matter of personal preference, also depends on how much time you've got for roasting. I prefer lower temperature because in the past this produced more juicy meats so I like to stick with it.
• Note 2. To help retain moisture of the turkey, baste the turkey with the pan drippings (or if still have some butter mixture left, then just use those) every 45 minutes to an hour.
• Note 3. Always check for doneness before serving. Use a food-grade thermometer to check (the center, thickest part, of the turkey should reach at least 165°F so that bacteria can get toasted are killed). Or, if you don't have a thermometer and not sure of its' doneness, you can always just cut it open. If you do plan on cutting it to check, be careful of steam burn!

在這邊分享我們的 檸檬香料奶油烤雞 做法. 我滿推廣的是 根據手邊有甚麼材料就做甚麼. 這些都只是建議, 當然可以使用代替品. 家裡只有 含鹽奶油? 那就用含鹽奶油 然後跳過加鹽的步驟! 手邊沒檸檬但是有萊姆? 那就用萊姆吧! 廚房做實驗也可以幫助找到對自己最適合最喜歡的東西呢! 

主要材料:

火雞一隻, 20磅, 有預先解凍(星期天開始在冰箱冷藏櫃解凍, 星期四烤)

檸檬2顆, "對切再對切再對切" 😂

洋蔥一顆, 切成粗一點的塊狀 或 "對切再對切"

檸檬香料奶油材料:

1/2杯無鹽奶油, 軟化過或已融化

2湯匙 香料 (迷迭香, 百里香, 義大利綜合香料這些都可以)

1/2顆檸檬, 擠成汁

1湯匙 黑胡椒

1湯匙 鹽 (可省略)

烹飪用繩 (可省略)

做法

1. 清理火雞. 有時候外面買的冷凍火雞肚子裡還有火雞脖子內臟等等 這些要先全部拿出來(我是直接丟掉 不過我有認識的人會留著做醬汁用). 用廚房餐紙把整個火雞裡裡外外的拍乾.
2. 用烹飪用麻繩把那兩隻火雞腿綁起來. 沒有烹飪繩也沒關係. 我覺得這只是幫助固定火雞腿不會"開開的" 火雞內餡比較難跑出來, 就算內餡最後都跑出來其實也沒關係.
3. 把 檸檬香料奶油 的材料全混合在一起. 擠汁用的檸檬留下來, 跟步驟6一起用.
4. 烤箱預熱在325度.
5. 用剛剛調好的香料奶油
6. 把切好的檸檬洋蔥放進火雞裡面. 用錫箔紙把火雞蓋上.
7. 用325度烤火雞. 實際烤的時間因"雞"而異, 還有若溫度有調整的話也會影響烤的時間. 烤差不多一半的時候把錫箔紙拿掉 來讓火雞邊烤邊上色. 若雞翅明顯上色太快, 其他部位明顯離上色還有很長時間(雞翅之外的地方還很白), 就用錫箔紙把雞翅蓋住保護不要被烤焦. 我們這隻20磅的火雞, 用325度烤了4.5個小時.
8. 當火雞熟了而且也達到滿意的上色程度, 就可以把它從烤箱裡拿出來囉. 剛從烤箱出來後, 要讓它"休息"至少20分鐘, 這個步驟其實是幫助火雞肉重新吸收裡面的汁液來幫助達成多汁的狀態. 如果家裡有貓會跳上桌子, 那就再蓋一次錫箔紙吧.

• 小提醒1. 之前有聽過一種講法 是說烤箱設定為350度時, 每1磅火雞, 等於烤13-15分鐘. 我自己覺得這參考還滿實用的. 烤火雞的一個秘訣是 烤箱溫度越低(325度 算是低溫), 烤的時間越長. 而溫度越高情況下(譬如400度或425度), 烤的時間越短. 我覺得 選擇低溫高溫是個看個人喜好而選, 還有手邊有多少時間可以烤. 我自己偏好低溫烤因為過去這樣烤出來的似乎都比較多汁😁
• 小提醒2. 為了幫助火雞肉保持濕潤度, 最好每45分鐘至1小時做一次"basting." Basting是"刷醬" "刷汁" 的意思. 可以用大湯匙或有專門basting用的工具來把烤盆裡火雞所釋放的汁和奶油混合的奶油汁液 "盛起來, 倒回火雞上" 重複這樣做 讓火雞表層再一次的被充滿奶油汁液覆蓋.
• 小提醒3. 食用前一定要確認有沒有烤熟喔! 可以用溫度計確認火雞中間 最厚的部位溫度有沒有達到165度. 165度才能把細菌都燒烤完畢殺掉. 若手邊沒有烹飪用的溫度計, 也可以就乾脆把雞給切了來檢查. 若要切開雞來檢查的話, 小心別被切開一瞬間的熱氣給燙傷!

How do you like your turkey cooked? Do you prefer to roast it? Deep fry it? 

你喜歡怎麼煮火雞呢? 偏好烤火雞? 還是炸整隻火雞?