Upside Down Thanksgiving Turkey

[rtebalt]

This turkey, with a stuffing of bread cubes, bacon, sausage, apple, raisins & dried cranberries, is roasted upside-down in an oven-cooking bag.

5 cups cubed stale bread
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (or broth from boiling the giblets, not liver, with celery tops)
1 cup cooked, crumbled bacon
1 cup cooked maple-sage sausage
1 cup diced red apple (skin on)
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 turkey–16 to 20 lbs
1 cooking bag for a large turkey
3 Tablespoons flour
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all stuffing ingredients in a very large bowl. After removing giblets from cavities, pack as much stuffing as will fit nicely inside the turkey.

Put any remaining in a pie pan or casserole dish. Cover with foil. Secure cavities closed with needle and thread or skewers.

Carefully place turkey in oven bag, breast side down (additional helping hands are good at this point). Sprinkle Flour, Salt and Pepper in and around Turkey. Close oven bag and place Turkey (breast side down) in large roasting pan.

Cut a few slits in top of bag. Bake at 350 degrees for 3-3 1/2 hours or until done. Place extra stuffing in oven when there is 3/4 to 1 hour cooking time remaining.

Remove turkey and extra stuffing from oven. Allow to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove turkey from oven bag, saving juices for yummy gravy.

Scoop out stuffing; carve & serve.

This is the note from the woman who originally submitted this recipe:
Notes: What started out as a mistake, has become a family tradition. One year my husband volunteered to make the turkey for the annual Thanksgiving celebration at our church. Since he got up at 5:00 in the morning to put the turkey in the oven, he accidently put it in upside down.

It turned out to be the moistest, juiciest, tastiest turkey that anyone had ever had! Every year since then, we now purposely put our Thanksgiving turkey in the oven upside-down (breast side down) and enjoy this delicious treat! This allows the juices from the dark meat, to constantly baste the white meat, while cooking.

Makes sense, when you think about it! I have included the recipe for the stuffing my husband is famous for, as it truly rounds out the meal. (I use spelt bread due to a wheat allergy.

A 16-20 lb. turkey sounds big, but you can’t have too much leftover turkey.)

Number of Servings: 10-20

[brchbell]

Makes sense to me! During the warm months I put a turkey in my stock pot and bring it to a boil and then put the lid on and cook on low 1 hour and turn it off and let it set an hour. It is so very moist I always wonder why I roast it in the winter!

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