Turkey perfection

I used a variation of a proven perfect turkey recipe.

we originally read about this recipe in a "cook's illustrated" magazine.

the variation was that instead of salted pork we used 1/4" cut bacon.

we made this change to enhance our drippings stock.

with everyone bringing a dish, an uncle brought a proper giblet gravy that he made before hand. 

this meant that i would have more drippings for a soup stock that some of the left over turkey would go into.

1- pierce the skin with fork

2- insert herbed butter under the skin

3- wrap the bird with 1/4' cut bacon

4- broth, neck and seasonings went into the pan

5- add stuffing, but not too packed

6- cover in cheese cloth, then in foil

7- 350 degrees until the thickest part of the breast was 140 degrees

8- after about 3 hours i removed the foil and bacon and turned the oven up to 425 degrees

9- quickly cut up the bacon into small pieces and added into the pan juice

10- cooked until the thickest part of the leg was 165 degrees. 

i did make one mistake with this bird in that i left the legs tied.

shouldn't of done this. the bird was a bit pinker in the joint than i wanted.

i am not afraid of the modern world so i did a quick microwave fix to just the legs.

the microwave didn't affect the juiciness.  

what is a large meal with out at least one issue.

perfect turkey cooking is always a work in process. a large bird with two distinct meats.

the breasts melted in the mouth and i am already for some turkey stew and soup!