Big bird and it's delicious (brown) sauce for Thanksgiving!

Here is the recipe for the masterpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner. This is a family recipe, that was given by my step mother to me this year, because she knew how much I was craving for the special food of Thanksgiving, which I did not celebrate last year.

When you buy the turkey, you should allow between 250 g and 350 g of meat per person. This seems a lot, but this also account for the part you will throw out, like the bones and stuff... Put it in the fridge a couple of days in advance to unfreeze if frozen.

You will fill the cavity of the bird with some stuffing. The quantity will depend on how big your bird is! With the amount you see in the picture, we were filling a 5 kg bird.

For the stuffing, chop some onions and celery and dice some bread slices. I would say that you should have something like 50% bread, 25% each of the vegetables. Add a couple of teaspoons of poultry spices and sage, some melted butter, salt and pepper. The mix should be not too dry, but not soaked in butter either (although, the official instructions call for "lots of butter" ;). Please taste it! You can also refer yourself on the picture. Start putting the mix in the cavity of the bird, pack it well. Don't necessarily sew the hole, just put one of the crust of the bread as a door to close the hole.

Put the turkey in a casserole that goes in the oven. Put butter, salt and pepper on the skin and cover before putting it in the oven. Cook at 190 °C, an hour per kg.

Here, I must make a comment. Yes, it will take hours, and hours... Ours was in for not less than 4h30!!! If you use a convection oven or heat not just from the bottom (as most of our fellows here), it will be faster. You should put the bird out every now and then, and rewater the top of it using the liquid from the casserole (there will be enough, no worries). You should uncover for the last hour so the skin will be nicely golden and crispy.

Once the meat is cooked properly (no blood or redness inside), remove it from the casserole. You should remove the stuffing from inside the bird so people can eat it. Also, remove the water from the casserole, but keep it! Put the casserole on the oven over medium heat. Sparkle some flour (enough to dry the fat from the pan, a couple of tablespoons) and add gradually the liquid from the turkey to make the brown sauce (add water if necessary). This sounds weird, but it's delicious! Serve with the turkey.