Roast Young Turkeys

Dindonneau rôti (roast young turkey) teaches that a whole bird is won before it meets the oven. The one true thing is this: draw the hard tendons from the legs before trussing, or even beautifully roasted drumsticks eat like string. Then protect the lean breast with bardage, covering it with bacon, while the darker leg meat catches up.

The original recipe assumed a roast cook with a braiding needle, a saucier at hand, stock never off the fire, a special steam mould for the alternative stuffing, and a salamander ready to crisp the bacon. Your honest equivalents are a sturdy trussing needle or clean kitchen pliers, one roasting pan, good unsalted poultry stock, a heatproof bowl over simmering water, and the household broiler. The separate stations are brigade scaffolding and can go. Tendon removal, bardage, gentle roasting, and a gravy built from the fond are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it is ready, the skin is burnished beneath the lifted bacon, the gravy runs glossy, and the sage and onions scent the first cut into the cavity. Before you touch the roasting pan, take your time with those pale cords in the legs. Everything afterward is easier.