Ina Garten Just Shared the Recipe for Her Make-Ahead Turkey and Gravy and It Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time
If there’s one thing you can count on Ina Garten to do, it’s deliver timeless recipes that leave you yearning for more. From her Parmesan Smashed Potatoes to her California BLTs, Ina can arguably do no wrong when it comes to delivering quality recipes. So of course, you can expect nothing but the same from her list of Make-Ahead Thanksgiving recipes.
Taking to her Instagram account on Monday, November 15, the talented cookbook author released the first of her favorite Make-Ahead Thanksgiving classic recipes: Roast Turkey and Turkey Gravy with Onions & Sage. “After years of stressing over the turkey, I found that roasting and carving it ahead of time, arranging it on an oven-proof platter over a bed of gravy, and then putting it in the oven before dinner is SO much easier than trying to carve a hot turkey at the table!” she captioned the delicious-looking photo.
Noted to be an intermediate recipe on her site, the recipe — which is found in her cookbook Make It Ahead — takes a little work, but Ina promises it will be worth it by calling it “the best turkey I’ve ever made.”
According to the cook, the process for the turkey actually begins two or three days prior to the planned roast day. During that time, you’ll want to clean the bird inside and out, and after patting it dry, add a salt, thyme, and lemon zest mixture in the cavity of the turkey and on its skin. After that, you’ll add it to a shallow dish and tightly wrap it with plastic wrap before placing it in the fridge for a day or two. The day before you plan to roast your turkey, however, you’ll need to take the plastic wrap off and leave it in the fridge in order for the skin to dry out. Ina then goes on to give you her recipe for seasoning the turkey, which includes onion, lemon, thyme, and butter.
If you happen to be looking for a lot of flavor for your turkey, don’t think Ina is going to skip out on that. You’ll get plenty of that in the Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy as it includes butter, red onion, garlic, chicken stock, sage, bay leaves, salt, Cognac, and dry white wine. Talk about good eatin’!
Fans flooded the comment section of Ina’s post with nothing but positive feedback saying “Your gravy recipe is my go-to! Super-yum! Happy Thanksgiving, Ina! Xoxo” and “I’ve been doing this ever since I got your “Make It Ahead cookbook. It’s a game-changer for my stress level on Thanksgiving! Thank you!”
So, if you’re looking to cut down on the day-of work and stress, you’ll want to give this a try. Not planning to make Turkey this Thanksgiving? These ideas from this year’s Thanksgiving Food Fest may help you create a new menu.