Apricot-glazed Turkey with Onion and Shallot Gravy

Still working on my magazine project to post all the recipes I like on here. (That's gonna take me years! LOL ) I first made this recipe when it was published in Bon Appetit, 1994, which is REALLY a great issue for Thanksgiving recipes! This is one moist, delicious bird! Here is what I have done over the years: It really helps to make the glaze, herb butter and onion mixture the day before. Brine the turkey first. (but not totally necessary if you don't have the time.) No need to add salt to the recipe if you do the brine. You will need less cooking time if the bird is fresh. I double the glaze and onions, everyone goes nuts over the gravy. I carmelize the onions for about 45 minutes, so they are a deep brown. And it takes me about 20 minutes to get the right consistency of the apricot glaze. I add a peeled onion cut in half and some fresh herbs inside the cavity of the bird first. Caution... the glaze makes the bird brown very fast, so cover with foil as soon as you need to, don't wait. I cook the bird to 165 degrees, take it out of the oven and tent with foil, it will continue to cook as you finish prepping the gravy. It is not necessary to strain the gravy mix, just skim some of the fat off then mix the gravy with a hand-held mixer right in the pan, sometimes adding a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up a bit. I also use this recipe on whole roasted chicken. Don't pass this one by, you will get SO many rave reviews on this beautiful bird! Thanks so much for posting Ron!

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I only made the onion gravy bit of this recipe and WOW !!!! Its definitely the best gravy i tasted and its an excellent compliment to either turkey, chicken or cornish hens.

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This made a very tender, juicy turkey. I omitted the herbed butter under the breasts though. I think that next time I will omit the glaze, because it browned my 19 lb turkey way too fast, so I had to cover it to prevent burning. This made the skin mushy and we didn't eat it. I skipped the sauce (didn't want it to not 'turn out' like it didn't for the previous reviewer), and used the onion pan mixture to make regular turkey gravy instead, which was delicious! I also made this with the apricot-pecan stuffing, which was fantastic!

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This has become an absolute must for turkey from now on. I used an apricot-pecan stuffing with it and it was great. For some reason the gravy didn't turn out but it did not take away form the meal at all.

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