Thanksgiving Turkey for Two

Thanksgiving week. We don't do the big production for Thanksgiving — that's saved for Christmas and the Harvest Gathering. Thanksgiving here is a quieter meal. This year it was Hannah and me, Terry, and Caleb. Lily and Ben took Ada and Quoy to Ben's family in Oklahoma City — they alternate years. Kai called from Albuquerque; they were doing it with Danielle's family. Luna came up for Wednesday night dinner before driving back to Tulsa Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with Cole's family.

I roasted a wild turkey. Took it on the property in late October — a young tom, smaller than a store-bought, but the breast was good and the thighs were excellent for confit. Brined for twenty-four hours, rubbed with butter and herbs, into a roasting pan with stock and onions and carrots, into a 325 oven for three hours. The bird was done at one. We ate at one-thirty. Bean bread, cornbread dressing with sage, mashed potatoes, green beans from the freezer with bacon, gravy made from the pan drippings, persimmon pudding for dessert.

Terry was there. She hadn't been out to the property in a couple of months — the drive is hard on her now, and her knees, and she gets cold faster than she used to. She sat in the chair by the fireplace and Hannah made sure she was warm and we made sure her plate was full and she ate slowly, the way she eats now. She didn't finish. That's new. Hannah noticed. I noticed. We didn't mention it. Terry said: this is good, Jesse. I said: thank you, Mama. She said: you cook like your father. I said: I cook like you. She said: you cook like both of us. I said: that's the goal.

Caleb stayed until after dark. He drove Terry home in his truck because hers wasn't starting and because she and Caleb haven't had as much time alone as Hannah and I get with her. Caleb told me about the drive Saturday — Terry talked the whole way to Turley, about Danny, about Caleb when he was small, about a pie she'd made when Caleb was six and that Caleb had eaten an entire side of and gotten sick from, a pie story Caleb hadn't heard in thirty years. He said: I forgot. She said: I remembered. He said: Jesse, I think she's slower than she used to be. I said: I know. He said: should we be doing more. I said: we're doing what we can do, which is showing up. He said: yeah. He said: I want to come Sunday. I said: come Sunday.

I’ve made big birds for big tables, and I’ve learned that the meals that stay with you aren’t always the ones with the most people at them. This year’s turkey — small, wild-caught, brined and roasted low and slow — was made for four, but it was really made for Terry, for the chair by the fireplace, for the way she said you cook like both of us and meant it as the highest thing she knew how to give. If your table is small this year, let it be small on purpose. Here’s how I’d do the turkey again.

Prep Time: 20 min (plus 8–24 hr brine) | Cook Time: 2 hr 30 min | Total Time: 2 hr 50 min | Servings: 2–4

Ingredients

1 small whole turkey (6–8 lbs), thawed if frozen or fresh-butchered
4 cups cold water
1/4 cup kosher salt (for brine)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (for brine)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 cup low-sodium chicken or turkey stock
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Brine the bird. Combine cold water, kosher salt, and brown sugar in a large container, stirring until dissolved. Submerge the turkey, cover, and refrigerate for 8–24 hours. Rinse and pat dry thoroughly before roasting.
Prepare the herb butter. Mix the softened butter with thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, and black pepper until combined. Loosen the skin over the breast and spread half the butter directly onto the meat beneath the skin. Rub the remaining butter over the outside of the bird. Drizzle with olive oil and season lightly with additional salt and pepper.
Build the roasting base. Arrange the onion, carrots, and celery in the bottom of a roasting pan. Pour the stock over the vegetables. Set the turkey breast-side up on top of the vegetables or on a rack resting over them.
Roast low and slow. Preheat oven to 325°F. Roast uncovered for approximately 2 to 2.5 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F. For wild turkey, which runs leaner than store-bought, check early — a 6-lb bird may be done closer to the 2-hour mark.
Rest before carving. Remove from oven, tent loosely with foil, and rest for 20 minutes. This keeps the breast from drying out when you carve.
Make pan gravy. Pour the pan drippings through a fine mesh strainer into a small saucepan. Skim excess fat. Whisk in 1 tablespoon flour over medium heat, add a splash more stock if needed, and simmer until thickened. Season to taste.

Nutrition (per serving)

Thanksgiving Turkey for Two — The Quiet Table That Meant Everything