For the Turkey
A fresh Turkey of around 5 kg
200 Gramms Soft Butter, preferably mixed with black truffle cubes
3 Apples, halved
3 Onions, peeled, halved
3 Sprigs of Thyme
3 Christmas Cookies (in Switzerland - Basler Leckerli)
5 Liters of Brine (10% Salt)
6-7 Strips of rather thickly cut bacon
3 Carrots, peeled, halved
1 Celeriac, peeled, quartered
1 Onion, halved
Salt/Fresh Pepper
For the Gravy
2 dl White Wine
5 dl Water
3 Tablespoons of Creme Fraiche
2 Sprigs of Thyme
3 Christmas Cookies (Basler Leckerli, if available)
1 Tablespoon of Corn Starch
Salt/Fresh Pepper
For the turkey:
Submerge the turkey in the brine for 2-3 hours. (This step can be left away with a bit of a lesser result). Take out the turkey and pat fully dry with paper towels. Preheat the oven to 220° Celcius. Fill the turkey with two of the halved onions, tow of the halved apples, thyme and the cookies. Gently separate the skin - without tearing it - from the meat. Push 80% of the butter between breast skin and meat - work gently. Fully massage the rest of the butter onto the turkey. Season the whole turkey with salt. Put the turkey into a large tray and into the oven for 15 minutes. Take out - baste it with its juices and the butter. Cover the breast with the bacon. Reduce oven temperature to 180° and bake to a core temperature of 73° - measured in the deepest part of the breast. Baste the turkey with its juices every 20 minutes.About 4 1/2 hours. Take out the turkey - put aside - making sure that all the juices inside the turkey remain in the tray. Rest for a minimum of 1 hour - up to 2 hours. (which is the most important trick to obtain a perfect result)
For the gravy:
Add white wine and water into the tray. Ad the bacon pieces, thyme and add the scrapes of the turkey you will not need. Cook liquid to half. Strain through a fine sieve. Add the cookies. Reduce some more and add the corn starch. Mix well with a hand mixer. Add the creme fraiche - without boiling the sauce now. Season with Salt and Pepper.
