Bourbon Drunken Upside-down Turkey

Total Time: 41 hrs Preparation Time: 36 hrs Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients

• 10 -25 lbs whole turkey (fresh turkey, shady brook farms)
• cheesecloth
• 5/8 ounce herbes de provence
• 1 1/2 liters maker's mark bourbon whisky or 1 1/2 liters bourbon
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup melted lightly-salted butter
• 1 bunch fresh parsley
• 2 whole garlic cloves
• 1 bunch fresh marjoram
• 10 -15 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 10 -15 fresh thyme sprigs
• 20 fresh sage leaves
• 2 navel oranges or 2 blood oranges
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 cup unmelted salted butter
• saran plastic wrap or plastic wrap

Recipe

• 1 marinade prep.
• 2 in a bowl put cheese cloth (you will need about 3-5 packages -- depending on the size of your turkey) and 3-4 cups of makers mark, let cheese cloth soak up bourbon.
• 3 clean inside cavity of turkey -- then salt & pepper inside cavity, and add 1 tablespoon of herbs de provence, sprinkle inside cavity.
• 4 carefully seperate the skin from the turkey breast -- take 1 tablespoon of herbs de provence and put under skin of the breast -- be sure to massage the herbs under the skin so they can spread evenly under the skin -- if your having a hard time moving the herbs around -- just take a tablespoon of makers mark and put it under the skin it should help the herbs spread.
• 5 take 2 of the bourbon soaked cheese cloth and stuff the inside of the turkey -- don't pack it -- just lightly put it in place.
• 6 *note: if you don't have a flavor injector -- skip this step* -- with a flavor injector, inject the following spots with a full syringe of bourbon -- flip turkey upside down (do not inject turkey breast side up!) -- inject bourbon in both legs -- and underneath the breast (try to get the needle where the bone of the breast is) -- and inject both wings.
• 7 wrap outside of turkey with the remaining bourbon soaked cheese cloth -- then wrap the turkey & cheese cloth in saran/plastic wrap and put in refidgerator and marinade upsidedown -- flipping and rotating the turkey every 6-8 hours -- note: if you would like to inject the same spots every other time you rotate it will enhance the flavors more, but it may require an extra bottle of bourbon.
• 8 24-36 hours marinade time.
• 9 cooking prep.
• 10 remove plastic wrap & cheese cloth -- also the cheese cloth inside the cavity -- take all the cheese cloth and resoak in bourbon.
• 11 melt 1/2 cup butter -- inject melted butter in same exact areas where the bourbon was injected -- *hint* -- turkey needs to be upsidedown.
• 12 rub olive oil all over turkey -- salt & pepper the enitre outside turkey, and then lightly sprinkle herbs de provence all over turkey as well.
• 13 gather garlic cloves, onion, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, oranges, parsley and sage -- cut the garlic cloves & onion in half, leaving the skin on -- drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. cut oranges into fouths.
• 14 wrap everything (garlic cloves, onion, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, oranges, parsley and sage) in the bourbon soaked cheese cloth and stuff into turkey.
• 15 add entire stick of butter to bottom of roasting pan.
• 16 okay now cook the turkey upsidedown -- trust me i've made the mistake of cooking the turkey breast side up and its always dry.-- tent the entire turkey in the oven with aluminum foil up until the final 2 1/2 hours of cooking -- 2 1/2 hours before its done take the tent off and flip the turkey breast side up (the best way to do this is having 2 people maybe more depending on the size and 2 of the same size pans and place one on top of the other and flip) -- note: to get a crisp golden breast turn up the oven an extra 125 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
• 17 keep basting in natural juices every 30 minutes -- baste, baste, baste -- basting is key!
• 18 this will be so flavorfull and juicy, your dinner guests will be amazed.