This turned out great- the meat nearly fell off the bone, and this is only my second turkey ever to make. I made it as written, except I accidentally forgot the celery. I had to make my own Soul Food seasoning (via the help of another member)using: 2 T ground pepper, 2 T garlic powder, 2 T onion powder, 2 T chili powder, 1 t dried parsley, 1 T paprika, 1 T salt, 1 t ground thyme, 1 pinch cayenne pepper, and 1 t celery seed. I took the suggestion of another review and thickened the juices with a bit of flour, some sour cream, and a generous amount of black pepper to make a really good gravy. My dad said this turkey was better than his mom's, and that's huge.
OMG! This was the best turkey ever. I admit that I am not a big roasted turkey fan so I'm always looking for new twist to spruce up a normally dry and tastless main course. This recipe did just that. It was easy to do the night before and it was gorgeous when it came out of the oven. I'm still getting phone calls for visitors about how moist and tasty the turkey was. I was expecting that the salt in the bacon would be too much but it was totally neutralized. I have never had a turkey fall off the bone will trying to carve it. This recipe is worth 10 stars but I can only give 5. P.S. Soul Food seasoning...is the same thing as McCormick's Seasonal or Lawry's Season Salt. I compared the labels. Eat and be Merry!
My very first turkey, and it got raves from the family!!! Of necessity I made my own soul food seasoning, left off the bacon, and used a roaster instead of a bag (I had it cover and basted it a few times.)
I used the drippings, a dolop of sour cream and flour mixed in warm water to make the gravy....it was great.
THANK YOU for sharing this recipe!
Over the years, we have cooked about 32 Thanksgiving dinners. I tried this recipe 2006, and it is the very best recipe by far. The turkey was mild and very juicy. Maybe it helped that we wrapped the turkey in aluminum foil. We removed it the last 50 minutes to get it brown and crispy. It was DELICIOUS !
Nowhere did I read 2# of bacon for a 22# turkey. If you choose not to have 1# of bacon on an 18# turkey--either use less or another recipe. If you have not tried the original recipe--mouth shut! Only want your info if you have tried THIS RECIPE. Thank you
This turkey was wonderful, very moist. It was the best turkey I have ever fixed. I did have to cut up the veggies, apple and orange so they would fit in the cavity. Again, it was terrific!!
The turkey came out very dry and the bacon was burnt onto the turkey. I followed the recipe to the T. Just didn't trun out very well.
I wanted to have a juicy turkey this year because every other year its so dry. I ran across this recipe and gave it a try. The turkey was so good tender and juicy. Everybody loved it and said it was this best ever. We're gonna start doing this every year.
This turkey was amazing!! We did change things up a little bit for our puposes but were very happy with the results! Once we stuffed the turkey with everything listed in the recipe we filled the cavity with a bottle of pinot grigio and poured the rest in the pan. We prepped the turkey with regular poultry seasoning instead of the soul food seasoning and initially baked the turkey breast down (upside down) for 4 hours basting and injecting with the wine and turkey drippings in the bottom of the pan. At the 4th hour we flipped the turkey added the bacon reduced heat to 300 and baked for 2 more hours. By far this was one of the most tender and flavorful turkeys I have ever eaten!! We garnished the platter with sliced apple and orange to give a great color!
