The Roasted/Braised Thanksgiving Turkey

Ingredients

Plenty of onions, carrots, and celery, roughly chopped (I used 3 big Spanish onions plus one for stuffing into the carcass, 5 carrots, and would have used 5 celery ribs if I’d have remembered to put it on the shopping list!)
5 or 10 cloves garlic, peeled
2 or 3 bay leaves
fresh herbs (I used sage and parsley, still from the garden; tarragon or rosemary would be good, too.)
cracked black pepper as needed
2 to 4 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups of white wine
chicken stock, turkey stock, or water (I need needed between 2 and 3 quarts.)
kosher salt as needed
1 turkey (Doug recommends 1 pound per person; the one we used here is small, 10 pounds.)
1 lemon, halved
melted butter, turkey fat, or chicken fat for basting

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425°F to 450°F.
Combine all of the vegetables, garlic, bay leaves, most of the herbs, pepper, and tomato paste in a roasting pan just big enough to hold turkey and vegetables. Stuff a quartered onion, the remaining herbs, and the lemon into the cavity of the turkey.
Nestle the turkey in amongst the aromatics (notice how all of these ingredients are what we use to make stock?).
Pour in the wine and enough stock and/or water to come up above wing and thigh. Add an aggressive 4-finger pinch of salt.
Put the roasting pan over high heat on your stove top and until the liquid comes to a full simmer. Put the turkey in the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F/177°C. Roast until a thermometer in the fattest part of the breast, just above the wing joint, reads 150° to 160°F. I use this cable thermometer, which sounds an alarm when I hit the right temperature, so I don’t have to keep opening the oven and jabbing at the breast. Baste with butter or fat every 20 to 30 minutes. This bird took 80 minutes. A bird twice or more its size will take around 2.5 to 3 hours. Give yourself ample time (it all keeps warm, so better that it’s done early rather than late, especially if you're serving cocktails).
Remove the turkey to a platter. Now this is important: Present the turkey to everyone. Parade it, admire it. It's important that all present regard and admire the bird.
Remove the legs at the thigh joint.
Return the legs to the braising pan.
If you wish, remove the wings as well and add them to the pan.
Continue simmering on the stove top, another half hour or so, until the thighs and drumsticks are tender.
The breast should rest like this for at least a half hour or for up to an hour if you need that long to finish the dark meat.
When the dark meat is done, preheat your broiler and arrange an oven rack so that you can put your roasting pan close to the broiler element.
Remove each side of the breast.
It should be a little pink at the center. (The meat on the carcass will flavor your stock tomorrow or overnight.)
Add the whole breasts to the roasting pan skin side up. With all pieces skin side up, finish the turkey under the broiler until the skin is crisp and the breast has been rewarmed and cooked through.
Slice the breast cross-wise so that every piece has some skin.
Separate the leg and thigh and carve the dark meat off the bone. Strain the braising liquid into a pot, discarding the vegetables, and bring it to a simmer (it helps to have someone else do this for you while you’re cutting turkey!). If you’ll be serving the turkey from the roasting pan, rinse it out and rewarm it. If you’re using another service dish, warm that.
Arrange the turkey in the serving vessel and ladle the hot broth over the turkey. You can cover this with foil and keep it warm in the turned-off oven or on the stove top, while you ready the rest of the meal. Be careful not to overcook the breast, though the broth will always keep it moist.
Serve and be grateful.

Notes

If you want to add even more flavor to this, sauté the vegetables in the roasting pan first. I roasted the neck and gizzard and added it to the braising liquid. If you want, finely chop the gizzard and add it to your gravy (I'll post my gravy method on Wednesday; I hope you made stock over the weekend if you're responsible for the gravy!). When you’re done, you should have plenty of braising liquid. Add this to your stockpot when making stock from the leftover carcass and bones.