It's Bacon!

Today we learned a valuable lesson about recipes that involve a bacon lattice - don't. About a month or so ago I saw a picture of a bacon wrapped turkey and just knew I had to make it. One turkey and a pack and a half of bacon later we had this masterpiece:

All bacon, all the time

I apologize for the low quality of the picture since I used my phone. Once again I forgot to take that plastic thing off the legs. One of these days I will actually remember to a) buy twine, b) take off the plastic, and c) tie the legs like I'm supposed to.

Overall this was a fairly simple recipe. I sliced some of the bacon and put it under the skin over the breast, salt and pepper with onions and celery in the cavity, and then wove a bacon lattice over the skin. Because a bacon wrapped turkey wasn't decadent enough, I served it with mashed potatoes and stuffing topped with gravy which was of course made using the bacon fat laden drippings. One bonus of the lattice was that I didn't need to baste the turkey since the rendering fat did it for me. I put it in the oven for about 3.5 hours at 350 degrees.

The turkey itself was moist and the bacon flavor apparent. However, at the end of it all I think a regular brined turkey is a better choice. This was quite decadent and we ended up paying for it with a feeling of unpleasant, greasy fullness not long after finishing. I think Eric might actually be afraid to tackle these leftovers despite his general enthusiasm for turkey. It was a good you have to try this once dish but too much. It might have worked better with lighter vegetable sides but I don't think I will be making it again.