Why This Recipe Works: Nearly every household in America spends Thanksgiving Day waiting and waiting and waiting for the turkey to come to temperature, and then someone in the family works at breakneck speed to whip up the gravy with the drippings. Looking for a less stressful approach, we took a cue from restaurants and cooked and carved the bird into quarters the day before. While the meat cooled, we made a fortified broth with the carcass to serve as the base of our gravy. Come Thanksgiving Day all we had to do was finish off the gravy and reheat the meat. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Serves 10 to 12
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
- 4 (1 1/2- to 1 3/4-pound) turkey leg quarters, trimmed
- 1 (6- to 7-pound) whole bone-in turkey breast, trimmed
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Salt and pepper
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
