Thanksgiving Turkey: Mayonnaise Roasted Turkey

Roasted turkey, brined turkey, dry-brined turkey, healthy turkey, bacon-wrapped turkey, turkey stuffed with stuffing, turkey cooked with compound butter, herbs and spices, smoked turkey, jerk turkey, barbecue turkey, paper-bag turkey, beer-can turkey, turducken, you've tried them all, and of course, you've considered tackling the risks of doing a fried turkey too. You’ve heard of every variation known to man, thought about what temperature to cook the turkey at and for how long, hoped for a moist turkey breast and oohs and ahs from your guests. But when thinking about doing something different, but perhaps not too much more difficult than your traditional Thanksgiving turkey, have you ever considered a mayonnaise-roasted Turkey?Maybe. But probably not.At least, we’ve thought about all the preparations above, but never heard of a mayonnaise-roasted turkey until one member of The Daily Meal staff Sharon Gitelle was inspired by a recipe by Amy of She Wears Many Hats. The photo looked gorgeous; the skin thin, golden and crispy, covered with herbs and healthy crust of salt and pepper. The meat in the picture pulls away from the edges of the legs, the skin is condensed all crispy and crunchy — mayo-crusted turkey skin — like some oil and egg augmented chicharrón-like Turkey gribenes.It had to be experimented with. So, inspired by She Wears Many Hats, and armed with a cause (feeding The Daily Meal’s staff during its inaugural potluck Thanksgiving) we set out undaunted by the idea of trying a first-time recipe as the central dish of a public event. After all, armed with The Daily Meal’s Guide to Thanksgiving, its survival and SOS guides, its guides to temperatures, cooking times, and emergency solutions, how could things go wrong? We used our convection oven, but you can use the turkey cooking times for a conventional oven for the recipe too.And go wrong they didn’t. The following recipe for a 16- to 18-pound turkey was a hit. It was quick. It was easy. It was messy. It was a success. And it was simple too: Mayonnaise, herbs, seasoning, and some celery and onion. That’s all!The turkey breast was as moist 15 minutes after cutting it as it was when Editorial Director Colman Andrews carved it. The skin was crunchy and delicious, and the flavor, well… you didn’t get mayonnaise, but you did get a savory herbaceousness.“Mayonnaise you might ask? Mayonnaise-roasted? That sounds outrageous!”Well, how would it sound if someone suggested they would use an egg glaze and drizzle olive oil over your Thanksgiving turkey? Pretty delicious, right? Well that’s the idea behind this turkey recipe, one that we thank Amy for inspiring and which we tweaked here and there to suit our bird, and maybe this or next Thanksgiving, yours.Arthur Bovino is The Daily Meal's executive editor. Read more articles by Arthur, reach him by email, or click here to follow Arthur on Twitter.