Thanksgiving, late

We had Thanksgiving dinner with American friends who had gotten a Butterball through the embassy, but we also wanted to cook a turkey for ourselves. What's Thanksgiving without leftovers?

I tried to pick it up two days before Thanksgiving, but my Bosnian utterly failed me, and I came away empty-handed. The next week, though, we went back, and arranged anew for them to order us a turkey.

It was big--7.7 kg. It had never been frozen or brined. It had no little shot thing to pop up when the turkey was done. And it appeared to have no fat at all on it. I was pretty nervous about cooking it.

I looked at lots of websites about how to cook heirloom turkeys and figured out a strategy. One which included herbed butter (so much for fat-free meat!).

I forgot to photograph it when I took it out of the oven, but it was beautiful and probably the best-flavored turkey I've ever tasted. My family thinks that may be because all food tastes better in Bosnia, but I suspect the turkey has something to do with it.