Preparing a turkey recipe for Thanksgiving can feel like running a culinary marathon on one of the most stressful days of the year. Between the crowded kitchens, tight oven schedules, and the pressure to deliver a meal worthy of a family celebration, it’s no wonder cooks everywhere search for a dependable, flavourful way to roast their bird.

This traditional Portuguese take on roast turkey, inspired by the authentic touch of Maria de Lurdes Modesto, the Queen of Portuguese cuisine, offers a calm, confident approach. Hopefully, it will transform your Thanksgiving into what it should be: a feast of togetherness, not tension.

Oven-Roasted Turkey recipe (a Thanksgiving Day recipe by Maria de Lurdes Modesto)

This recipe, “Peru Assado no Forno”, can be found in Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa by Maria de Lourdes Modesto, and it serves 10 guests.

Ingredients

• 1 turkey
• 1 kg salt
• 1 or 2 lemons

For the stuffing:

• 250 g wheat bread
• 3 eggs
• 100 g streaky cured ham (presunto)
• 1 tablespoon butter or pork lard
• Salt and pepper

For the rice:

• 1 kg rice
• Turkey wings, feet, neck, and giblets
• 1 onion
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Turkey recipe

After preparing and thoroughly cleaning the turkey, remove the wings, feet, and neck. Tuck the feet inside the cavity and place the turkey in a large bowl covered with cold water, the 1 kg of salt, and sliced lemons. Leave it like this overnight.

• The next day, drain the turkey and dry it well with a cloth until completely moisture-free;
• Rub the entire turkey with salt using your hands.

Separately, prepare the stuffing:

• Break the bread into pieces in a bowl and mix in the whole eggs;
• Add the cured ham cut into small pieces and the butter (or lard);
• Stuff this mixture tightly into the turkey breast cavity and sew the opening closed with a needle and thread.

Next, prepare the broth for the rice:

• Cook the wings, neck, feet, and giblets in water, seasoning with salt;
• Select, wash, and measure the rice;
• Chop the onion and sauté it in olive oil. Add one and a half times the volume of broth to rice, bring it to a boil, stir in the rice, let it boil briefly, and then pour it into a shallow clay pot;
• On top of this pot, place a rack where the turkey will roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes. (This method refers to baking in a traditional wood-fired oven);
• In an electric or gas oven—where the height is not enough to fit the clay pot and turkey stacked together—roast the turkey separately and later add the drippings to the rice. In this case, the roasting time will be about 2 hours.

Although it may seem unusual, this turkey is never rubbed with any fat before going into the oven. Essential rules for a juicy result are:

• The turkey must be completely dry when placed in the oven;
• It must never be basted with any liquid or fat during roasting;
• It should only roast long enough to cook through without drying out.

Craving more than a turkey recipe?

Has this turkey recipe awakened your appetite for real Portuguese flavours? At Taste Porto, we offer private, custom food tours in Porto designed around what you love most. Whether you’re searching for more traditional recipes, authentic Porto bites, local food stories, or the hidden places where Portuenses actually eat, we’ll craft a truly personalised Porto food experience just for you. Join us at the table and taste the city like a local.

With love,
Your Foodie Friends in Porto