Award-winning Thanksgiving turkey recipe requires a pillowcase

Elizabeth Heiskell's grandmother had a problem: Her Thanksgiving turkey was getting too brown, too fast. That just wouldn't do. 

"It would drive her crazy," Heiskell, a food contributor and cookbook author who lives in Oxford, Mississippi, told Fox News Digital. She said her perfectionist grandmother "really had to have that Norman Rockwell look" for her bird. 

Her resourceful grandmother's solution? Wrap the turkey in a pillowcase, soak the pillowcase in alcohol and put the whole thing in the oven.

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While this may sound completely bonkers, Heiskell swears by it – and continues to make her turkeys this way after all this time. 

On Thanksgiving eve, Heiskell and her family gather to celebrate — and they'll be finding a pillowcase, ripping it up and proceeding to prep their holiday turkeys. 

"It's like a team sport," she said. 

The pillowcase has to be "100% cotton" and clean – "not one you slept on the night before," she said. 

It does not, however, have to be brand new, Heiskell said — noting that her grandmother would use pillowcases that were "maybe not in the best shape" for the task of cooking the turkey. (Some people use cheesecloths instead.)

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Her grandmother "would take the turkey, rub it in butter, put all of her seasonings on it, and then she would wrap it in this pillowcase and put it in her roasting pan" on top of a V rack, Heiskell said. 

"Then she would pour red wine, cognac, whatever she had there, melt the butter and saturate that pillowcase and then bake it until almost done. And then she would flip it over, brush it with the butter wine mixture again and then put it back in the oven to brown." 

"The bottom line is the bird needs to be completely covered by the pillowcase," she said. "Then it needs to be completely saturated." 

The end result, Heiskell said, is "the most incredible turkey" – one called out by the Better Homes & Garden test kitchens and others. 

Serves 10-12 people

100% cotton pillowcase, clean, cut up if necessary to fit around turkey

V rack for roasting pan

Roasting pan

For turkey

Turkey (12-15 pounds) 

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

1 lemon, quartered 

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 

8 smoked bacon slices

2 cups red wine, plus more as needed

1½ cups chicken broth, plus more as needed

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6 whole peppercorns

10 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 bunch fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For gravy

2 cups liquid from turkey roasting pan

Red wine, if needed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 

1. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Rinse the turkey and remove the giblets and neck. Stuff the cavity with the onion, celery and lemon. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Spread one stick of the butter evenly over the skin and liberally season the entire bird with salt and pepper.

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3. Unfold a large, clean pillowcase. Cut into a square large enough to wrap the entire turkey. Place a V-shaped rack in a large roasting pan. Drape the pillowcase over the rack and arrange 4 of the bacon slices in a single layer on the cloth. Place the turkey, breast side down, on top of the bacon, arrange the remaining 4 bacon slices on top of the turkey and fold the pillowcase up over the turkey so it is fully covered. Completely saturate the pillowcase and turkey with the wine and 1 cup of the broth. Scatter the peppercorns, parsley, thyme and bay leaves in the bottom of the pan. Roast the turkey for 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a sauté pan over medium heat, combine the remaining two sticks of butter and the remaining ½ cup broth with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Heat, stirring, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat. After the turkey has roasted for 20 minutes, liberally baste it with some of the butter mixture, making sure the pillowcase is still completely saturated.

5. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast, away from the bone, registers 165 degrees and into the thigh registers 175 degrees, 2½ to 3 hours more. Baste the turkey every hour with the pan juices, making sure the pillowcase remains saturated. If the pan dries out, pour in equal parts wine and broth.

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6. Remove the turkey from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the pillowcase from the turkey and flip the turkey over so it is breast side up. Brush the breast with the remaining melted butter mixture and continue roasting until the skin is crisp and browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the turkey to a carving board and let it rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

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8. Carve the turkey and serve with the gravy alongside.

This recipe is owned by Elizabeth Heiskell and was shared with Fox News Digital.