Deboned Turkey with Demi-glace

Yield: 1 turkey

Ingredients

Turkey

1 large turkey, thawed

I'm excessive and bought a 26 lb. bird, which produced 14 lbs. of raw meat after deboning. That's enough to feed an army. You don't need to use such a large bird.

Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Sage
Garlic powder
Onion power
Paprika

Demiglace

2 large red onions, halved
3 oz. tomato paste
1 oz. dried mushrooms
Filtered water

You're going to boil away the water and concentrate the demi-glace down. If there are any odd flavors in the water then they'll be magnified, so I recommend using filtered water instead of tap water.

1 packet unflavored gelatin

Directions

Begin by laying the turkey on a cutting board, breast-side down. Cut along both sides of the back-bone, and then gradually cut the meat away from the rib cage. Just follow the rib cage around.
For the legs, dislocate the femur from the hip joint and cut through the joint. We'll come back to the leg in a minute.
When you get near the breastbone, slow down. You don't want to actually cut through the skin. Carefully work until you meet from both sides and separate the entire rib cage from the meat. Set it aside.
For the legs, cut along the length of the femur and slice meat away from the bone. Get your knife under the femur and cut towards the hip joint, separating the bone from the meat. Dislocate the knee joint and you can remove the femur.
Cut along the length of the drumstick and again get your knife under the bone. Cut along until the bone is mostly freed. The end of the foot (ankle?) is still attached. Pull the bone and cut it away.
At this point you'll probably notice lots of tendons in the legs. Use needle nose pliers to pull them out, one-by-one. That will leave you with 100% edible meat in the end.
Repeat steps 4-6 for the other leg.
Cut away the wings and set them aside with the ribcage. There's not enough meat to bother deboning them.
Inspect for any stray chunks of fat, cartilage, or other inedible material. Cut it away.
You should now have no bones; just meat and skin. Lay the bird on the cutting board, skin-side down. Unfold the pectoralis minor muscle and towards the middle of the bird. Slice through the pectoralis major muscle, just so that it evens out a bit when rolling.

You can see in my photo that the white meat side is much thicker than the dark meat side. Next time I might try cutting these muscles free entirely and then placing them in the dark meat before trussing. That would give a more even thickness and might make roasting easier.

Season liberally with salt, pepper, thyme, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. The exact amounts will depend on your bird size. Roll the bird together into a giant loaf. You should have enough skin to cover it, though a few spots in the dark meat might protrude a bit. Do your best to get it rolled and fully covered in skin.
Use butcher's twine to truss the bird. You now have a giant roll of meat! Cover and refrigerate until ready to roast.
For the demi-glace, place the ribcage, wings, next, and all other trimmings in a roasting pan. Add the onion and roast at 400°F for 30 minutes.
Add the tomato paste to the bones and toss together to spread it around. Return to the oven and roast for another 30 minutes, watching to make sure nothing gets too browned. We'll be concentrating the flavors, and you don't want it to task like it was burned.
Transfer the bones & juices to a stock pot. Add enough water to fully cover it. Add the mushrooms and bring to a simmer. Cover and let continue for a few hours.
Top up the water as needed, and keep simmering overnight. It takes a long time to dissolve all the collagen into gelatin.
The next morning (~16 hours of simmering), if the bones are easily broken by hand, then you've finished extracting the collagen. Remove the large solids. Bring to a boil and add a packet of unflavored gelatin. Continue boiling until reduced by about one third.
Fill a huge bowl with ice water, and place a smaller bowl inside. Pour the fluids through a fine-mesh strainer into the larger bowl to remove any remaining solids. Stir while the heat transfers through the bowl into the icewater.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it's cooled and the fat is on the surface. Skim the fat off (it may be be less solid than other saturated meats -- that's ok). You can use the fat to make a roux and gravy if you'd like.
With the fat scraped away, you now have a turkey gelatin. Transfer to a wide, deep saucepan and return to a simmer. Continue reducing it down. Once it starts getting thick and syrupy, you'll need to stir constantly to avoid burning.

Remember that it'll thicken as it cools, so you may want to set a small amount aside for 10 minutes to cool and see how the consistency looks. It's your call how far to thicken it.

Season with salt to taste. Remove from the stove, cover, and refrigerate until you're ready to use.
To cook the turkey, place on a wire rack in a roasting pan. Brush the outside with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 300°F until you reach an internal temperature of 156-158°F. (Carry-over cooking will take it the rest of the way to 165°F while resting)

It took my roast 5-6 hours, though yours might be different based on size and thickness.
If the turkey is browning too quickly, place a sheet of aluminum foil over it. That'll slow down the surface browning.

When the turkey is done roasting, remove from the oven and cover to rest for 20-30 minutes. In the meantime, warm up the demi-glace in a saucepan.
If you're also making gravy (for the potatoes!) then use the fat you skimmed in step #19 to make a roux. Combine with drippings from the bird and you've got a great gravy.
To carve, slice the meat from the turkey. There are no bones, so every slice is 100% edible. Drizzle with demi-glace and serve.