Turkey

As an amateur in the cooking arena, I am very proud to announce that I made a turkey this weekend and it was good.  In fact, it was really good.  For the record, this is time consuming but if you're going to make a turkey I definitely recommend this process. 

When my parents visited us over Christmas, they gave me this:

I tossed it in the freezer and there it stayed, looming over me, taunting me in a very intimidating fashion.  Finally, I decided to haul it out and give it a shot.  I searched for recipes and decided that I couldn't go wrong with Alton Brown's turkey recipe.

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

I took the turkey out of the freezer three days ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator.  Then the day before I planned to cook it, I gathered together the brine ingredients:

Instead of the 5 gallon bucket Alton suggested, I used this, which I found in the hardware store:

Aside from being a little flimsy, it worked great. 

Directions:

Combined the stock, salt, brown sugar and peppercorns pot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Below is a picture of the bird with the brine, ice and some water before I put it in the frig.  I filled it up the rest of the way after I put in the refrigerator.  It wasn't completely immersed, but almost. 

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the turkey on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
(I didn't have a roasting rack, so I just used a roasting pan.)

I gathered the aromatic ingredients:

I thought this was as good a time as any to start my own herb garden so I bought fresh herbs for this and will plant them for future use.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

I thought it would take longer than it did, so make sure you check on it after an hour.

Success!  The turkey was juicy and delicious! I even made all the Thanksgiving fixings to go with it, so my husband called it ThanksPatrick's Day. LOL.