We're in mid-November which means
holiday season is right upon us. Thanksgiving is just a couple of
weeks away and that means turkey. In quite a lot of cases it means
dry, cardboardy turkey and then a nap. Well, in my case, it means
fantastic turkey. Not to brag (OK, I'm bragging) but my roast turkey
is fucking excellent. Most of that credit goes to Alton Brown
though. I stole his recipe with a couple of minor additions. The
best part of being in charge of cooking the big thing, like the
turkey, is there's not much to do with it once it's in the oven.
Which leaves plenty of time to watch football.
BRINE
1 gallon (64ozs)
vegetable stock
1 cup salt
1/2 cup brown
sugar
1 tbsp black
peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp
allspice berries
1 1/2 tsp
candied ginger
3 cloves garlic,
crushed
1 gallon ice
water
Combine all
these ingredients except the ice water in a stock pot and bring to a
boil. Stir occasionally until the solids dissolves. Let cool to
room temperature and then refrigerate. When you're ready to put the
turkey in (if you're using a frozen turkey, make sure it's thawed)
add the ice water. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Turn over once during
brining.
For roasting the
soon to be delicious beast you'll need...
1 apple, cored
and sliced
1/2 yellow
onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
4 sprigs fresh
rosemary
6 sage leaves
2 garlic cloves,
crushed
1 cup of water
canola oil
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
A turkey (gobble
gobble)
butcher's twine
Preheat
oven to 500 degrees. Remove bird from the brine and rinse. Discard
the brine. Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Put the apple, onion,
cinnamon stick and water in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on
high for 5 minutes. Add it to the cavity of the turkey with the
rosemary, sage and garlic. Truss the turkey so it cooks evenly (and
so it looks purty when it's done. This is a good video on how to do
it. Thanks again, Alton.)
Combine the butter with the canola oil and then coat the skin of the
turkey with the combination and with salt and pepper. Roast
the turkey at 500 degrees for a 1/2 hour. Then put a temperature
probe into the thickest part of the breast and reduce heat to 350
degrees. Let cook until thermometer gets to 160 degrees. A good
rule of thumb is probably about 15 – 18 minutes per pound. But
it's always better to go with a probe. When you hit the target
temperature take that sucker out of the oven and tent with
foil...DON'T REMOVE THE PROBE or all the juicy goodness will just
leak out. Let the bird rest for 20-30 minutes before you carve up
that bad boy. I hope this recipe makes you inner fat kid as happy as
it makes mine. Happy eating, folks!
