Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Making the Turkey for Thanksgiving

So this past weekend I ended up making my first turkey ever for a pharmacy Thanksgiving potluck (Friendsgiving).  It went really well...looked beautiful and tasted exceptional.  After talking with my mom about it, she made the decision of having me make the turkey this year for our family Thanksgiving.  Okay...impressing a bunch of your classmates during a potluck is one thing...but it's totally different when it's family and close family friends (they know where you live).  I'm a little nervous about it but also exited at the same time.  The recipe I used last week was Alton Brown's turkey recipe from his show Good Eats (if you're interested in cooking and haven't seen anything of Alton's...you must!).  He imparted his wisdom on cooking a succulent, evenly cooked, delicious turkey to the rest of the world...and man, am I thankful for that!  I already have the brine going on the stove and am going to brine the turkey tonight (it's 21 pounds of turkey...kind of daunting!).  If you have questions, do a YouTube search for "Alton Brown turkey" or "Good Eats turkey"...there should be a tone of GREAT tips on there.  They definitely helped me!  I'm posting the recipe for anyone out there who wants it either for the next couple of days, for Christmas, or for next year:

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
  • 1/2 onion, sliced
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 6 leaves sage
  • Canola oil

Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot 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.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
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.
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 bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
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.

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