Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving is a week away! Stores are stocked with turkeys, cranberry sauce and many other yummies! Here is the recipe I use for my turkey. It is Alton Brown's Brine Turkey from Food Network with a little twist. Hope you enjoy!





Ingredients:

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

1 cup salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 whole bulb of garlic
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried parsley
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics/stuffing inside turkey

1 lemon, cut in half
1/2 onion, sliced

1 bulb garlic
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, garlic, rosemary and parsley 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. ( I usually do this the Sunday before Thanksgiving)

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.

Add lemon, garlic and onion 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.