You'll Be Glad if You Dare...
A FABULOUS BRINE TURKEY RECIPE
Brine Turkey
This recipe is from my brother ❝Bigfoot❞ who references Alton Brown. ❝Bigfoot❞ and his wife ❝ClassyLady❞ claim, and I have found it’s true, that:
❝This recipe results in a turkey that completely holds its shape but is as tender as a rotisserie chicken, and has great flavor! The initial 30 minutes at 500 degrees is VERY IMPORTANT. It may smoke up the house a little, but the result will be a turkey that holds its shape beautifully and is more tender even than birds that completely fall apart. Delicious!❞
I found the flavor amazing, in ALL parts of the meat (a trouble I’m well acquainted with when I use other turkey roasting methods).
Turkey, 14-16 lbs. (we used a 24 lb. turkey last Frozenfew Thanksgiving and it worked just fine)
Brine:
1 cup salt
½ cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock (or 6-8 bouillon cubes in 1 gallon water)
1 T black peppercorns (or ½ T ground black pepper)
½ T allspice berries (or ground allspice)
½ T candied ginger (or fresh mashed ginger)
4 sprigs rosemary
1 t. cinnamon
1 gallon iced water
Aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1 orange, sliced with peels on
½ onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick (or 1-2 tsp. cinnamon)
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot and bring to a boil (or just 4 cups or so water, but add the rest while it cools). Stir to dissolve anything that will, then remove from heat and cool to room temperature. (You can just add ice until ice stops melting.) You should have about two gallons of brine.
6-12 hours before cooking, combine the brine and ice water in a clean five-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast-side-down in brine, cover and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for six to twelve hours. Turn turkey over once halfway through brining if brine doesn’t cover bird completely.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees (or as hot as you can manage if you’re using one of those nifty electric roasters). Combine the aromatics (apple etc. through sage)
and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with Canola oil (or other neutral oil).
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cover breast (not entire pan) with a double layer of aluminum foil, insert a probe thermometer, if available, into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. A 14-16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours roasting, and a 20 pound bird takes about 3 ½ hours (just watching for the pop-up timer is fine).
Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
This recipe is from my brother ❝Bigfoot❞ who references Alton Brown. ❝Bigfoot❞ and his wife ❝ClassyLady❞ claim, and I have found it’s true, that:
❝This recipe results in a turkey that completely holds its shape but is as tender as a rotisserie chicken, and has great flavor! The initial 30 minutes at 500 degrees is VERY IMPORTANT. It may smoke up the house a little, but the result will be a turkey that holds its shape beautifully and is more tender even than birds that completely fall apart. Delicious!❞
I found the flavor amazing, in ALL parts of the meat (a trouble I’m well acquainted with when I use other turkey roasting methods).
Turkey, 14-16 lbs. (we used a 24 lb. turkey last Frozenfew Thanksgiving and it worked just fine)
Brine:
1 cup salt
½ cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock (or 6-8 bouillon cubes in 1 gallon water)
1 T black peppercorns (or ½ T ground black pepper)
½ T allspice berries (or ground allspice)
½ T candied ginger (or fresh mashed ginger)
4 sprigs rosemary
1 t. cinnamon
1 gallon iced water
Aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1 orange, sliced with peels on
½ onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick (or 1-2 tsp. cinnamon)
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot and bring to a boil (or just 4 cups or so water, but add the rest while it cools). Stir to dissolve anything that will, then remove from heat and cool to room temperature. (You can just add ice until ice stops melting.) You should have about two gallons of brine.
6-12 hours before cooking, combine the brine and ice water in a clean five-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast-side-down in brine, cover and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for six to twelve hours. Turn turkey over once halfway through brining if brine doesn’t cover bird completely.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees (or as hot as you can manage if you’re using one of those nifty electric roasters). Combine the aromatics (apple etc. through sage)
and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with Canola oil (or other neutral oil).
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cover breast (not entire pan) with a double layer of aluminum foil, insert a probe thermometer, if available, into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. A 14-16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours roasting, and a 20 pound bird takes about 3 ½ hours (just watching for the pop-up timer is fine).
Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
posted by Pooka at 8:27 AM
4 Comments:
That looks amazingly like the rooming instructions you gave me for my Thanksgiving visit.......
Just a cool coincidence I guess.
I have tried this recipe, and it works great. Some tips ...
1. If you can, use the refrigerator drawer as your brine bucket.
2. Size and form the foil to cover the breast on the bird while it is STILL COLD.
3. Similar recipes call for a turkey that has not been pre-basted ... we couldn't find one, and (more importantly) it didn't matter.
To be honest, these are really Shana's tops: she watched me burning my fingers on the hot bird, and asked me why I hadn't shaped it cold, so I made a note to self. Also, as I was worrying about buckets and ice, she said "Why not use the drawer?"
I have a good memory, but she sure is smart!
That's nice that part of the recipie is to let the bird rest. I would imagine that whole process might be a little exhausting for it.
LOL! I've done two turkeys with this recipe (well slightly altered to what I have on hand) in the past two weeks. I agree that this makes the most deliciously moist turkey ever! I just wish I had seen your post earlier...I kept having to search out the food network site and search for Alton Brown, etc. Thanks for posting it... it really is fantastic!
Another suggestion: if your bird is too big for the fridge drawer you can use a trash bag cooler or other large container.
B
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