BEST. TURKEY. EVER.
You must make this turkey!
I am not a cook. I admit this freely and without shame. The Husband does 90 percent of the cooking in our house. If you want omelettes, pancakes, waffles, enchiladas, Spanish rice, lasagna, chicken breasts or something out of a box - I'm your gal. Anything else - talk to The Husband.
So, considering that disclaimer, why the heck am I blogging about a recipe?! And why on earth should you listen to *me*?!?
Because it is The. Best. Turkey. Ever. And it's EASY!
Why should you take advice from someone as culinarily challenged as me? Because it's not MY recipe - it's Alton Brown's! And HE is a kitchen god (which is a little bit like being a rock god, but yummier.)
Seriously, do yourself, your guests, and your bird a favor: TRY THIS RECIPE. I did. And I made a flavorful, moist, golden-brown-and-delicious turkey. Me. The girl who can't boil toast.
Trust me: If I can do it, anybody can. :)
So do it!
Good Eats Roast Turkey
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
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon 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
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish 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 along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon 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
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish 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 along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
Mmmm. Cinnamon turkey.
ReplyDeletesee...now I am drooling. I will have to send Mariah over here as we are cooking for like 20 people this year.
ReplyDeleteAny recipe by Alton Brown has GOT to be good!! We'll have to give it a try. :)
ReplyDeleteAlton recommended putting a pinch of salt in pre-brewed coffee grounds to chase away any bitterness.
ReplyDeleteThe man's a genius, I tells ya. A genius!
However...I am holding out that one of these days I will eat a fried turkey. Or a turducken. Or a fried turducken.
YEO: It's to freakin' die for.
ReplyDeleteTC and Emmy: If you try it, you have to let me know. Because I'm telling you, once you do, you won't want to every cook turkey any other way.
DGB: You guys need to come to a get-together of my6 Okie-relations. They deep fry turkeys all the time. And, actually, Alton did a show on how to do that, too. But this one is still better. ;)
but... but... there's NO STUFFING?!?!?
ReplyDeletethis is nothing but a crime against nature.
SFD: Stuffing is EVIL. Always make it outside of the bird. So sayeth the great and powerful Alton Brown. (Who has a whole episode on how to do stuffing right.) ;)
ReplyDeleteI've brined the last several turkeys I've done and it makes all the difference. Not sure about all the spices, but it's an interesting take. Who is Alton Brown?
ReplyDeleteI have never cooked a turkey. Since I am an adult I feel like this is something I should have attempted by now. Maybe next year. This sounds delicious. Then maybe around 2015, I can attempt a pie for the first time.
ReplyDeleteFree Man: The brine is definitely the key thing. You can switch out the aromatics, any which way you choose - and we've played with those a bit - but the brine is the thing that really makes all the difference. I've never had a more succulent bird.
ReplyDeleteAs for your blasphemous question - do you poor Aussie's not get The Food Network down there?!
You would love Alton Brown! He's a food science geek!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/good-eats/index.html
http://www.altonbrown.com/
If you can't get the show there, promise me that you'll do a YouTube search. It will be worth it! :)
Brutalism: Would you believe this was the first turkey I ever made?
ReplyDeleteWe hosted Thanksgiving for my (rather large) family a few years ago and - considering that I am known far and wide as she-who-does-not-cook - they were all quite suitably impressed!
I also made my first pie this year - peach. It only took three calls to my grandma to get me through the process. I'm oproud to say it turned out pretty good. But, frankly, it's over-rated. I'll just stick to Marie Callendar's. ;)
I give you a lot of credit for making a turkey. I'm never the designated "turkey-maker" on Thanksgiving. If I ever do get that job, I will definitely try your recipe!
ReplyDeleteI've never brined a turkey, just because I'm too damned lazy. But I LOVE Alton Brown. I'm the Thanksgiving cook around here...this year I'll probably fall asleep half-way through from jet lag--getting back from a trip to Japan the Tuesday before!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you -- don't do much cooking. yet, also like you, I've posted a turkey recipe on my blog. I stole it from Martha Stewart though :-) I think Alton Brown is pretty awesome so I'll have to check this out. Thanks, ZenMom!
ReplyDelete