Good Eats Roast Turkey

By JJCR

Ingredients

• For the brine:
• 1 (14-16 lb.) frozen young turkey
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp. black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp. allspice berries
• 1 1/2 tsp. 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

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

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2 to 3 days before roasting

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees

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 night before you'd like to eat;

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5 gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey , 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 8-16 hrs, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. 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 min. 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 lowet level of the oven at 500 for 30 min. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350. Set the thermometer alarm to 161 degrees. A 14-16 lb 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 min. before carving.