Good Eats Roast Turkey

By HazyWaters

This is a great recipe from Alton Brown. I have used it for several years and it never fails to impress. I, of course, add my own flair.

Ingredients

• For the brine:
• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
• 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

Details

Servings 10
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 32mins
Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Preparation

Step 1

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.

MY OPTIONAL ADDITION:
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 stick of soften, salted butter and 1/4 cup roughly chopped sage and set aside.

Starting from the back of the turkey, separate the skin from the meat of the turkey. Once all the skin is free across the entire breast of the turkey, take the butter/sage mixture and apply under the skin until well coated. This will provide excellent flavor and, to some extent, self baste the turkey.


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