Today we headed south about 35 miles to make visits to my husbands relatives. Cousins, aunts, brother, sister-in-law, we spent the entire day visiting and delivering homemade caramel corn, decorated sugar cookies and my mom’s peanut clusters. Lee’s oldest aunt is 103 and even though she can’t hear well, her mind is sharp as a tack and she is quite amazing to visit. With the visits over it is time to begin the Christmas dinner preparations!
If you are preparing turkey I highly suggest you brine it the day before for fabulous moist results. Best info on brining and roasting comes from Alton Brown from the Food Network. I am using a brine mix that I bought from Williams Sonoma but I will follow all the other directions from Alton. Just click today’s title “Three Day and Counting Down… Brine That Turkey” and it will take you to Alton’s directions! I am also printed it below.
For the brine container I use a huge Ziploc bag (11 gallon) that holds a 14lb turkey and all the brine. You can get most of the air out and so the turkey really absorbs the spices. Christmas morning I will rinse the bird and follow Alton’s directions for roasting. Give it a try – you’ll like it and it is so easy.
Good Eats Roast Turkey
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Prep Time:
15 min
Inactive Prep Time:
7 hr 0 min
Cook Time:
2 hr 30 min
Level:
Easy
Serves: 10 to 12
Ingredients
• 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 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
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, 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.
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.
Today's Scripture:
Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)
Merry Christmas!
