Here’s what you’ll need:

A container large enough to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it.  Both Reynolds (Oven Roasting Bag for Turkeys) and Ziploc (XL Storage Bag) make very large food safe sealable bags that are great for brining.  You can use a 5 gallon bucket, it must be food safe though.

Water-Enough to cover the turkey completely.  I’m gonna start with 3 gallons and make more if I have to.

Salt-1 cup per 1 gallon of water

Sugar-1/2 cup per 1 gallon.

Herbs and spices.  1 Tablespoon of each herb per Gallon of water is a good rule.  I’ll use about 3 Tablespoons of dried rosemary and the stems from the rosemary.

Here’s how:

In a large stockpot add 1 gallon of the water and all of the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Make sure the salt and sugar are  completely dissolved.  Add the rest of the water.  You want this water to cool the brine so make sure you are adding cold water.  Add ice until the brine is cool to the touch.  Transfer the brine to your brining container which should already contain the turkey.  Place in the fridge for  1 hour per pound of turkey.  Don’t have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler.

After brining, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.

Its ready to roast normally.

1. Just because a turkey has a brand name that you recognize doesn’t mean that it will be the best turkey. It just means that it is well known.  Many turkey producers (turkey producers? that just sounds wrong) place many labels on their turkeys, meaning that the cheapo store brand turkey is likely the same as the butterball.  There is no discernible difference in most brand names, so just go with the cheapest, unless you are very comfortable with a brand name.
2. Just buy a plain old turkey.  No Self Basting, No Kosher.  If you buy a Kosher turkey and you brine it, you will have a very salty turkey.  Just a plain old turkey.
3. Buy a turkey in the 15 to 18 pound range.  Of course you get more meat on a 22 pound turkey, but the outer half of that meat is dry and flavorless while the very inside is raw.
4. Select the plumpest bird in this  weight class. For instance, you want a 15-pounder. Look over all the 15-pounders and select the plumpest. Some 15-pounders will be slim and some will be fat. Some turkeys are flat chested and some are kind of bony. Choose the most rounded and plump turkey. It’s that easy. If a bird is skinny, it could mean it wasn’t a very healthy bird and might be tough and dry. Also, the bone and fat will cost you just as much as the meat, so more meat/less waste is better.

Thawing the Turkey:

1. I’m not a particularly organized person, but I have drawn up a turkey timeline, here’s mine.
   1. 11/27 Thanksgiving Day, we eat at 1:00 P.M
   2. 5-5 1/2 hours to cook (with basting) and 20 minute for resting means the turkey goes in at 7:00 to 7:15 in the morning.  Don’t Forget to preheat to 425.  I didn’t say this would be easy.
   3. I want the turkey to brine 1 hour for every pound of turkey so that’s 15 to 18 hours.  Lets just say I bought a 17 pound turkey, so 17 hours brining means the brining begins at 2:00pm 11/26, the day before thanksgiving.
   4. The turkey should be thawed completely before brining.  Turkeys in our weight class should be thawed in the fridge 3 1/2 to 4 days.  This means that I begin the thaw no later than 2:00 P.M on 11/22.  You can begin earlier in the fridge if you want.   Do not thaw at room temperature, you’re just asking for sickness.  You can thaw in cold running water, but I wouldn’t recommend it.  Who wants to thaw a turkey in the sink for 5 hours and waste all that water.
2. Ok, there is no 2, I covered it all in the timeline.

This should get you caught up.  I will keep you updated throughout the coming week.  We’ll do a step by step on the brining of course, and I’ll try to include pictures.  I’ll also do post on the bird prep.  Stuffing Rosemary butter under the skin of the breast, and filling the cavity with mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery).  And a separate post on basting.  Stay tuned.

]]> http://functionlovesform.com/2008/11/21/turkey-part-2/feed/ 0 http://functionlovesform.com/2008/11/19/turkey-part-1/ http://functionlovesform.com/2008/11/19/turkey-part-1/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:48:52 +0000 Jared http://functionlovesform.com/?p=618 I have been charged with making The Turkey for my family’s Thanksgiving feast this year.   Thats right, they’re putting the guy who hasn’t cooked meat for a year in charge of the Centerpiece of the most important meal of the year.   The thing is, last year I made the best turkey I have ever tasted in my life, the skin was crisp, the flesh was juicy and flavorful, it was near perfect.  Can I carry it over to this year, only time will tell, but I will keep you updated here.

If you’re up for it, you can even follow along here, and we can roast a turkey together.  Here’s an outline of how I’m gonna do it.

The Turkey-Frozen, 15 to 18 pounds, begin the thaw on Saturday the 22nd.

The Brine-I will be soaking the turkey in brine 1 hour for every pound of turkey.  My brining will begin at 2:30 in the afternoon Wed the 26th in a cooler.  The Brine will consist of 1 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of sugar for every gallon of water I use (4 or 5 gallons probably) and rosemary stems.

The Butter-I’ll chop up some rosemary (lots of rosemary) and mix it with a pound or more of butter.  I’ll stuff this butter under the skin of the turkey around the breast.  Completely encasing the breast in butter.  (This recipe is NOT healthy)

The stuffing-In the cavity of the bird I will not place actual stuffing, that is not safe.  I wil place chopped carrots, clerey and onions in there though.  Flavor.

The Basting-I will baste it with melted butter fully covering it with butter before putting it in the oven.  I will put it into a 425 degree oven, breast down and immediately turn it down to 350 degrees.  I will let it cook for 2 and 1/2 hours.  Then I will take it out and baste it with more butter.  I will put it back in the oven, only to take it out again every 45 minutes to baste until it is done.  I will turn the turkey with the breast facing up for the last hour of cooking. All of this will lengthen the cooking time, but will make it nice, brown and crispy.

The Resting-I will let it rest at least 20 minutes before a knife touches it.

Ok, that sounds strict, but it works I promise.  Why not try it?