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2 FAVORITE Turkey brine and cook recipe

KentuckyLandSales

Knows what a fatty is.
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2 turkey ideas here, brothers.

We always do smoked turkeys for the holidays - of course. :-D but I call that one my nibblin' turkey. get out the stone ground mustard, mayo, kosher salt, CBP, maybe some artisan bread - ciabatta, and I'm happy.

I get frozen (enhanced) birds, inject and smoke. I figure they are already brined, so I just inject and put them on hickory for 7-9 hrs and we're done.
http://luckydogbbq.com/its-smoked-turkey-time-in-danville-kentucky/

But the over-roasted boid - ahhhh -- hot, crunchy skin, yes, I am drooling. :drool: I get fresh birds and brine. Here's my recipe for those - and I will tell you, if you don't like your turkey like this, not only will I tell you you are :crazy: but then you can send them to me and I'll eat them. :becky:

from my farm blog (we sell land and post this for our clients) http://www.kylandsales.com/blog/brined-turkey-isnt-that-too-much-work-not-at-all-let-me-show-you-best-turkey-youll-ever-eat-i-promise/

Brined Turkey? isn’t that too much work? not at all – let me show you

This will be the best, moistest (is that a word?) bird recipe you ever ate. My Mom use to roast turkeys for 8-12 hours – that will just dry them out, do this and you will be a Convert! To see what we have “cooking” with our houses – click here.

1 young turkey (about 15 pounds)

For the brine:

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of chopped or diced Garlic from the jar
1 gallon chicken stock (optional)
1 gallon ice water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage

Olive oil

Combine some of the water and all brine ingredients, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and throw in a cooler just big enough to hold the turkey, this brine, water to cover and some ice.

Early on the night before cooking, combine the brine and ice water in the cooler. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover with water and ice and cover the cooler and let it sit in cool area (like a basement) overnight. If you do this, you will still have ice in the morning, so you are cold enough. Not many refrigerators are big enough to hold the brine and Turkey and pot, whew!

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. Discard brine.

Place bird breast side down on bare roaster pan – no rack – and pat dry with paper towels. Add aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Slide your hand under the skin and loosen without tearing. Put a stick of butter cut in pats under the skin. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with vegetable or corn oil. (olive oil won’t brown as well).

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer to 161 degrees. Baste every 30 minutes with baster and use the drippings.

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.

This will be the best, moistest (is that a word) bird you ever ate. My Mom use to roast turkeys for 8-12 hours – that will just dry them out, do this and you will be a Convert!
 
I will do photos of the oven turkey after the big day. If you do this recipe - please post pron too.

God, I love turkey. Why do we on;y make it once or twice a year.
 
What is this oven thing that you speak of? :-D

The prep of the bird sounds very close to what I do. I normally use a compound butter with fresh herbs in it to put under the skin.

I normally cook mine in my Big Green Egg. Our oven is usually full of different casseroles, etc.

When the breast is at 161 as directed what is the dark meat temperature? I've found that the dark meat generally lags the breast so I would think that the dark meat would be undercooked. But, I haven't tried cooking the bird this way.
 
dunno on the thigh temp thing. I'm a breast man. :wink:

try this 500 degree thing, baste it every half hour - turkey breast DOWN right on the pan (breast up NG - rack NG) - you'll be amazed.

BTW - I like your herbed butter deal. for sure. Rosemary, mmmmmm, Rosemary and Sage.
 
I will say I have tried the 500* thing and it does work. I got it from one of Alton Brown's turkey recipes from the food network. It produced a really moist bird. Granted I did this in the oven before I had my egg but I imagine I could crank up the heat in the egg for the first 30 min. as well. I will say the 500* oven and the oiled up bird did set off my smoke detectors though. Another reason to love cooking outdoors.
 
Your recipe is very close to Alton Brown's. I've been using it the last few years and have always had great results. The breast side down I've not tried, I may have to give that a go this year.
 
jlane,

Exactly - it is 90% Alton Brown's - then add a couple extra more fattening techniques and there you go.

Big hit - if you try it, you'll never go back.
 
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