Turkey Talk

Have you ever heard of Alton Brown?? He is the man behind Good Eats. This show is on Food Network and I LOVE IT! My hubby turned me onto it when we first met. Holiday episodes are my absolute favorite. He explains everything and also from scientific side so you can really understand. Here is link for his recipe for brining a turkey
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html


But, I am now going to explain it to. Brining your turkey from 24-48 hours before will give it more flavor and make it more juicy then it has ever been. I could tell a huge difference in our turkey done this way and I have been making turkey since at least 1997ish.



Now you want to make your brine in a clean 5 gallon bucket with lid or use a cooler like we did(we didn't have a bucket and no place close to even buy one). You want a gallon of vegetable or chicken broth. We found that not everywhere sells vegetable broth so we used chicken. 1 cup of salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, your seasonings, 1 gallon of ice water. Now for our seasonings Alton offers different ideas but we went with garlic, thyme, rosemary, allspice berries, he also suggest candied ginger but in Fort Irwin California we couldn't find it, so I look forward to the different flavor of this years. All of these ingredients are in the brine, not inside the turkey, now for the turkey himself.


Sage, rosemary, and 1/2 of a onion(I prefer yellow). You stuff inside of the bird with these things and set it inside brine. Cover and keep ice on it and keep it cold. For us, it was cold enough outside and I kept ice on it for 2 days and it worked out perfect.


After your brine, pull out your turkey and set him in the sink. Pat him dry. Now you want to bathe him in extra virgin olive oil. Bathe him, rub him, and give him lots of love. Set him into his baker. Create a "turkey triangle" with foil to only cover the breast. You want to do this because the breast does not need to get overdone(obviously this means you place it breast side up). Bake your turkey at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. This is to seal turkey and give it the beginning of the beautiful outside crust. At 30 minutes drop temp down to 350 degrees until breast meat reaches 161 degrees. Let your turkey sit for 15 minutes before cooking to allow the fats to resettle in and give you the beautiful cuts you want. Alton also can teach you the most beautiful way to carve your bird. I learned a lot from this episode. I am sure you can google it and watch it online. For those of you that this is your first cooking venture or even your 10th year of doing Thanksgiving you can learn a lot from this man!!

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful this year for quite a lot, my husband, my kids, having answers to my health this year, finally!

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