How to prepare turkey for Thanksgiving?!
Answers: best recipe for a whole turkey and how to cook it
Good Eats Roast Turkey
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
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon 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
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
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 and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. 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.
Pop over to www.foodnetwork.com and go down to the select show and select Good Eats. In the search box, type in brining turkey, or turkey brine.
Alton Brown provides a great recipe for a brined turkey that is out of this world. The last two turkeys my wife cooked use A.B.'s recipe and they were the best I've ever eaten.
Doc
I love Paula Dean's and second would be Michael Chiarello's but they re all great
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_th...
Getting ready for thanksgiving?
I have found the best way to prepare a turkey. I have been using this method for years and years.
First, forget the big gobbler. Buy two turkeys instead of one. Larger birds are tougher and take longer to cook.
Then give your turkeys a bath in salt water overnight. ( The day before you cook the turkeys).
Using a cooler fill the cooler half full with warm water. Add 1 1/2 large handfuls of regular table salt for each turkey. Stir it into the warm water. Then give the turkeys a salt water bath. Add the birds and top with ice. The ice will keep the turkeys cold enough so they won't spoil.
If you live where it is hot you will have to change the water and add more ice ,or place them in smaller coolers andput them into the fridge. You can use smaller coolers for this.
If you live where it is cold, you can leave them in your garage or outside. ( cover with a garbage bag to avoid getting friendlies into the cooler. If you have bears etc. ,you will have to rethink this and you will know what t0 do.)
The next morning you will drain the water, and rinse the turkeys inside and out.
Place in fridge until ready to cook. Make sure you remove the turkey from the fridge one hour before you begin cooking.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Smaller turkeys cook faster so plan on 15 minutes per lb. Allow 1 hour extra just in case.
Cook turkey until internal temperature is 180 degrees F in the thickest parts of the meat. Thigh and Breast usually give accurate readings.
Finally, let the turkeys rest for about 20 minutes before carving. Cover the turkey with aluminum foil to keep the heat in. This will allow the meat to rest and it will become nice and juicy.
Chef Robert, Author of chef robert presents romantic dinners for two
Calculate how many hours you will need to cook the bird. It's about 15-20 minutes per pound at 325.
While the oven is heating, rinse the thawed bird inside and out. Sprinkle salt, pepper, ground sage, ground savory, and Italian seasoning in the cavity. Mix butter, a pinch of garlic powder, and the dried herbs mentioned above into a thick but spreadable paste. Slather the paste underneath as much of the skin as you can. Cover the bird with foil before putting in on a rack in a roasting pan in the oven. I always put some water in the bottom of the pan to help keep in some moisture. About an hour before you think the turkey will be ready, insert a meat thermometer in the thick part of the thigh muscle, making sure not to touch the bone. If the meat is about 140 degrees, take the foil off and let the skin brown. In another 30 minutes, check the temperature again. If it is above 160, take the turkey out of the oven, cover it with foil and let it rest. It will continue to cook for a little while.
Try a cookbook.
Rub bird with salt and butter,stick a whole lemon and onion into the cavity,save the neck for the stuffing,cover he whole bird with streaky bacon ,and stick into a preheated oven .COOKper the weight.............................TOP CHEF