Thanksgiving turkey
The all-in-one recipe; brine, under and on the bird ingredients. Together with my stuffing recipe this how I have been making my turkey for over 15 years!
Equipment
- a large turkey roasting pan
- a large soup pot just big enough to put the turkey in (to brine)
- an internal (meat/turkey) thermometer
Ingredients
Turkey brine (enough for a large 24 lbs turkey!)
- 1½ cup coarse salt
- 1½ lbs coconut sugar (or use brown sugar)
- 6 black tea bags
- 8 cans apple juice
- 2 inch fresh ginger (sliced lenghtwise)
- 10 whole all spice
- 15 whole peppercorns
- 5 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 12 cloves garlic
- 5 cups water (or enough to cover the whole turkey)
- 1 turkey (frozen) (calculate 1-1½ lbs per person)
Under the turkey ingredients
- 2 medium onions (diced)
- 2 large carrots (diced)
- 3 stalks celery (diced)
- 5 cloves garlic (peeled, whole)
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 6 sprigs fresh parsley
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs sage (optional)
On the turkey ingredients
- ½-1 stick butter (depending on the size of your bird)(thinly sliced)
- 3-6 cloves garlic (depending on the size of your bird)(sliced)
- 5 cups chicken stock or broth
Instructions
Turkey brine
- The day before preparing your turkey, take the turkey out of the freezer in the morning and put it in a cooler (the cooler should be large enough to fit the pot you make the brine in (and the pot should fit your turkey snugly)). Don't take the turkey out of the packaging yet.
- That same night (f.e. right after dinner) bring all brine ingredients to boil in a large pasta/soup pot (the pot should fit your turkey snugly.) Then lower the heat to simmer. After 5 minutes remove the tea bags.
- Take the turkey out of the packaging, remove the giblets (you won't be using them), rinse it and pat it dry with paper towel. Add the turkey to the brine in the pot and place the pot (with the turkey in it) in the cooler. Add ice cubes (a large bag) to the cooler and place the pot (with the turkey in it) back in the cooler. If you don't have a large enough pot, here is what you can do (and I have done this for many years before I had a large enough pot): prepare the brine, take turkey out of it packaging, place turkey in a clean cooler (cooler shouldn't be too big), pour brine over the turkey and add a bag of ice cubes to the brine to cool it off.
- Leave the turkey in the brine (in the cooler) overnight.
- Check the weight of your turkey. A stuffed 10-18lbs turkey needs 3½-4½ hours in a 325F/160C oven, a stuffed 18-22lbs turkey: 4½-5hrs, 22-24lbs: 5-5½hrs and 24-30lbs: 5½-6¼hrs. The turkey needs to rest for 15-30 minutes after taking it out of the oven. So calculate back to know when to start roasting your turkey. For example, a 18lbs turkey needs to go into the oven at 11am if you want to eat around 4pm.
- Remove the turkey from the brine when your are ready to cook it. Discard the brine. Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towel inside and out. You are ready to stuff and prepare your turkey for roasting.
Stuff the turkey
- Prepare the stuffing following this recipe, and fill the inside of your dried turkey with it. Whatever you have left, can be prepared in a separate casserole.
- Once the turkey is stuffed, tie the legs together so the stuffing is secured inside.
'Under the turkey'
- Arrange all the 'under the turkey' ingredients in the roasting pan. I don't have a roasting pan with a rack so I place these ingredients directly in the roasting pan. If you do have a rack, place the herbs in the rack with the turkey directly on top of it (so the herbs are in between the turkey and the metal of the rack) and the vegetables in the pan below it. Both methods work.
On the turkey (skin)
- Preheat the oven to 325F/165C so the oven is hot once you place the turkey in it.
- Make small incisions in the turkey's skin and stuff each incision with a slice of butter and garlic.
- (If you don't have a rack in your roasting pan): cut 4 large pieces of kitchen twine( double the size of the length of the roasting pan). On top of the 'under the turkey ingredients', place 2 pieces of string over the length of the pan a few inches apart from each other. And the other 2 over the width (creating a 'hashtag symbol'). The turkey will be placed on top of this for easy removal after roasting.
- So place the turkey on top of the pieces of twine inside the roasting pan with the breast side up. Loosely tie the 8 pieces of string on top of the turkey or just tie every set of 2 strings (on each side) and let them hang over the edge of the roasting pan. Both methods work; letting them hang outside the roasting pan keeps them clean though (if you don't want your finger to get greasy when lifting the turkey out after roasting).
Roasting the turkey
- Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Now pour half of the chicken broth/stock over the turkey. Slide it back into the oven and roast for 45 minutes. Now pour the remaining chicken broth/stock over it and roast for another 45 minutes. Your turkey will already start to turn golden brown.
- After another 45 minutes, baste with pan juices and keep repeating this until your turkey is done (so baste - roast for 45 minutes - baste - roast for 45 minutes etc). Once the turkey becomes (too) golden brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil.
- The turkey is ready when it has reached an internal temperature of 170F/76C in the breast or 180F/82C in the thigh. To check for doneness, stick a meat thermometer in the breast or thigh. Make sure to not enter the cavity. Best reading results are in the middle of the breast or thigh. Another way is check the temperature of the stuffing by moving the thermometer all the way into the center of the stuffing. It should read 165F/74C.
- Take the turkey out of the oven. If you used a rack, you can probably just slide the turkey off the rack onto a large serving platter. If you used a regular roasting pan, take the turkey out of the roasting pan by lifting it up and out by the strings you spread out before putting the turkey on it. Let the turkey rest for 15-30 minutes before craving it. In the meantime make a gravy out of the pan juices.
- All you have to do is scoop (some of) the pan juices and the roasted vegetables into your blender bowl and pulse until you have a smooth sauce/gravy. That is if you use a rack in your roasting pan. If not, scoop around the twigs of herbs. I wouldn't necessarily blend them in the gravy.
- Crave the turkey so you can serve pre sliced turkey meat or bring to the table whole and crave after everyone has seen your beautiful roasted turkey!