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11-07-99 Chicken and Turkey Recipes: Brined Roast Turkey

Debbie,.CA (07:17:01) : Note that you must begin this the night before,
and your refrigerator must accommodate the bird in the pot.
(Recipe adapted from Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers, 1998, Broadway Books.)
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Thursday Dec. 31, 1998.

Brined turkey
Total time required: Overnight for brining; plus normal roasting time
Equipment: 6-gallon stockpot or new, clean plastic wastebasket to hold 15-to-20-pound bird
Large liquid measurer (clean milk jug is good)
Refrigerator shelf to hold stockpot and turkey

For turkey and brine:
1 15-to-20-pound fresh turkey
2 cups kosher salt or 1 cup plain (non-iodized)
table salt
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried sage
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon celery seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Seasoning vegetables for stuffing:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium celery rib, chopped
6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
About 1 1/2 quarts homemade turkey stock (made with giblets from turkey) or canned chicken stock, plus more as needed for gravy as desired

The night before roasting, rinse turkey inside and out with cold water. Remove neck and giblets from cavity and use for turkey stock.

In a very large stockpot, mix 2 gallons cold water with salt, rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, celery seeds and peppercorns, stirring until salt dissolves. Note: Brine mixture can be increased proportionately as needed to cover the turkey.

Place cleaned turkey in pot. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Position a rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 325°.

In small bowl, mix onion, carrot and celery.

Remove turkey from brine and rinse well, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat skin and cavity dry with paper towels. Turn turkey on its breast. Loosely fill neck cavity with onion mixture. Using a thin wooden or metal skewer, pin neck skin to the back. Fold the turkey's wings akimbo behind the back or tie to the body with twine. Loosely fill the large body cavity with the remaining onion mixture. Place the drumsticks in the wire lock or tie together with kitchen string.

Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in roasting pan. Rub well with butter. Tightly cover breast area with foil. Pour 2 cups of turkey stock into bottom of pan. Throughout cooking, add more stock as needed as it evaporates.

Roast turkey, basting all over every 30 minutes with juices from pan bottom (lift foil to baste breast area). Cook until a meat thermometer put in meaty part of the thigh (do not touch a bone with it) reaches 180° - about 4 1/2 hours. (Refer to turkey roasting chart on turkey bag, or use the pop-up indicator.)

Note: Remove foil during last hour to allow breast to brown; re-cover with foil if skin becomes too brown.

Transfer turkey to serving platter and let stand for at least 20 minutes before carving.

Use reserved drippings for gravy. Note: Do not add extra salt to gravy before tasting, as the turkey juices will be salty.

Makes 15 to 20 servings.

Note: Do not stuff this turkey with traditional stuffing; the extra salt in turkey's juices would ruin the stuffing. Instead, loosely fill cavities with seasoning vegetables and bake stuffing in separate pan.

KellyWA (07:11:58) : Brined Roast Turkey
The brine solution makes this recipe spectacular

1 turkey (10-14 pounds)
2 pounds kosher salt or 1 pound regular salt
6 to 8 cloves garlic
3 medium yellow onions
2 carrots
3 stalks celery
1 small bunch thyme or sage
Ground black pepper
2 (14-1/2 ounce) cans chicken broth
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Buying the Right Size:

To begin, of course, you have to know how large a turkey is needed. A little more than 50 percent
of a turkey's weight consists of bones, fat and skin. Figure on approximately one pound of whole
turkey per person, or slightly less if feeding a lot of children. Each person will enjoy about eight
ounces of pure meat, using this method. If you like lots of leftovers for sandwiches and casseroles,
be sure to factor that in as well.

Preparation Steps:

If you can, buy a fresh, unfrozen turkey for the best flavor. If you have a frozen turkey though,
transfer it to the refrigerator to thaw completely before it is roasted. A fully frozen turkey can take
up to a whole day to thaw for each four pounds that it weighs (i.e. three days for twelve pounds).

Be sure to remove the packet of giblets from the cavity of the bird. These are the heart, kidneys,
and liver, and sometimes the neck. You can reserve them to make gravy if you desire.

How to Brine:
The real secret is brining: a method of marinating a food item in salted water in order to increase its
moisture content. Amazingly, it doesn't make the turkey taste salty, but nicely seasoned and juicier
than you could imagine. Allow four to six hours of brining time in the refrigerator. Choose a pot or
clean bucket large enough to hold your entire turkey and pour two pounds of salt into the cavity and
over the body of the bird, rubbing it into the skin. Pour cool water over the whole bird until it is
submerged, and stir to dissolve some of the salt. Toss in several crushed cloves of garlic for a little
extra flavor if you like. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap. You can turn the turkey over
once or leave it alone for the entire period. In the last half hour of brining, preheat the oven to 400
degrees F. and set the rack on the lowest level.

At the end of the brining time, completely rinse the turkey, especially the cavity, to remove any
undissolved salt. Peel and halve an onion, stashing it in the cavity with several garlic cloves (those
from the brine, if you used them there), a sprig of thyme or sage, and a sprinkling of ground black
pepper. While filling the turkey cavity with stuffing is traditional, this roasting method is for an
unstuffed turkey. Turkey cooks faster and reaches a bacteria-killing temperature more surely if left
unstuffed. Any dressing recipe can be baked in a pan covered with foil to be served as a side dish.

Trussing and Preparing the Bird
:
Using three or four feet of kitchen twine or cotton string, tie the legs together at the ankle. Pull the
string along the sides of the bird, under the wings and around the tip of each wing. Secure with a
firm knot around the neck flesh, or between the wing tips.

Rub the skin well with softened butter. Place the trussed turkey breast-down on a V-shaped rack
or between two wire racks angled into the baking pan. Another two peeled onions, chopped, two
peeled carrots, chopped, and three stalks of celery, chopped, should be strewn around the bird in
the pan. Pour in a cup of chicken broth.

Roasting:

Pop the whole thing in the oven and set your timer for 45 minutes. Next turn the turkey on one side
using tongs or towels at each end, and baste it with additional butter. Roast for 15 minutes, then
repeat on the other side. Lastly, turn the turkey breast-side up to brown, basting occasionally, and
roast until a meat thermometer inserted between the leg and the body registers 165 degrees*. The
breast meat should register at least 165 degrees, but not higher than 170 degrees, or the meat will
get dry. This should take about 30 more minutes for a 10 to 14 pound turkey. For a larger bird,
increase the roasting time on each side by ten minutes.

When the turkey has reached 165 degrees, remove it from the roasting pan to a serving platter or
board, and loosely cover it with a tent of foil. It won't lose heat significantly, and 15 to 20 minutes of
resting time allows you to finish the gravy and heat the stuffing.

Turkey Gravy:

To make gravy using the pan juices, scrape the bottom of the roasting pan with a spoon to remove
all of the brown bits. Remove the large vegetable pieces, skim off the fat and pour the remaining into
a saucepan over medium heat. Add the rest of the chicken stock. If you like giblet gravy, saut‚ all of
the pieces from the reserved packet and chop them small. Add them to the saucepan with the pan
drippings and simmer to reduce the liquid. For a thickened gravy, remove one cup of liquid from the
pan, whisk it together with 1/2 cup of flour, and stir the smooth mixture into the sauce. Simmer until
the floury taste is gone, season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately with the turkey.

Summary of turkey guidelines:

1.Figure on one pound of uncooked turkey per person.
2.Thaw turkey if frozen.
3.Remove giblets from cavity.
4.Submerge turkey in salt water.
5.Rub with butter and roast breast-side down.
6.Turn the turkey, basting with butter each time.
7.Roast until the leg registers 165 degrees F
8.Remove turkey and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
9.Use pan drippings to make gravy.

Total time: approximately 8 hours

*The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends roasting your turkey until a meat thermometer
registers 180 degrees F. when inserted in the thickest part of the thigh for palatability and food
safety. However, the internal temperature given in this recipe should be safe, a USDA
spokesperson said. In any case, no matter which temperature you use, when the meat is pricked in
the thickest part of the thigh, the juices of the turkey should run clear; not pink.