HOW DO YOU BRINE A TURKEY ( 21 LBS) AND WITH WHAT?

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

Directions

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

This is a fantastic turkey :)

FOR THE BRINE--

Combine:

8 cups water

2 cups pure maple syrup

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup brown sugar

6 whole cloves

6 bay leaves

1 T whole black peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

Add:

16 cups ice cubes

1 fresh or frozen (12=14 lb) turkey, trimmed, goblets removed (thaw if frozen)

2 gallons cold water, or as needed

FOR THE CIDER BASTE

Combine; Boil:

1 cup apple cider or juice

¼ cup molasses

Combine water and next 7 ingredients for the brine in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk until salt and sugar are dissolved.

Add ice to brine. Place turkey in a 4-gall0n bucket and pour the brine mixture over it. Add cold water until turkey is immersed, then refrigerate; brine for at least 2 hours and up to 24.

Combine cider and molasses in a small saucepan; boil 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees; line a roasting pan with heavy-duty foil/ Remove from the brine (discard brine) and prepare for roasting as in figure 3 and 4. Place turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Add a few cups of water to the pan.

Roast the turkey 45 minutes, and then remove from the oven. Using a pastry brush, paint the turkey with some of the cider mixture. Tent with foil; roast another 45 minutes, then brush with the basting mixture again. Roast an additional 1 ½ hours, brushing 4 more times (keep the foil tent on the turkey as it roasts). Cook until turkey registers 170 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. Allow to rest for 20- 30 minutes before carving.

Keep in mind your bird is bigger than the one called for here so you will need to adjust your cooking time to ensure proper temperature.

According to Tyler Florence, this is how it's done:

3 gallons of cold water in a very large stockpot

2 cups Kosher salt

1 cup granulated sugar

Handful each of juniper berries, peppercorns, and allspice, rosemary, thyme, and a bay leaf

a whole bulb of garlic sliced in half

Place all ingredients in stockpot and stir from bottom to top until salt and sugar are dissolved and ingredients are well mixed. Grasp the turkey by the legs and slowly lower into the brine. Let it marinate for 12 hours or overnight.

He says to just eyeball the herbs and spices...looked like he used about 1/4 cup of each.

brine turkey 21 lbs

You do not save the brine you used to brine it, it gets tossed out because it would be too salty. But you still cook the turkey as usual after brining. So the dripping from the roasting pan can be used for gravy. Stuffing the turkey can have problems with salmonella, so dressing is recommended. Not because of the brining, but just because stuffing can slow the cooking of the turkey, causing the bacteria inside the turkey to grow, and possibly sickening your family. On the Food Network show on Thanksgiving this week (which is on their website, and may repeat) they showed a stuffing that is used to flavor the turkey, but is also thrown out after cooking. It was Giada De Laurentis' recipe. Giada cut an orange, a lemon, and had sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary just put inside, haphazardly, then cooked with the turkey. I'm going to try that one myself this year. Have fun with it, don't stress out over perfection, or being a slave to unchanging tradition.

They sell jars of brining salt/spices at Vons in the produce section. Basically, you mix up the brine in a 5-gallon bucket (you can get a new clean one at Home Depot) and let the thawed turkey sit overnight (12 to 14 hours). Be sure to remove the giblets and stuff before you brine the turkey. Then you let it sit and drain, and then prepare it as you normally would.

Have your turkey thawed out.

Do it tomorrow afternoon and let it sit all night (in your garage? if you are in a cold area). Or make space in your fridge, if possible.

Put:

3 gallons water with lots of ice in it

2 large cans chicken stock - the big family can

3 T pepper corns

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup salt

I like to heat up the stock, add the sugar, salt, pepper corns to that and warm so it dissolves. Then, add it to the ice water. Add more ice if necessary, if they melt b/c of the heat.

Submerge bird breast side first and let sit, 8 hours.

Take turkey out of brine and let sit on lots of paper towels for about 15 mins to drain.

Proceed as you'd like with the cooking.

Rinse the turkey with water. Rub salt. Put turkey in a bucket , fill with water , put in fridge, do this overnight. The turkey should be soaked in that brine solution.

Don't brine it for more than 12 hours. I've made that mistake before, the turkey starts to get pickled.

well I lather my bird in butter and put in the oven for around 4-6 hrs and I take it out about every hr and loather it again and again in butter.hen the 4-6 hts is up I cut into it and see if it is cooked all the way.I would cook it on 350-400.When I make stuffing I use chicken broth instead of water,Gives it a Great taste!