Best Turkey Ever!!

I finally got Jeff to actually write down what he does to prepare his turkey. Every year he makes it a little bit different, but this year was my favorite, so I thought I would share. It's a bit involved, but soooo worth it! If you don't have time to do it all, at least make the gravy! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The first thing you want to do is ‘Brine’ the Turkey. This is done one day in advance of Thanksgiving Day. You are going to brine the Turkey for at least 6 hours up to 24 hours. Brine is much like marinating meat, i.e. steak, pork, chicken, etc.



Brining the Turkey
Use a very large pot, bowl, bucket, etc. whatever will allow you to submerge the Turkey in liquid. I used a mop bucket. (Don’t worry, I bought it brand new just for this use.)
· Add 2 cups of cooled vegetable stock (broth) and enough water to your apparatus so the Turkey will be submerged
(Don’t add Turkey yet)
· Add 2 or 3 cups of Salt, Kosher, regular, or sea salt. (I used sea salt)
· Add 1 to 2 cups of sugar; regular or brown (I used regular)

Now you want to stir in the salt and sugar until it is dissolved. Then:
· Add 2 purple onions; quartered
· Add 1 whole garlic bulb (probably 7 to 10 cloves)
· Add approx. 1/8 cup of whole peppercorns
· Add a handful of garlic pepper
· Add 2 tbls. cummin
· Add several sprigs of rosemary (fresh)
· Add several sprigs of thyme (fresh)
· Add several sprigs of Basil (fresh)

If you can’t get these fresh, you can use the dry stuff.

Make sure that mixture is completely cooled before you submerge the turkey, or else the turkey will begin to cook. Stir mixture and then submerge turkey in the mixture. Make sure the turkey stays fully submerged. So if it floats, you can put cans or coke bottles on top to keep it submerged. Keep submerged for at least 6 hours, up to 24 hrs. Overnight is the best. If you don’t have room in the refrigerator, you can substitute the water with ice water and place it in a cool place; covered.

Roasting the Turkey
You want to start preparing your turkey, depending on the size, 3 to 4 hrs. in advance. A 14 lb. turkey should take between 2 and 2 ½ hrs. total cooking time. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. You want to take your turkey out of the brine and wash it off. After turkey has been thoroughly rinsed off, place in a shallow baking pan, on a rack.

Now you want to prepare the aromatic mixture that will go in the cavity of the turkey. Here is what you will need:
· 1 apple; quartered
· ½ purple onion; quartered
· 5 -6 garlic cloves
· ½ lemon
· 2 sprigs rosemary
· 2 sprigs thyme
· 2 basil leaves
· 1 ½ cups water

Take rosemary, thyme and basil and stuff them in the turkey cavity. Take remainder of ingredients and place them in a dish, along with the water, and microwave for 5 min. While these are cooking in the microwave, coat turkey with canola or vegetable oil. When the 5 minutes are up, take the dish out of the microwave and stuff the ingredients that are in the bowl into the cavity of the turkey. Before you place the turkey in the oven, you need to make a triangle out of tin foil, that will cover only the breast area of the turkey. This is so that the breast does not dry out before the dark meat is done. Form the tin foil onto the breast and then take it off and lay it to the side. This is done so that you do not have to later fold the foil over the turkey when it is hot. Go ahead and add 2 cups of chicken broth to the shallow pan to prevent burning. Now place turkey in the oven that is set at 500 degrees and cook for 30 minutes.


After 30 minutes, pull turkey out of the oven and turn oven down to 350 degrees. If you have a digital thermometer that will alert you when it reaches a certain temperature, you want to stick this into the fattest part of the breast and set the thermometer to alert you when it reaches a temperature of 161 degrees. If you do not have this kind of thermometer, then for a 14-16 lb. turkey, you want to let it cook for approx. 1 ½ -2 hours. Be sure to check with a regular thermometer, to see if the meat has reached an internal temperature of 161 degrees, making sure you are placing the thermometer in the fattest part of the breast. Once your turkey reaches 161 degrees, you will want to pull the turkey from the oven and set it someplace where you can let it rest, fully covered with tin foil, for 15 – 20 minutes. This is because the turkey will continue to cook and if you immediately cut into it, all the juices will pour out. So if your turkey came with a pop-up thermometer, first of all, don’t pay any attention to it and secondly, don’t pull it out before or after the turkey is done. Wait until you go to carve the turkey to pull it out. You want to be sure the turkey rests for 15-20 minutes.

Gravy
Some of this you will be able to prepare while your turkey is in the oven. Here is what you will need:
· 3 garlic cloves
· 1 large shallot
· 2 cups chicken broth
· 1 stick butter
· ½ cup flour
· turkey drippings
· 2 tbls. olive oil
. salt and pepper to taste

Chop garlic and shallot and set aside. In small sauté pan, melt butter and add flour. Add flour a little bit at a time, till consistency becomes almost like a thick paste. You will also notice a nutty, almond smell. This is called a roux. This is to thicken sauces. In large pot or sauté pan, add 2 tbls. olive oil and sauté garlic and shallots till they begin to caramelize in bottom of pan. One they are caramelized, add 1 cup chicken broth. Let this simmer for a few minutes. Take all of turkey drippings and add to pan. If this is not going to be enough gravy, then add the second cup of chicken broth, or as much as is needed. Bring sauce to a boil. Then add roux, a little bit at a time, (Do not add all of it at once) continually stirring, until you reach the correct thickness. This has been obtained when you place a spoon in the gravy and when you pull it out, the gravy coats the spoon. Put gravy in blender and puree till smooth. If gravy is as thick as you like it, you are ready to serve. If you would like it thicker, return it to the pot, bring to a boil and add any remaining roux, until you reach your desired thickness. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next...pour gravy on turkey and enjoy! We sure did!!