This was my first attempt at a Thanksgiving turkey. For me, it was a great success...the brined meat was tender and juicy, the meat was cooked through, and my Mom's trusty advice worked beautifully. The bird was an 8 pound breast (big for a breast). The process involved a 12 hour white wine and herb brine, about 2 1/2 hour roast, and a delicious white wine basting sauce.
For the Brine:
I used a big soup pot, which only covered about 3/4 of the bird with liquid...therefore, I got up at 3am (actually 6am because I snoozed my alarm a bit too long) to flip it...overall, it worked well for an 8 pound turkey breast.
Ingredients:
1. 10 cups water
2. 1 cup kosher salt
3. 3/4 cup brown sugar
4. About 1 cup white wine
5. 1 Tablespoon whole peppercorns
6. 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
7. 5 Cloves garlic, crushed
Directions: Heat all the ingredients together in a big pot and stirred to make sure everything was dissolved. Cool completely. Rinse your turkey with cold water and place in brine. If you can, make sure the bird is completely covered (add more wine for this) or turn after 6 hours. The bird can be in the brine for about 12 to 16 hours. Keep in the refrigerator.
**Note: I basically threw stuff in...brines are mostly about the amount of salt to water. You can add whatever flavors you like really (sweet, savory...I like white wine).
Roasting the Turkey: Ingredients:
*Your brined turkey
*Several large sprigs fresh rosemary
*Several sprigs of sage
*Several sage leaves
*1 whole garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
*1 Tablespoon salt*1 teaspoon ground black pepper
*3 Tablespoons olive oil
*4 Cloves garlic, crushed
*1 Tablespoon lemon juice
*1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (or just more fresh herbs)
*1/2 cup white wine
*Other aromatics: apple cores, lemon cut in half, onions
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove turkey from brine and give it a quick rinse to remove excess salt.
2. Set turkey in the center of a roasting pan, breast side up.
3. Chop up about 1 sprig of rosemary, 4 leaves of sage, and 1-2 sprigs of thyme finely. Mix with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to make an herb rub. Set aside.
4. Take the remaining rosemary, sage, and thyme that have not been chopped and place in the cavity of the turkey breast. In addition, place the halved garlic bulb and halved lemon inside. If you have any more aromatics, place them in the cavity as well.
5. Apply the herb rub to the entire outside of the turkey and under the skin if you can. Make sure the whole turkey has been rubbed with olive oil (add more oil if needed).
6. Sprinkle the top of the breast with poultry seasoning.
7. Place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast (I had no idea where this was, so I just would check the temperature at multiple locations).8. Pour the 1/2 cup wine in the roasting pan and if you want place chopped onions in there too.
9. Place in the oven (center rack) and roast at 325 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours. (usually 20 minutes per pound of meat). You are looking for an internal temperature of about 165 degrees (it is done at 170, but the temp will continue rise once the meat is removed from the oven and covered with foil for a few minutes). 10. Be sure to baste every 20 minutes or so with the following basting sauce.
11. To make sure the turkey is done, test multiple thick parts of the breast with the thermometer. Look for a temp of about 165 degrees.
**I increased the temp to about 375 for the last 30 minutes to brown the skin a bit more.
12. Remove from oven and cover with foil...allow to rest at least 30 minutes.
My Mom's Amazing Basting Sauce:
Ingredients:
*About 2 cups white wine (my mama taught me well)
*1 stick unsalted butter
*About 1 tablespoon rosemary, dried
*About 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
*Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Melt butter and combine all ingredients. Baste turkey every 15 to 20 minutes with the sauce.
Thanks mom and thanks everyone who made my first turkey-making experience amazing. I love all the taste-testers and thanks Jesse for teaching me to carve! :)
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