1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey no larger than 20 pounds
brine:
1 cup kosher salt table salt wil lwork if no kosher salt available
1/2 cup light brown sugar broth and water to bring to 1 gallon
1 tablespoon black peppercorns ginger if available
1 or two bay leafs
2 cloves crushed garlic
Optional cup of wine
1 gallon heavily iced water
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion,
sliced celery about 2 stalks
sage
rosemary
optional peppercorns
optional Canola oil
2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38
degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, garlic and sage
in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.� Stir occasionally to dissolve
solids and bring to a boil.� Then remove thebrinefrom the heat, cool to room
temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
At this point you can put some cooking wine or cheap table wine into the
cooled brine, I put a cup of wine Combine the brine, water and ice in the
5-gallon bucket.� Place the thawed turkey(withinnards removed) breast side
down in brine.� If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully
immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours,
turning the bird once halfway throughbrining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.� Remove the bird from brine and rinse
inside and out with cold water.� Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with
paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, , celery and whatever other aromatics you have
thought of, .� rub inside of turkey with the rosemary sage and peppercorns
add to the turkey's cavity along with therosemaryand sage.� Tuck the wings
underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30
minutes.� Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and
reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.� Setthethermometer alarm (if
available) to 161 degrees F.� A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total
of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting.� Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with
foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.