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.