Good Eats Roast Turkey

This is the recipe that I have made my for the past three years. It has never, EVER steered me wrong! I showed someone else this recipe and she loved it as well and had to give out the recipe to other people she served this to.  This comes from Alton Brown the host of the late "Good Eats" and host of a melange of numerous other shows. I am going to cut and paste this directly from Foodnetwork.com because sometimes after a while they delete the recipe and I want to keep this safe. It has been the Number 1 turkey recipe for the past SEVEN years for Thanksgiving.

“Ingredients:

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the Brine:

1 cup kosher salt

½ cup light brown sugar

1 gallon vegetable stock

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 ½ teaspoons allspice berries

1 ½ teaspoons chopped candied ginger

1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

1 red apple, sliced

½ onion, sliced

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

4 sprigs rosemary

6 leaves sage

Canola oil

Directions:

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in ca cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you’d like to eat:

Combine the brine, water, and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards 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 8-16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

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, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey’s cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Toast 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. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely Covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.”

Tips: I usually omit the sage and rosemary. If you really like sage and rosemary then you should go ahead and use it.

In these directions they omit the aluminum foil that Alton places over the breast meat after the first 30 minutes of cooking.

Here is a link that I like to watch just before I make the turkey. He explains everything and it only takes 9 minutes. Worth the time! Foodnetwork-Turkey