Cider Brined Turkey
November 25, 2010 – 4:14 pmYet another recipe inspired by Central Market. I combined a couple of their recipes and my own stand-by recipe to get quite an impressive bird 🙂 We still prefer my stand-by, but this was a fun experiment. The cider led the skin to brown quite a bit darker, and the breast was just a little dry, but still very tasty. This year, we stuffed the bird with Shaun’s favorite stuffing recipe from his folks. To round out the meal, we had homemade cranberry sauce, baked yam, braised brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie.
Cider Brined Turkey with Pan Gravy
Serves 8-12
1 8-12 lb fresh turkey
Canola oil
For the brine:
1 quart water or chicken or turkey stock
3/4 cups kosher salt
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp dried ground sage
2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
2 dried bay leaves
6 quarts apple cider
2 cups ice
For the gravy:
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter or 2 tbsp of turkey fat from the roasting pan
Pan drippings from the roasting pan, fat skimmed off
Turkey stock to make a quart of liquid when added to the pan drippings
Ground black pepper
Salt
Dried thyme
The day before you want to roast the turkey:
In a large pot combine the water and salt and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the all the salt completely, then remove the pot from the heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in the spices, cider, and ice. Refrigerate to chill thoroughly.
At least 10 hours before you want to eat (up to 24 hours):
Rinse the turkey and remove the neck and giblets. Put the neck in a medium pot and cover completely with water (about 3-4 cups). Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 30-45 minutes to make turkey stock. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate.
Put the turkey into a large clean container, such as a brining bag, a stock pot, a clean 5 gallon bucket, or a drink cooler, breast side down.
Pour the brine over the turkey and refrigerate or place in a cool place like a basement for 6-21 hours, turning the turkey over half way through the brining if doing a shorter brine, or with about 4-6 hours left in the brine time if doing a longer brine.
3 hours before you want to eat:
About ½ an hour before the brining time is done, preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Remove the bird from the brine and pat dry. Discard the brine.
Place the turkey on a roasting rack inside a wide, low sided pan. If desired, stuff the turkey with your favorite stuffing or add a quartered onion and a quartered apple to the cavity as aromatics. Tuck the wings under the turkey and drizzle the whole bird lightly with canola oil. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and black pepper.
Roast on the lowest rack of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cover the breast with a double layer of aluminum foil. Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and return the bird to the oven, reducing the temperature to 350 degrees. Set the thermometer alarm to 170 degrees. An 8 to 12 pound bird will take about 3 hours to roast.
When the alarm goes off, remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
15 minutes before eating:
While the turkey rests, melt the butter and stir it together with the flour to make a smooth roux. Add the pan drippings and the turkey broth you made last night, whisking together well. Bring to a boil. Season the gravy to taste with pepper, salt, and thyme to taste. Serve with the turkey.
