For Sarah and anyone else...
Okay ladies, so here is my older sister's turkey recipe and when I say it is fabulous... it is fabulous! Hands down the very best turkey I have ever eaten! When we hosted Thanksgiving two years ago, my mother in law kept gushing over the turkey saying that she had never tasted one so delicious.
As for my sisters turkey recipe here it is:
1 (10 to 12-pound) turkey
Remove the neck, giblets, and liver from the cavity of the turkey. Rinse the turkey inside and out under cold running water. Soak the turkey in the brine, covered and refrigerated, for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
Brine:
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 oranges, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
6 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
To make the brining solution, dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water in a non-reactive container (such as a clean bucket or large stockpot, or a clean, heavy-duty, plastic garbage bag.) Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary.Note: if you have a big turkey and need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar for every gallon of water.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels, inside and out. Place breast side down in a large, heavy roasting pan, and rub on all sides with 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature. Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper.
Stuff the turkey with:
1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths
1 large orange, cut into 8ths
1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
Loosely tie the drumsticks together with kitchen string.
Roast the turkey, uncovered, breast side down for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, turn over, and baste with 1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock. Continue roasting with the breast side up until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the largest section of thigh (avoiding the bone), about 2 3/4 to 3 hours total cooking time. Baste the turkey once every hour with 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken or turkey stock.
Remove from the oven and place on a platter. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.
6 comments:
I REALLY recommend cooking the smaller turkeys. I can fit two small turkeys side by side in a large roasting pan. So I do that instead of one big one. This has two good results: the turkey is more moist because it hasn't been cooking for forever and it doesn't take all day to cook. You can cook two small ones in about half the time it takes to cook 1 large one.
I have hosted Thanksgiving at my house probably about 70% of the time since I have been married. Last year I cooked 4 turkeys! I'll probably do the same thing again this year for my crowd. :)
Thank you so much Holly for posting this! I cant wait to try it out!
Tress....thanks for the point on the smaller turkeys. I forgot to add that! Ha! Didn't you have 2 untouched turkeys last year? Hee hee! Guess you thought we'd be hungrier than we actually were!
Holly, I actually used this recipe from you last Thanksgiving and it was the best turkey I've ever made! Everyone loved it.
I used this recipe last Thanksgiving, and my sister used it last Christmas. The family loved it! Best turkey ever! Thanks Holly and Tressa! However, we followed the recipe and both times the turkey was NOT fully cooked after the estimated cooking time. This year we will plan to cook longer so we're not all sitting at the table waiting for the turkey to be done.
I was wondering if I could post this recipe on aprongirls.blogspot.com and make a link to your blog. You can email me at mnielson2@yahoo.com
It looks so delicious and I can't wait to try it, thanks for sharing.
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