You know how sometimes you cook a turkey and no matter how much basting you did it still came out sorta of dry? I remember my mom's turkey was sometimes like that. But then one year when she was like, "Nah, I don't feel like making Thanksgiving dinner." I was like, "WTH!?! We always celebrate Thanksgiving!" So, of course I took it upon myself to cook the entire dinner and with the help of the booger we have been doing this for the last couple of years.
So, now we always use Alton's turkey recipe. The first time I used it I didn't think it was gonna make a huge difference or that the turkey was gonna be super moist or anything. I thought it would be a small change, but you wouldn't freaken believe the difference! It was super moist and the left overs were freaken delicious!
The recipe takes a bit of work though because you have prep and brine overnight, but trust me it's way worth it. As Alton would say, "Your patience will be rewarded." So, if you don't have a recipe for your turkey yet I highly suggest this one. And if you don't believe me on how awesome the recipe is just go onto the original recipe on the Food Network site and read the hundreds of comments.
Side note: This recipe has been the number one recipe on the Food Network site for the past six years. How about them apples??? :P
Good Eats: Romancing the Bird -Playlist - For a more visual example here's the episode of Good Eats where Alton uses the recipe. It's the whole episode so if you want to skip background information (e.g. What the pilgrims and Native Americans ate at the first Thanksgiving) then skip to video two at around 6:50 in to start the recipe.
Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey
Ingredients
- 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 gallon vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
- 1 gallon heavily iced water
For the aromatics:
- 1 red apple, sliced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup water
- 4 sprigs rosemary
- 6 leaves sage
- Canola oil
Directions
Click here to see how it's done.
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, 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 to 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 skinliberally 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. Set the thermometer 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.
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| Sorry for the crappy pic. I used my phone for the picture since it's from a recipe book. |
2) Philadelphia 3-Step Midwest Cheesecake- Easiest cheesecake recipe ever and it's pretty darn good too! The recipes calls for whole strawberries to put on the cake, but unless all your strawberries are of the same size it's gonna look funky. I usually just slice my strawberries long wise and place them on the cake from the inside out; it makes a pretty flower looking design.
Philadelphia 3-Step Midwest Cheesecake
Prep Time- 10 minutes Bake Time - 40 minutes Makes 8 servings
2 Packages (8 ounces each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 ready-to-use graham cracker crumb crust (6 ounces or 9 inch)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups whole strawberries, stems removed
2 tablespoons strawberry jelly, heated
Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended.
Pour into crust.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Spread sour cream over cheese cake. Top with strawberries, stem side down. Drizzle with jelly.
I also have an apple pie recipe with a crunchy crumb top somewhere but I have to find it. I'll update once I find it. :) If you guys have some cool recipes it would cool if you shared them too. I'd share my mom's stuffing recipe if I knew how she made it. It's one of my favorite dishes, but she's the only one who makes it. Perhaps I'll get it out of her. :P
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