Roasted Brined Turkey : Chicken and Turkey
This recipe is for a 16-18 pound turkey.
Ingredients
16-18 pound Turkey
4 Tbs. unsalted butter(1/2 stick) to coat skin of turkey
1/2 gallon of water
2 1/2 cups kosher salt
2/3 cup firmly packed ligh brown sugar
2 Tbs. peppercorns
2 gallons of ice water (50% ice)
Brining
In 1/2 gallon of water, combine the salt and brown sugar for the brine and bring to a boil for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add to 5 gallon bucket.
Add the remaining ice water.
Remove neck and giblets from turkey and put in 5 gallon bucket. If brine won’t cover turkey add a little more water.
Put bucket in a cold area for 6 to 24 hours.
Roasting directions
The tricky thing about cooking poultry is that the dark meat needs to be about 15 degrees hotter than the white meat. White meat is safe to eat at 165°F, which is the temperature at which salmonella instantly dies. (Though 12 minutes at 140°F will kill it as well, so odds are fairly good that, for a roast, you’ll kill it all on the way to 165°F) The problem is that dark meat isn’t very good at 165°F. Further complicating this is that if the breast meat gets to the 180°F that the dark meat wants to be cooked to, it’s going to be dry, flavorless, and generally unpleasant.
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