Thanksgiving Turkey

(This whole process takes about a week)

Thanksgiving Turkey
John Craw

Thaw the bird thoroughly in the fridge over 2-3 days.  Remove everything from the cavity and either throw it away (meaning the stuff inside like the neck and liver) or save it to do what you like with it.

Make your brine:
Make 4 cups of vegetable broth (or beef broth, or chicken or turkey or whatever type of bullion you have to make broth with)
Add 1 cup salt (can buy any kind, non-iodized is probably better)
1 Tbsp crushed dried rosemary
1 Tbsp dried sage
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp black pepper
Boil everything together well.

Take it off the heat and cool it down to nearly refrigerator temperature using ice (or just let it cool on its own if you have time).  This usually takes quite a bit of ice.

Use a 5 gallon bucket, like from Lowes or Home Depot.  You can line it with a roasting bag or even trash liner if you want.  Place the turkey breast down in teh bucket and add the brine.  You may need to add liquid to make sure the brine covers the turkey.  I usually add a thing of cheap apple juice, what water works too.

Place the 5 gallon bucket in the fridge (usually requires removing a shelf temporarily) and keep it there at least 24 hours (48 is better).

On Thanksgiving day, thaw some bacon and set it aside.  Remove the turkey from the brine and save the brine.  Remove the turkey from the brine and save the brine.  Cut the skin in the midline with a razor blade or sharp knife and peel the skin from center off the breast but don't cut it off or tear it (I use a surgical dissection technique where you basically use scissors, place them under the skin while closed and open them between the skin and the meat to dissect it off).  Place the turkey in a roaster or roaster pan held off the bottom with the rack by at least a centimeter or so.  Pour enough of the brine into the roaster to come up to the bottom of the turkey.  Scoop out the spices left in the bottom of the brine and spread them over the exposed turkey breast meat like a seasoning rub (you can add olive oil to it or butter.  I use a little butter.)  Lay the strips of bacon over the turkey breast meat.  Pull the skin back over the bacon covered breast meat and attach it in the middle using tooth pics like straight pins.

Cook the turkey on NO HIGHER than 225 degrees.  It's vital not to cook it at high temperature.  Try not to remove the lid any more than is necessary to keep the temperature even and constant.  I use the meat prove to tell me when the deep portion of the breast near the thigh reaches at least 165 degree (the closer to 200, the better).  A well brined turkey cooks much faster than normal, so don't worry too much about the low temperature slowing it down too much.  It generally does take 3 hours or so to get the internal meat temp up to around 200 where the meat will be very tender.

Take out the tooth pics, take off the bacon, wipe off the spices if you want and carve it up.