The ONLY Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe You Need
Equipment
- 1 Large Brining Bag
- 1 Roasting Pan
- 1 Roasting Rack
- 1 Boning Knife
- 1 Slicing Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Baster (This is all up to you. I just use a large spoon to baste my turkey.)
Ingredients
- 1 Turkey
- 2 Gallons Brown Sugar and Herb Brine
- 3 tbsp Whole Butter
Instructions
Preparations leading to Turkey Day
- Have your turkey thawed out by the Monday leading to thanksgiving.
- Remove from bag and drain well. Make sure to remove the neck, giblets and any chunks of ice that may be stuck inside.
- Place the turkey breast side down in your brine bag, add about 2 gallons of your prepared brine to your bag and seal up well. You can place this into a large pot, clean bucket or even one of the drawers in your refrigerator.
- For a turkey under 20#, brine for about 36 hours. Anything larger you can go up to 48 hours.
- By Wednesday your turkey should be ready to come out of the brine. Remove it from the bag, rise it off gently and pat dry.
- Make sure the legs are secured in the plastic holder that comes with your turkey, and I like to tuck the wings under the body. It just gives a better presentation and helps the turkey sit up better.
- Place your turkey into a roasting pan on a roasting rack, put back into your refrigerator and allow to air dry until Thursday.
Cooking your Turkey
- Preheat oven to 325℉, fan on if you have that feature. If not id do 350℉
- Rub your turkey down with some whole butter, you don't need a lot. This just helps the skin start browning.
- Place your wired thermometer between the thigh and breast, into the thickest part of the turkey.
- Put your turkey into the oven and baste about every 45 minutes. If your skin is getting a little darker than you'd like, you can tent it with some foil. Make sure to rotate occasionally so the skin browns evenly.
- When your turkey reaches around 145℉ internal, I bump the oven up to 350℉ just to help the skin brown more and get nice and crispy. Finish cooking until it reaches an internal of 165℉. At this point you can remove from the oven and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Your welcome to carve it up anyway you'd like, but I like to remove the breasts and slice them individually, and the shred the dark meat from the legs.