Good Eats Roast Turkey
Recipes » Main Dish » Poultry - Turkey
From Alton Brown's fantastic show.
Brining the bird is the key to moist meat. Made this again this year, only brined in just water instead of stock to save some dough. Again, the bird turned out perfectly. Growing up, I hated white meat because it was always dry and grinding on your teeth , now I love white meat. Cook time includes the brining time.
"Brining recipe and description was supreme. Important note -- I know Alton Brown has previously said that "stuffing is evil". This is one of the very few areas where I part company with him -- clearly, stuffing is mandatory. I deviated from this recipe because I couldn't bear to skip the traditional bread stuffing, but used the brining and roasting technique completely as described, and can vouch for it. (In my case, the timing was exact and the bird came out so moist that several tablespoons of juice came out on my first cut. Beware!) Fantastic." - stevemurYield: 12 Servings Ready in 1 days
Cuisine: AmericanMain Ingredient: Turkey
80% would make again (reviews)
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Notes Good Eats Roast Turkey Preparation
1. Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stock pot and bring to a boil.
2. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
3. Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5 gallon bucket.
4. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours.
5. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
6. A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees.
7. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
8. Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water.
9. Discard brine.
10. Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels.
11. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage.
12. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
13. Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500F for 30 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F.
15. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F.
16. A 14-16 pound bird should require a total of 2-2 1/2 hours of roasting.
17. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
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photo by 
mermaiden
Alton Brown thinks stuffing is evil, but I don't. I did use the brining technique described here, but obviously skipped the aromatics and went with stuffing. Sorry Alton, I still absolutely love your show!
photo by 
stevemur
photo by stevemur
photo by mermaiden
I couldn't bear to skip the bread stuffing, but the turkey was brined and roasted with the technique described here.
photo by stevemur
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Good Eats Roast Turkey Reviews
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This is NOT the original recipe, and it is a shame it comes up first on the search for it.
Brine, by definition needs SALT, to be, well, brine. There is a scientific reason for the salt and water to be in the exact measurements as stated in the original recipe. The stock and allspice berries, peppercorns, etc should not have been omitted and called Good Eats Roast Turkey. And NEVER STUFF A TURKEY! Did the OP ever watch the episode? Stuffing slows down cooking, breeds bacteria and the 'aromatics' listed wouldn't have anywhere to be if there was nasty stuffing in the cavity! Go to the Food Network and get the recipe. |
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this isn't the complete Alton Brown recipe for Thanksgiving turkey.... I'm not sure how it would turn out but the original is amazing.... for the original recipe goto Food Network.com and search for Turkey under Alton Brown... my dad is a big fan of the original recipe and he is normally not a turkey person... I was always told do it right or don't do it all and this recipe needs every ingredient in my opinion to work...
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This was my first time cooking a turkey, I made it for my husband when he was home for R&R... (Thanksgiving is his favorite meal) He said it was better than his moms! That's the highest of compliments!
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Hi I'm across the pond in the UK found this Recipe last year and gave it a try. FANTASTIC ! just doing now for this year too ! I recommend it 1000% thanks and Merry Christmas :)
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Finally broke down and made this for thanksgiving this year After discussing it forge last few years - absolutely incredible! Best turkey I've ever eaten.
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Well I found the recipe that AB used and his brine called for vegetable stock as well, was that purposely omitted? And it said to brine for 8 to 16 hours, this recipe says 6. But either way sounds good and can't wait to try
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Can you do this to a turkey breast or does it HAVE to be a whole turkey?
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I have made this for 3 years now! I do always rinse the bird well after brining so it's not salty and it
does not take away the flavor or moistness! I will forever brine a turkey and thick pork chops!
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I've been dying to try this technique ever since I caught a re-run, late night, after Thanksgiving this last year... I am a huge AB fan and he's never let me down before so I figured this would be awesome!! Glad you posted this, it's great to see others have tried it and loved it! I may just have to pretend it's Thanksgiving in February! Lol!
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For Thanksgiving this year we prepared three different turkeys. Our traditional stuffed roast turkey, a smoked turkey and for the first time we brined a turkey using this recipe (I'm a huge Alton Brown fan). I followed the directions exactly and the results were INCREDIBLE! The turkey was beautiful and perfectly cooked. The skin was crunchy and aromatic, the moistness of the meat was unbelievable, and the flavors were subtle and balanced. Even the leftovers remained moist and savory. The only issue I had was when some of the juices started smoking while cooking at 500°. That made me a little nervous but once that 30 minutes was up there were no more issues! Thanks for posting this excellent recipe and for making our Thanksgiving yummy!
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Brining recipe and description was supreme.
Important note -- I know Alton Brown has previously said that 'stuffing is evil'. This is one of the very few areas where I part company with him -- clearly, stuffing is mandatory. I deviated from this recipe because I couldn't bear to skip the traditional bread stuffing, but used the brining and roasting technique completely as described, and can vouch for it. (In my case, the timing was exact and the bird came out so moist that several tablespoons of juice came out on my first cut. Beware!) Fantastic.
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Made this recipe again and also used an injection kit alongside it. It just doesn't get any better!!!
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WOW... this was delicious... I don't think I'll ever roast another turkey without doing it this way.
I will note that though it certainly had no ill effect on the outcome, my turkey's skin blackened a bit more than I would have wanted during that first 1/2 hr, but it's probably just because my oven gets really hot... I'll have to go lower than 500 degrees next time. |
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[I posted this recipe.] |
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