My First Roasted BrineTurkey!

This is an old post way back on New Year day. I have been here for so many years but I never did my own turkey.  I guess the pure size of it turned me off.  With a small family, the idea of roasting a turkey never cross my mind, until I tasted a brine turkey at Lily's house.  Ever since then, I always wanted to brine a turkey.  My chance came when the turkey was on sales on Thanksgiving week.  I managed to find the smallest turkey there, about 10lb.  I guess holding the smallest young turkey wasn't that intimidating.  Furthermore, this small turkey fit into my large stock pot used for the brine.

My plate of turkey breasts.  I guess instead of carving the turkey, I sliced it the Chinese way instead.  I had no idea how to carve a turkey, hahaha...  I thought the turkey smell was a bit strong. :-P   But the drumstick, wing and bone made the best soup.  I made a big pot of soup with it and served it with noodle but I forgot to take any picture.

This was an old post but I wanted to show you my first brine turkey.  :-)   I will share the brine recipe that I used in the next page.  Is there a way to get rid of the turkey smell?

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes Turkey Brine with some modification.

Ingredients:

(A)

• 1 gallon water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1 Tbsp. chicken powder
• 1 Tbsp. crushed dried rosemary
• 1 Tbsp. dried sage
• 1 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp. whole black peppers
• 1 piece of ginger (about 1.5 inches), smashed

Additional water to cover the turkey

One 10-12lb. turkey

Method:

1.  In a large stock pot, combine (A) and bring to a boil.  Stir to dissolve the salt.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

2.  Wash your turkey, remove the innards and place breast side down into the brine.  Cover the turkey with cold water until the whole turkey is submerge into the water.  Cover the stock pot with its' cover.  Place the stock pot into the refrigerator overnight.

3.  Remove the turkey carefully, drain off the excess brine and pat dry.  Discard the brine.

4.  Preheat oven to 325'F.  Place turkey into a roasting pan and spray the skin of turkey with cooking spray, or you can brush it with melted butter.  Bake for 3 to 3.5 hours.  You can broil it at 500'F (5 minutes) to brown and crisp up the skin in the end.  Check to see if the internal temperature of turkey thigh reaches 180'F.  Reserve the drippings to make gravy.

5.  Rest for 30 minutes before carving.