Brined Turkey Breast

Brined turkey breast is definitely the choice for my small family.  But I heard that deep-fried turkey is also very good.  Someone told me if I ever tried a deep-fried turkey, I won't switch back.  Since I don't have a deep-fryer for turkey, brine turkey is sufficient for me.  This turkey doesn't have the turkey smell at all, I am not sure whether it is because it only has white meat or because I added ginger into the brine and also lemon slices into the cavity before roasting?   Anyway, since whatever I did this time worked, I will keep doing it.

Moist and juicy carved turkey breast.  This time I carved it the American way instead of the Asian way.  Haha...  You can see my Asian carving under Turkey posts.

My brine:  In a large saucepan, add 2 c. water, 3/4 c. kosher salt, 2 Tbsp. chicken granules, 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, 4 slices of smashed ginger with skin, 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary, 1 Tbsp. dried sage and 3 Tbsp. honey.  Boil the above until the salt dissolved.  Set aside to cool.

In a large stock pot, add in the turkey breast (about 5.3 lb), the cooled brine mix and top with cold water until it cover the turkey.  Leave it overnight and a day in the fridge (32 hours or at least 24 hours).

Rinse the turkey breast under running water.  Then, place on top of a lined pan with some chopped out 1 onion, 3 carrots, 8 garlic cloves (keep whole), some celery (I used broccoli stems).  Make butter rub:  I used 3/4 stick of soften butter plus dried thyme, dried sage, rock salt and black pepper, mix well.  Then, rub the inside and outside of the skin with it.  Cut 1 lemon, put it in the cavity of the turkey.  Bake at preheated 325'F oven for 1 hour 45 minutes.  Then, increase it to 350'F and bake for 20 minutes more.  Or until the internal temperature reaches 165'F (20 minutes/ lb of turkey). Rest for at least 20-30 minutes before carving. 

Moist and juicy, just the way I liked it!