Good Eats Roast Turkey

Good Eats Roast Turkey
(submitted by Penny Thomas; recipe by Alton Brown)

serves 10-12

1 14 to 16 pound local free range turkey (organic if possible)

for the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tbs black peppercorns
1/2 tbs allspice berries
1/2 tbs candied ginger
1 gallon ice water

for the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
canola oil

Combine all the ingredients, except the ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the solids, then remove from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking (or the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5 gallon bucket. Place turkey breast side down in the brine, cover and refrigerate or set in a cool area, like a basement for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once halfway through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on a roasting rack inside a wide low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral oil). Roast on lowest rack of oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of breast and return to the oven, reducing the temperature to 350 degrees. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.