Get:- Organic fresh turkey(s) from Zonotto's; ordered "Willie Bird" 18-20lb turkey.
- For brine:
- 2 gallons water
- 2 cups salt
- 1 cup sugar
- peppercorns (i don't think it really matters)
- For aromatics:
- herb turkey: rosemary, thyme or marjoram, lemon, apple, onion
- southwest turkey: jalapenos, lemon, onion
- For seasoning:
- herb turkey: pepper, oregano, thyme
- southwest turkey: chili, cumin, pepper, cayenne
- For gravy:
- 8 tbsp flour
- 8 tbsp butter
- salt, pepper, thyme, sage, garlic powder, onion powder
- white wine, lemon juice
- chicken stock, depending on the thickness of the turkey boilings
Gravy: - Boil neck and stuff (NOT giblets) in filtered water to cover, at least 2 hours
- Strain into jar (can be done ahead of time)
- When ready:
- Heat 8 tbsp flour in a skillet, dry, until it smells toasty
- add 8 tbsp butter, mix to roux
- add strained broth
- season with salt, pepper, thyme, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, white wine, lemon
- add stock and/or reduce for consistency
- can be fridged overnight
- reheat and add water and serve
Do: - clean and remove neck, giblets bag, and nylon hook
- brine turkey in a metal pot for 18h-24h // (double-bagged oven bags leaked, even in silver bowl). Turn turkey so breast is immursed
- meez the turkey for two hours to bring up temperature
- prep the aromatics  before you get gross with turkey
- place cookie cooling grill in roasting pan
- remove turkey from brine and rinseÂ
- place turkey in roasting pan on top of grill to lift off bottom
- stuff with aromatics
- brush with 8+tbsp melted butter  // don't bother with the underside
- sprinkle with seasonings
- prepare a breast tent to use after the browning pass
- place two thermometers in breast  // avoid touching bone, which causes the thermometer to read high
- if lower thermometer is very uneven, slow down by cooking at 275F for a while, it will even out
- roast to temperature (about 3 hours, longer if you slow down, stop at 159F)
- AFTER it's in the oven, put water in bottom of pan (1qt is fine, the bird makes a lot of water)
- roast at high temp (450F) for 15-20 mins without the breast tent, or until brown
- tent breast with foil to avoid drying
- if turkey is uneven or cooking quickly
- roast at 325-350F in grill or oven with breast tent  // you can increase the heat to speed up cooking a bit.
- cook to 159F, will continue rising as it rests  // it does keep rising! Takes about 15 more minutes for it to get to 162ish
- use an instant-read thermometer to find the cooked parts of the turkey
- heat the gravy, add water for consistency if needed
- carve and serve
References: 2020 Notes: - 17lb organic Willie Bird, fresh
- Brined 20 hours with 1tbsp per cup concentration. Was fine.
- Temp very uneven and also very fast! I slowed it WAY down by reducing temp to 275F for an hour, and it evened out!
- Small bird fit in my soup pot, made brining easy, only took one gallon of water.
- Making gravy ahead was great, always do that.
2019 Notes: - 24 lb non-organic Willie Bird
- Picked up early Tuesday
- Brined 18 hours. It wasn't excessively salty.
- Did the herb brush by mixing the herbs into the melted butter. Much easier!
- Meezed on the counter in the brine for an hour before prep. Could have even gone longer... 2 hours?
- The brine bag was barely big enough, i had to stretch it.
- Red bucket was great. No mess.
- Cooked with two thermometers, stopped at 160F, cooking time was about 3:00 i think?
- Still read low temperatures in the lower portion of the bird :(
- Everyone ate it anyway.
- There was not enough bird, people wanted a lot more.
2018 Notes: - Sourcing:
- The turkey this year was 21.31 lbs. It was not "organic", since those don't run big enough.
- Need to pick up the turkey by Tuesday, because it needs to defrost some. The interior is frozen even though it says "fresh".
- Consider getting the turkey monday so it can come up to temp. I believe it's still basically frozen, and that impeded even cooking.
- Brine:
- The bucket was big enough to hold the brine even though it leaked. Don't use the silver bowl, it spills when the bag leaks.
- Always prep the brine outside! Will definitely spill.
- You'll need 1.5-2 gallons of brine for the red bucket. Premix in the big pot.
- Gravy:
- It's easy to make the gravy too flour-y, don't undercook the roux. Bort said to try corn starch instead.
- Always do the gravy the day before, it takes a long time.
- It's not a ton of turkey fat, so don't be shy with the water + seasonings.
- Baking:
- Starting it at 2pm made it done too soon, I had to turn it off to hold it.
- 2018 Cooking time was pretty short. The breast meat was already almost to temperature before 5pm (2.5-3h) at 325F.
- However, the bottom part of the bird was not fully cooked; internal temps down in the 140s at places lower on the bird, and when Ruka carved it there were some bloody spots lower down on the bird.
- The "20 minutes per pound" guidance is wrong.
- Next year I should figure out some better cooking method that's more even.
- Ruka said to cook the bird breast down until the last hour... "the juices"?
- Convection?
- Let the turkey come up to room temperature first? Or the "cold oven method"?
- Avoid packing the interior with aromatics?
- Longer defrost?
2017 notes: - Brine bags leaked more than just a little bit; maybe buy extra and pressure test a few?
- Going to do the gravy the day before this time.
- The brine spilled again. Surely we could do this in a big pot instead?
- The gravy was too flour-y, don't undercook the roux
2016 notes: - Brine advice from last year was great
- Remember to prep all the aromatics before getting dirty
- Cooking time was about 4 hours for 18lb turkey
- I forgot to start the gravy until too late, which is what happened last year also. Start the gravy as soon as the turkey comes out!
2015 notes: - I brined the turkey with turkey-sized oven bags. Double-bagged each one since they leak a little bit.
- Set up the brine outside! It will definitely spill.
- A 17lb bird took over 2 gallons of brine. Putting it in the big silver bowl helped distributed the brine more evenly so I could use less of it.
- Cooking time was about 3.5 hours
- Can make gravy ahead of time by boiling/rendering the neck
2014 notes: - I brined the turkey with turkey-sized oven bags. Double-bagged each one since they leak a little bit.
- A 14lb bird took almost 2 gallons of brine. Putting it in the big silver bowl helped distributed the brine more evenly so I could use less of it.
- I spilled JUST A LITTLE brine on the counter, but it dripped down the counter and into all the drawers. Took hours to clean up.
- The bag in the big metal ikea bowl worked okay. The bag in the pan did NOT work; half the bird didn't really get covered. Should use a pot or a second bowl next time.
- "20 minutes per pound" cooking time is FIVE HOURS for a 14 lb turkey! Get cracking early.
- It was actually done in more like 3 hours, so the time estimate was stupid.
- The herb turkey was better, probably because of the brine, maybe because of the grill
- The southwest turkey was tasty, although the jalapeno didn't really do much Mike liked the skin
- The water in the pan boiled off, make sure to keep adding water
- I forgot to make any sort of gravy
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