Rosemary and Peppercorn Brined Turkey

Rosemary and Peppercorn Brine Turkey
Ingredients:
Turkey
Salt
Dried rosemary leaves
Whole black peppercorns
3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
2 small-medium onions, roughly chopped
Poultry seasoning
Vegetable oil or butter

1-3 days before you are ready to cook your turkey, rinse it off and put it in a 5 gallon bucket or a pan big enough to hold the turkey and cover it with water. Fill it up with cold water, making sure your turkey is fully covered. For your brine you will use 1/2 cup salt for every gallon of water. Add salt, 1 container dried rosemary leaves, and 2 palmfuls of whole black peppers into the water. If your turkey is sticking out of the water at all, cover with a clean rag. It will absorb the water and keep the turkey wet. Keep the turkey in a cold (below 40 degrees) place for 1-3 days until you are ready to cook it.

The day you are ready to cook the turkey, preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Pull turkey out of brine and dry off with paper towels.
Stuff the cavity of the turkey with some of the celery, carrot and onion. Put in a large roasting pan and put the remaining celery, carrot and onion in the bottom of the pan. Rub the top of the turkey with vegetable oil or room temperature butter. Season with poultry seasoning and a little salt and pepper. (Don't use too much salt, it was in a brine)

Put turkey into a preheated oven with the legs in the back for 30 minutes. (The turkey should be golden brown). Pull out of oven and cover only the breast with tin foil. Leaving the legs exposed, put back in the oven with the legs in the back and drop the oven temperature to 350. Leave in the oven until the breast temperature reaches 161 degrees. (If you have a 15 pound turkey, it will be about an hour and a half). Pull out of the oven when the breast is 161 degrees. Cover with foil and let it rest for at LEAST 30 minutes. This will let the juices re-distribute.

Carve and serve

Turkey noodle soup

Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
Roasted cooked turkey, diced
2-4 carrots, peeled and diced
2-4 celery stocks, diced
1 onion, diced
Turkey stock (or water will work, but you will need a base)
Dried homemade (store bought) egg noodles
Ground sage
Thyme leaves
Salt
Turkey base (only if your stock needs more flavor or if you're using water)

Bring your stock to a boil (or water with base added to make a stock) and add vegetables to simmer until cooked. When they are starting to get tender, add turkey. Add noodles and cook until they are tender, but not mushy. (If you made a thick soup like I did, pull the veggies and turkey out and set aside while your noodles cook and add them back in at the end so the noodles have liquid to cook in).

Once everything is cooked and in the pot, season with salt (if needed. If you're using a base, they are really salty already so check before you add extra salt), add a little ground sage and some thyme leaves.


Just a twist on a classic chicken noodle soup

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2008 I decided I wanted to cook my very first Turkey with my favorite side dishes to have at my house for leftovers. After I had planned it all out, I ended up having more people over than I had originally anticipated so I ended up making two small turkeys.

Turkey #1: Rosemary brine smoked turkey
Turkey
Water
Salt
Dried rosemary
Whole peppercorns
Fresh garlic

Find a pot large enough to hold your turkey and fill with cold water. Add about a cup of salt (I use kosher course salt), a couple palm fulls of dried rosemary, some peppercorns (barely broken up) and fresh garlic. Soak turkey overnight. I covered my pot and turkey with a rag so that the top stayed wet as well. When the turkey was finished with it's brine bath, I had it smoked.

Turkey #2: Herb butter turkey
Herb butter:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh ground pepper
2 Tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1/4 cup fresh sage, minced
1 clove garlic, crushed very fine

Combine in a small bowl and mash with fork until completely mixed.

Turkey:
1 Tbsp pepper
2 Tbsp poultry seasoning
2 onions
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
3 rosemary sprigs
1/2 bunch sage
1 bay leaf
Herb butter

Mix pepper, salt and poultry seasoning. Apply liberally inside turkey cavity. Put rosemary and sage in cavity. Put some root vegetables in cavity. Rub herb butter under the skin. Rub butter all over the turkey and spice liberally with the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning mix. Put on top of vegetables breast down so juices drain into breast meat. Add a little water to vegetables. Put a little foil on top of turkey.
Roast at 325, 18 minutes per pound.
165 is the finished temperature (take out 10 degrees early and let sit)
[Check thickest part of thigh for temperature]

Turn turkey over and remove foil for the last 20 or so minutes to let turkey brown on top.
About every half an hour I would baste the turkey with the herb butter broth.





Along with my turkey I made sour cream and chive mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Yum!