Follow these Four Easy tips:
To Have A Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner.
Tip One:
Brine your Turkey
A brine is a salt, water, and seasoning solution that you soak your turkey in; it is one of the easiest ways to insure your turkey stays moist. Turkey is known for easily drying out, so essentially what you are going in super hydrating it, in addition to flavoring the turkey. We have an amazing bringing recipe below pack full of flavor and sure to keep your turkey moist.
Farrha’s Fresh Herb Citrus Brine
2 oranges, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
6 sprigs fresh thyme
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 bay leaves
4 stems fresh sage
4 stem fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves, mashed
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 tablespoon candied ginger
1 tablespoon of peppercorns
11/2 cup kosher salt
11/2 cup honey
1 gallon hot water
1 (7-8 pound) bag of ice
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice in a clean 5-gallon bucket or large zip-top bag. I recommend the Ziploc Big Bags (size large). Place thawed 1 (15 to 20-pound) turkey, with giblets removed, breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate. Or Put the bagged turkey in a clean cooler. Pour the brine over the turkey, in the bag, making sure the breasts are fully submerged. Zip the bag closed. Place the cooler in a cool place, such as your garage or, and allow the turkey.
Use gel ice packs or bagged ice around the zipped bag inside the cooler, if necessary, to keep the brine below 40°F. (Adding more ice directly to the brine would only dilute it.)
After the brining process, rinse and transfer the turkey to a roasting pan and discard the brine. Roast according to your preferred method.
Tip Two:
Cook Stuffing Seperately
Many people do not know that cooking your stuffing in the bird could be very dangerous. Dangerous bacteria such as salmonella can soak in to a traditional bread based stuffing a lot of the time. If the stuffing is then not cooked to a proper 165 degree F (which is actually happens more then you think) you could be consuming that harmful bacteria. Most of the time when the stuffing is cooked to the correct temperature the turkey is then overcooked, so play it safe and keep the bread based stuffing on the side. There are other options to stuffing your turkey below is an aromatic stuffing recipe which is a safe alternative to a traditional bread based stuffing.
Farrha’s Aromatics Turkey Stuffing Recipe
1 red apple, sliced
1 onion, quartered
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Grapeseed oil
Butter
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 roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels, be sure the skin of turkey is as dry as possible. Use tongues to add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary, sage and half a stick of butter. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with oil or butter. For an even moisture turkey add pats of butter under the skin.
Note: If you have a big turkeyand need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup honey for every gallon of water
Tip Three:
Cook Turkey Upside Down
This is another sure way to keep your turkey moist. The white meat of the turkey can be very sensitive. By placing the breast side down when cooking your turkey you are allowing all the juices to flow from the top down through the white meat. This also allows the darker meat to have more exposure to the heat, which is better because it normally takes longer to cook properly.
Tip Four:
Do Not Baste
The idea behind basting is to keep your bird moist. The funny thing about it is… the constant opening if the oven door can cause a flux in temperature which will dry out your turkey. Our recommendation is to trust in Tip One and Tip Three to keep your turkey moist.
We’d love to know what you think about these Thanksgiving day tips. Please fill us in by commenting below.
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