Brining, GET IN MY BELLY GOOD!

For Thanksgiving I mad the turkey for Easter seals luncheon.  I have never used a brine so I was not sure about doing it.  I spoke to a friend that is a chef and she told me that it was the way to go.  She was so very right.  I found a recipe by Alton Brown.  He is one of my favorites.  I followed the recipe but had to fit butter into the recipe. I used a butter compound and slathered the turkey with it (between the skin and meat).  This is the last step. The butter compound I made was with a stick of butter, tablespoon of fresh garlic, rosemary, and sage.   Here is the recipe:
For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced 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

Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. (I turned my turkey down to 350 after about 15 minutes. The skin was getting too brown.   Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

For Christmas Andy and I smoked chickens for the luncheon.  I had to try the brine again.  I was not disappointed.  Brining does wonders to meat.  I will defiantly continue to brine my meat.  I have heard about brining for years but never thought it would make much of a difference.  I was so very wrong.  I am so glad that I tried it.  I can assure you that I will be doing a lot more of this.  It make the meat GET IN MY BELLY GOOD!

Christmas

Over Christmas I did a lot of cooking.  I tried some new recipes but put my twist on them.  I have a real hard time following recipes exactly.  One recipe that I tried and liked was an asparagus dish. It called for

• Flour, for work surface
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
• 2 cups Fontina, shredded
• 1 1/2 pounds medium or thick asparagus
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle (I used a pizza slicer). Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with Fontina. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over Fontina, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

* My twist- I made a white sauce added lemon and the fontina.  I put the sauce on the asparagus. 

My Mom found this in a magazine.  It was good.