Luci's Tasty Adventures

Thanksgiving would not be the same without a nice juicy turkey.  Please follow my brine instructions, and my baking instructions and you will not be let down.

Aromatics:

1 comice pear quartered
1 yellow onion quartered
1 cinnamon stick
A healthy bunch of FRESH sage, rosemary, thyme, and flat leaf parsley steams

Method:

Heat oven to 500 degrees.

Washed the brine off turkey and dried it completely.  Set up turkey in roasting rack, and tuck wings under the sides of the bird to prevent burning.  Insert all the aromatics into the turkeys cavity.













Prep turkey shield.  This is Alton Brown's part, basically his method is to bake bird in a 500 degree oven on the lowest rack for 30 minutes, then pull turkey out and put turkey shield on the bird to prevent the breasts from drying out.  This idea and method caught my eye because it was based on the temperature of breasts to indicate when you turkey is done vs the hours per pound method most use. 

Turkey Shield:













1 sheet of heavy duty foil made into a triangle
olive oil
1 probe thermometer

Brush olive oil over the foil and press it onto the turkey creating a mold of the breasts.  Remove turkey shield and set aside to use later. 

Rub olive oil all over the turkey and place it in the lowest point of your oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes is up reduce your ovens temperature to 350.  Pull your turkey out and insert your probe thermometer into the deepest portion of the breast meat.  Set your probe thermometer to 161, and put the turkey back in the oven.  My turkey was 15lbs, and took 2.5 hours to cook, including the 30 minutes at 500.  Once your turkey hits 161, take it out and cover it will foil and let it rest for at least a half hour.













Gravy

drippings from the turkey
fat separating measuring cup 
fresh rosemary
8 oz Cabernet Sauvignon
1/3 cup flour
1-2 cans of low sodium chicken broth
pepper and salt

Method:


Remove turkey from roasting pan and set aside.  Add broth and wine to roasting pan over medium heat.  The amount of wine and broth used depends on how many drippings you have. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the roasting pan getting all the bits up, continue to cook it to reduce it down.  Poor liquid into your fat separator, let sit for about 5 minutes. 

Take about 1/3 cup of liquid from fat separator and poor it back into your roasting pan over medium heat.  Slowly whisk in flour, gradually add more the the liquid from the fat separator till you have the consistency you prefer.  Whisk for about 5 minutes add your fresh rosemary, salt and pepper and serve.

The finished product!