Brined Herb Crusted Turkey With Apple Cider Gravy Food

APPLE CIDER-BRINED TURKEY WITH SAVORY HERB GRAVY

Steps:

• To prepare brine, combine first 8 ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until sugar and salt dissolve. Cool completely.
• Remove giblets and neck from turkey; reserve for Savory Herb Gravy. Rinse Turkey with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Stuff body cavity with orange quarters. Place a turkey-sized oven bag inside a second bag to form a double thickness. Place bags in a large stockpot. Place turkey inside inner bag. Add cider mixture and ice. Secure bags with several twist ties. Refrigerat for 12 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees:.
• Remove turkey from bags and discard bring, orange quarters, and bags. Rinse turkey with cold water; pat dry. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Place garlic, sage, thyme, parsely, onion, and broth in the botom of a roasting pan. Place roasting rack in pan. Arrange turkey, breast side down on roastick rack. Brush turkey back with 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake at 500% for 30 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• Remove turkey from oven. Carefully turn turkey over (breast side up) using tongs. Brush turkey breast with 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into meat party of thigh registers 170 degrees. Remove turkey from oven; let stand20 minutes. Reserve pan drippings for Savory Herb Gravy.
• Directions for Gravy:.
• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add turkey neck and giblets; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Add water and next 7 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is reduced to about 2 1/2 cups (about 1 hours). Strain through a colander over a bowl, reserving cooking liquid and turkey neck. Discard remaining solids. Chill cooking liquid completely.Skim fat from surface, and discard. Remove meat from neck; finely chop meat. Discard neck bone. Add neck meat to cooking liquid.
• Strain the reserved turkey drippings throug a colander over a shallow bowl; discard solids. Place strained drippings in freezer for 20 minutes. Skim fat from surface; discard.
• Place flour in a medium saucepan; add 1/4 cup cooking liquid, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add remaining cooking liquid, turkey drippings, salt and pepper; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

APPLE CIDER BRINED TURKEY

Steps:

• In a 3-to 4-quart saucepan, put the salt, sugar, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and allspice. Add 8 cups of apple cider or juice and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Boil for 3 minutes; then remove from the heat. Add 4 cups of ice-cold water, stir and set aside to cool.
• Have ready a heavy roasting pan large enough to hold the turkey. Place one of the bring bags inside the second one to create a double thickness; then place these bags, open wide, in the roasting pan.
• Remove the turkey from its wrapping. Remove the neck and bag of giblets from the main and neck cavities of the bird. Store separately in the refrigerator for making gravy. Stuff the main cavity of the bird with the orange quarters.
• Fold back the top third of the bags, making a collar. Place the turkey inside the double-thick bags, stand it upright, unfold the top of the bag, and pour the Apple Cider Brine over the bird. Add an additional 2 cups of cold water. Draw up the top of the inner bag, squeezing out as much air as possible; then secure it closed with a twist tie.
• Do the same for the outer bag. Place the turkey, breast-side down, in the roasting pan and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. Turn the turkey 3 or 4 times while it is brining.
• Just prior to roasting, remove the turkey from the brine. Discard the bags, brine, and any cured herbs or spices remaining on the bird. Discard the oranges and ginger. Rinse the turkey under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. The turkey is now ready to be roasted according to your own favorite recipe.

APPLE CIDER TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• Combine 4 cups water, apple cider, kosher salt, sage, rosemary, thyme, and peppercorns together in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil; cook and stir brine until the salt is just dissolved. Remove from heat; add ice cubes.

HERB-ROASTED TURKEY WITH APPLE CIDER GRAVY

Steps:

• To brine the turkey:
• Line extra-large pot or bowl with two 13-gallon (or larger) plastic bags, 1 inside the other. Combine 1 quart water, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, and allspice in large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until salt dissolves. Remove from heat. Add 1 quart cold water and cool to lukewarm. Pour into plastic bags; mix in remaining 6 quarts water. Wrap turkey neck and refrigerate. Submerge turkey in brine to cover completely, gathering bags tightly to eliminate any air; tie bags closed. Refrigerate turkey in brine in pot at least 18 hours and up to 20 hours.
• Line large roasting pan with 4 layers of paper towels. Remove turkey from brine and drain well; discard brine. Place turkey in prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• For herb butter and gravy:
• Mix parsley, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, and nutmeg in small bowl. Transfer 1/4 cup herb mixture to small bowl; mix in 1/2 cup butter.
• Combine broth and apple cider in heavy large saucepan. Boil until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. Pour broth reduction into bowl. Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter in same saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Whisk in broth reduction, then cream, Calvados, and remaining herb mixture. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until gravy base is thickened and reduced to 2 3/4 cups, whisking often, about 20 minutes. Cool gravy base slightly. (Gravy base and herb butter can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.)
• To roast the turkey:
• Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Remove turkey from roasting pan; drain any accumulated juices from main cavity. Discard paper towels from roasting pan. Melt herb butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Brush bottom of roasting pan with some of herb butter. Return turkey to prepared pan. Tuck wing tips under; tie legs together loosely to hold shape. Place some apple quarters and onion quarters in main cavity. Brush remaining herb butter over turkey; sprinkle with pepper. Scatter remaining apples and onions around turkey in pan. Add reserved turkey neck to pan.
• Roast turkey 1 hour. Baste with 1/2 cup apple cider. Roast turkey 30 minutes. Baste with remaining 1/2 cup cider. Roast turkey until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 175°F, basting turkey every 30 minutes with pan juices and covering breast loosely with foil if browning too quickly, about 2 hours longer (3 1/2 hours total). Transfer turkey to platter; let stand at least 30 minutes before carving (internal temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees).
• Discard apples, onions, and turkey neck from pan. Pour pan juices into large glass measuring cup; spoon off fat from surface. Pour degreased juices into gravy base and bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Boil until gravy thickens enough to coat spoon and is reduced to 3 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes. Season gravy to taste with pepper.
• Serve turkey with gravy.

BRINED HERB-CRUSTED TURKEY WITH APPLE CIDER GRAVY

Steps:

• Brine Combine ingredients for brine. Add turkey and let it brine in refrigerator 2 to 3 days. Turkey Remove turkey from brine the night before and pat dry. Combine rosemary, sage, and butter for herb crust. Salt to taste. Work butter under turkey skin and massage on outside of skin. Tie legs over breast. Gravy Put the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, apples, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and thyme in a roasting pan and season with salt. Arrange the turkey on top of the veggies and refrigerate overnight UNCOVERED! Yes, that's right, uncovered. This will help the skin dry out and become really brown and crispy. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup apple cider in the bottom of the roasting pan. Roast until skin gets brown, about 40 minutes. Lower the oven heat to 350 degrees F for the remainder of the cooking time. Baste the turkey every 30 minutes or so and add more stock to the roasting pan, if needed. Cook about 17 minutes per pound. Once it gets to the proper color, tent the turkey with aluminum foil to prevent it from getting too dark. Cook until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F. Remove from roasting pan to a cutting board and let rest for at least least 30 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil. Strain all the veggies over a bowl to separate them from the stock/mixture. Discard the veggies. Skim off the fat and add it to the roasting pan. This is the fat for the roux. Put the roasting pan over 2 burners and over a low heat and whisk in the flour. Cook until the mixture looks like wet sand, about 4 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in the remaining 1 cup apple cider, remaining chicken stock and the stock/cider mixture. Cook until the mixture has thickened and reached a gravy consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Pour into a serving pitcher or bowl.