Rotisserie Turkey Breast With Basic Wet Brine Food

ALTON BROWN'S BRINED TURKEY

Steps:

• 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.
• 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 rack of roasting 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. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and cover the breast with a foil triangle. Then 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.

HERB ROTISSERIE TURKEY BREAST

Steps:

• 1. Mix vegetable broth, kosher salt and brown sugar. Heat on stove until salt and brown sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and cool.
• 2. Place turkey in a stockpot and add vegetable stock mixture. Add turkey breast to cooled mixture. Finish filling the stock pot with water until turkey breast is covered. Place in refrigerator to set overnight. (When refrigerator space is limited, place in a LARGE zip bag, zip closed and put in a cooler with ice).
• 3. Next morning, mix mustard, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and herbs.
• 4. Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Place garlic cloves and some herb mixture gently under the skin of the turkey breast. Cover the rest of the turkey breast with herb mixture, saving some to baste on turkey while roasting (if you've used most of it on the turkey before roasting, just make up some more of the herb mixture for basting.) Place turkey in a container to marinate several hours or overnight.
• 5. If cooking on a rotisserie, wrap turkey a few times with cooking twine to hold together on the rotisserie. Place turkey on spit and cook on rotisserie at 20 minutes per pound. If roasting, place in a 350 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes per pound. When finished cooking, be sure and let turkey "rest" at least 30 minutes before carving.
• 6. Baste turkey breast with herb mixture about every 30 - 45 minutes of roasting time. The EVOO and paprika will allow the turkey to brown well.
• 7. When finished with slicing your meat off the bone, save the carcass and place in a pan with water and chicken broth to remove the remainder of meat and make some turkey soup. Be sure and save your turkey drippings for some of the most flavorful turkey noodle soup.