The ideal mixture of ingredients for a fantastically moist and delicious turkey. The aroma of these items will fill your entire house with the greatest festive scent. This fragrance is not available in candles!
| Cook Time: | 5 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 3 days |
| Total Time: | 3 days 5 hrs |
| Servings: | 15 |
| Yield: | 1 whole roasted turkey |
Ingredients
- 9 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth
- 1 ½ cups chopped candied ginger
- 1 ½ cups dried cherries
- 4 ounces dried pears
- 4 ounces dried apples
- 2 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 5 leaves fresh sage
- 1 gallon ice water
- 1 (15 pound) frozen whole turkey, unthawed
- 1 white onion, quartered
- 1 red apple, cored and quartered
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, or to taste
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 leaf fresh sage, or to taste
- 3 cups water, or amount to cover
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or as needed
Instructions
- Stir the vegetable broth, candied ginger, dried cherries, dried pears, dried apples, brown sugar, kosher salt, black peppercorns, allspice berries, 3 cinnamon sticks, and 5 sage leaves together in a large stockpot until the brown sugar and salt dissolve completely; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the brine from heat, add the ice water, and stir to melt ice and chill the brine; refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours. Place the still-frozen turkey into the brine and refrigerate for 3 days. On the second day of brining, turn the turkey over in the brine.
- On serving day (the third day of brining), preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the turkey from the brine and place into a roasting pan. Discard the brine.
- Place the onion, red apple, 1 sprig of rosemary, 2 more cinnamon sticks, and 1 sage leaf into a 5-cup microwave-safe measuring cup and fill the cup with enough water to cover. Place into microwave oven and cook on high power until hot, about 5 minutes. Pour the contents of the cup into the cavity of the turkey. Rub the skin of the turkey with the vegetable oil.
- Roast in the preheated oven until the turkey is golden brown and the juices run clear, 4 to 4 1/2 hours. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh should read 165 degrees F (75 degrees C).
- Don’t worry about the giblets, you can take them out come time to cook turkey when the bird is defrosted. However, if you are bothered by them remaining in the turkey you can also let the turkey defrost before you soak it. I, on the other hand, leave them in there. You will be soaking the turkey for 3 days (one reason I leave it frozen).
- I leave my turkey in the garage since it’s cold enough to keep outside.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 985 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 60 g |
| Cholesterol | 308 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 95 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 6881 mg |
| Sugars | 42 g |
| Fat | 38 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is an AMAZING recipe!!! I’ll use it every year!!! I don’t use foil.. I butter the inside of a paper bag and put that paper bag into another paper bag, I pop my Turkey into the bag and no basting necessary!!!
Please, for the love of god, put foil on the turkey! This recipe, while great, does not specify the use of foil and the skin burned to a crisp! Use foil to cover the breaat and legs so that they don’t immediately run. I started my turkey at 425 and dropped to 350 after the first hour, using causation to schedule the rest of my oven-necessary sides around the turkey so that the iven wasn’t opening and closing, releasing the heat and thus drying it out. Turned out great except for the burned skin! Luckily I was watching and put foil
I made this recipe after the holidays on a whim. The gravy my mom made from the turkey drippings was like crack to me, it was a PHENOMENAL hit at my house (and we feed enough to be a small army here). Only thing is, at least with a 22lb turkey, best to thaw it before use
This brine is AMAZING !!!I tried it last year and meant to rate it, but never did. It deserves a try. Not only does it make the house smell good, but the turkey was so moist and delicious, and tasty !! It is worth all the ingredients. All you need to do is sit back and let the turkey cook.I did do one thing different, I used an oven bag! It is so easy and you do not have to tend to the turkey. It will be the PERFECT turkey. Hope this helps. Also, one more note: If you are not able to find dried apples which was hard for me to find, I just used natural cinnamon apple chips out of the produce section at my local market. Worked awesome !!! Enjoy 🙂