Simple Roasted Turkey
You really won't believe the simplicity of this recipe. It will take you longer to brine this turkey then cook it. I have combined several recipes to make this my own. I hope you like it as much as my family. I used the roasting recipe from Roasting a simple art from Barbara Kafka.
Ingredients
- 1 12 lb Turkey I will include different cook times for different size Turkeys
- 1 jar Your favorite brine I use Lunds & Byerlys brand of Brine seasoning
- 1 gallon Water
- 1 cup Brown sugar
- 1 Large plastic bag
- 1 Onion
- 1 Whole bulb of garlic
- 1 Lemon
- 1 stick Butter (I use Hope butter from Hope creamery) softened
- 2 tbls Salt
- 1 tbls Pepper
- 4 pieces bacon
- 1 canister Turkey or chicken broth
Instructions
- Put brine/brown sugar/water in large pot and bring to a boil. Let the mixture cool and then put the mixture and turkey into the large plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for two hours or over night.
- Preheat the oven to 500°Take the bag full of brine and turkey out of refrigerator and set aside. Meanwhile, cut the onion into 4 pieces (skin can stay on), cut the garlic bulb in half (skin can stay on), and cut the lemon to 4 or 8 pieces (peel can stay on). All of those ingredients can be left on a cutting board or plate but ready once the turkey is rinsed and dried. Have your bacon, softened butter, salt and pepper ready to go as well.
- Step 1Rinse the turkey and pat it dry. Place the turkey in 18x13x2 roasting pan on a cooking rack. Take the neck and giblets out of the turkey and discard them. Salt the cavity of the turkey, then take the onion, garlic and lemon and stuff the cavity of the turkey. Very carefully separate the skin from the meat of the turkey breast and lather the butter all over the meat underneath the skin. Once that is done carefully place the 2 stripes of bacon on top of the butter underneath the skin. Then salt and pepper the top of the turkey and place the other 2 pieces of bacon on top of the turkey. Loosely tent the turkey with tin foil.
- Step 2The turkey used for this recipe was 12lbs so my cooking time was 1 hour 20 minutes. 15lbs=2hours 30 minutes20lbs=3hours 30 minutesMake sure your oven is clean so the oven doesn't smoke up your kitchen. Last, pour half of the turkey broth in the roasting pan. Your turkey will have excess drippings combined with the reduced broth you will be able to make a fabulous gravy. After 40 minutes of cooking take the foil off.
- After an 1 hour and 20 minutes I used a meat thermometer and checked the temp. You want the turkey to be 190°. The turkey will be dark brown in color if the turkey is getting to well done put the foil back on it.
- After you take the turkey out of the oven let it rest for 20 minutes and then pour the drippings in a pan and place the turkey on a carving board and carve it then serve.Happy Eating!!
