Being marooned in Chicago, away from our immediate families, Krista and I have instigated a tradition of hosting our own Thanksgiving dinner and filling our table with good friends.  We have claimed Thanksgiving as “ours” and have hosted every year since arriving in Chicago.  What has allowed us to lay claim to the prestigious title of “Thanksgiving Hosts for Life” is our turkey, which has literally converted a vegetarian into a carnivore (I’m looking at you, B). 

At the risk of losing our claim to being the couple with the best turkey in the land, I feel compelled to share our recipe (stolen without remorse from the tv show Good Eats) and inspire your friends and family to tell tales of this Thanksgiving for years to come:

RECIPE  INGREDIENTS

1 (14-16 lb) turkey
Canola Oil

For Brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp black peppercorn
• ½ tbsp allspice berries
• ½ tbsp candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water

For Aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• ½ onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage

Recipe Instructions

1. Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stock pot and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat, cool to room temp & refrigerate until chilled.
2. Early on the day of cooking (or like we do, late the night before), combine the brine and ice water in a 5 gallon bucket.  Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate for 6 hours.  Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
3. A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees F.  Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish & microwave on high for 5 minutes.
4. Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water.  Discard brine.
5. Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels.  Stuff aromatics w/ rosemary & sage inside bird.  Tuck back wings & coat whole bird liberally w/canola oil.
6. Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cover breast w/a double layer of aluminum foil.  Reduce temp to 350 degrees F.  Cook until thermometer reads 161 degrees F.  A 14-16 lb turkey should take 2-2.5 hours.
7. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

A few tips:

Label your bucket.  Now that you have a Turkey Bucket, make sure nothing else goes inside!  You don’t want next year’s turkey to taste like Mr. Clean from the time you used the bucket to wash the car.

Be Resourceful.  If you don’t have room in your refrigerator, maybe it’s cold enough outside!  This is a little risky, but if you are sure of the forecast and can cover the bucket securely from critters, you can go “au natural” and use Mother Nature’s refrigerator.  Krista and I did this one year and put the bucket, brine and turkey in a large cardboard box on our front porch.  It made me feel very rustic and resourceful.

Make a test chicken!  Not only will you perfect your technique, but you’ll have a great recipe for any time of the year.  Whole chickens are a much cheaper per pound than other meats and you’ll look like Gordon Ramsey to your family.