Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving Roasted Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving everyone ^__^
Our thanksgiving dinner this year was super scrumptious! despite what has happened to us this week. Started with hubby got so sick on Sunday before thanksgiving, continued with my oldest son then my second son they are all so sick and missed the last couple days of schools.
To make it worst my baby is also getting so sick, then my asthma doesn't seems to go away... *sigh* Dealing with sick family and preparing thanksgiving dinner was quite a challenge. But I think I managed to pull it together.

I brine to turkey on Sunday, and I use this recipe for guidance since I made my own vegetable stock.

http://bbq.about.com/od/turkeybrinerecipes/r/bl71116d.htm

I am tellin ya ... I am stick with that recipe! turkey always turn out super moist and very tasty. My hubby usually eats dark meat on Thanksgiving because he think that the most moist part, but since I use this method he loves the white meat too.


Before you decide to brine turkey, I'd strongly suggest you to read THIS  article because there are so many things we have to pay attention to, like what kind of turkey, how long you brine it for, etc. But it worth every efforts.

So here's how my brining vegetable stock recipe, using the recipe form the above link as a guidance, I made about 2 gallons of stock

Ingredients :

Carrots, cut into large size (you can use whatever vegetable left in the frige)
Onion, quartered
Garlic
Celery, chopped
Bunch of fresh sage, thyme and rosemary
1 cup of salt
1 cup of sugar
2 gallons of water

Method :

Boil the water, then add all the ingredients and let it simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Remove from the heat, covered and let it cool completely.

Wash the thawed turkey thoroughly and place it in the plastic container or stainless steel large pot. Pour brine over top, brine it for 1 hour per pound.
I did mine for 4 days and turkey came out perfect!! love it!

How to cook the turkey :

Wash the turkey again with cool water, pat dry it with paper towel, then rubbed it with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. You don't need to add anything since the turkey is already seasoned.
Place the turkey in the roasting rack.
Slow bake it in 325F oven until done. I put stuffing in mine so I went for 5 hours.



I also made these following side dishes :

Roasted potatoes
Pop overs - Yorkshire pudding
Sweet onion gravy (with garlic, rosemary and dripping juice from the turkey)
Tri-colored carrots with honey glaze and parsley
Green beans amandine

Desert :
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin mini cupcakes with vanilla and cream cheese frosting
Butterscotch chip cookies

Okay, it's 1.30 right now and my kids still do not want to eat lunch, they were too stuffed from last night dinner ... LOL

Happy Thanksgiving again everyone !!!

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