Anyone use Alton Brown's Turkey Recipe?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I'm going to take the brining bag suggestions and line a cooler with that. Hoping the drippings won't be too salty for good gravy. Thanks for sharing!

As andy said, give it a good rinse. You may be surprised how flavorful the gravy is.

We had our Thanksgiving lunch at work today. One of the employees brined the turkey and baked it at home and made gravy from the drippings and it was fantastic!
 
For those who have seen the video and cooked using Alton Brown's directions, did you use the turkey triangle? It isn't mentioned anymore in the recipe on the Food Network site.
 
For those who have seen the video and cooked using Alton Brown's directions, did you use the turkey triangle? It isn't mentioned anymore in the recipe on the Food Network site.

That's strange. I do use the foil. I shape a double layer of foil to cover the breast and put it on the turkey after the initial 500º F cooking. I leave it on for the rest of the cooking time.
 
As for putting a foil tent over the turkey, what I do is to drape the turkey with cheesecloth that's been soaked in a white wine/butter mixture. I leave that on during the cooking time, basting through the cheesecloth as it cooks.

Always have a fabulous golden turkey.
 
Ok Andy and Katie, thanks for the input. I don't have cheesecloth on hand so I think I'll try the foil and watch it closely. Wonder why that changed? Thank you both for helping me with this dinner and all my questions.
 
Ok Andy and Katie, thanks for the input. I don't have cheesecloth on hand so I think I'll try the foil and watch it closely. Wonder why that changed? Thank you both for helping me with this dinner and all my questions.

There isn't only one right way to roast a great turkey. Katie's cheesecloth method works for her recipe, The foil triangle works with AB's recipe.
 
A lot of recipes also call for cooking with Alton's temperature method (high temp 30 minutes, lower temp the rest of the time) except they cook the turkey upside down for that initial high heat period, then flip over for the rest of the time.

I'm going to use this method.

Obviously the key is ignoring the pop-up thermometer and ignore any recipe or recommendation that says to cook your turkey to an absurd, cardboard-inducing temperature of 185°.
 
Ok, then I'm trying that and will rinse inside and out well. Did my brine today and everyone already thinks it smells like Thanksgiving - I just warned them not to taste because of the salt. Will post again if we're successful!
 
This year I'm brining my turkey

...... I also used a bird that was already injected. I failed to consider that when I bought the thing, so by then I was like what the heck, let me give it a shot, it is just a test turkey! The bird was fantastic! Not salty at all, nicely browned, and flavored to the bone.
For many years now have wanted to try brining a turkey. I’ve heard repeatedly that once you brine a turkey you never go back to the conventional roasting method.
It was suggested to me years ago that I get a food grade bucket w/cover from my local grocery store bakery dept. They buy frosting in 5 gal pails. This is the ideal size container for brining a turkey of all sizes. I washed it out well but it still smelled like frosting. I have let it air dry for a couple years and the smell is gone now. :clap:
I went and looked at Altons recipe as it has gotten rave reviews. I will try his technique this year although I am going to try a different variation on the brine recipe.
Yesterday I bought a 15lb turkey that I thought was not solution injected. Nothing on the package indicated it had been. I found some tips online that said NOT to use a Kosher turkey or one that is self-basting because it will be too salty if you brine it. I even asked the guy at the meat counter if this turkey was self basting and he said he didn’t think it was. When I got home I got out my reading glasses and sure enough in fine print it mentions ingredients that are in the 3% solution in turkey.
Thanksgiving Day is certainly not a good day to be experimenting but I’m sure by the end of the day I will know what to do and what NOT to do next year. I’m certainly not going to take the turkey back and I will still go ahead and brine it and see how it turns out. Glad to see others on here have additionally brined a turkey that was already injected with solution. I may have to re-think the gravy method though as it sounds as if that could be too salty if using the juice drippings from the brined turkey.
My question is how long should a turkey brine for. Everybody has different schools of thought on the subject but a rule of thumb I read somewhere is that it should brine 1 hr per lb. Is that too long? I have also read that up to 24 hrs is ok and also read that brining too long could produce a mushy meat. ? I’ve read so many recipes my head hurts.
So I have a 15 lb turkey and was planning to put it in brine around 6:00 PM Thanksgiving eve removing it at 9:00 AM Thanksgiving morning. Now that I find out that the turkey already has a solution injected into it I wonder if this is too long to brine.
So any suggestions/feedback/tips from those who have success stories with a brined a turkey would be appreciated.

....Also, I can not recommend enough investing in the digital thermometer that Alton uses. One with a probe that can be used in oven. That takes all the guess work out of when your bird is done, you can't go wrong with it! I bought mine at Target for $15ish . Best of luck!

I bought one of these a few years ago too. It works great. You don't have to keep opening the oven door to check temp. Just make sure you have fresh batteries for it before Thanksgiving day ;)
 
I brine my 12-13 Lb turkey overnight. It goes in the brine at bedtime (11:00-12:00) and comes out a little before time to go in the oven. It works well for me.

Be sure to rinse the turkey thoroughly inside and out to remove excess salt solution as that will make your gravy too salty. Otherwise, I've not had an issue with brining.
 
I brine my 12-13 Lb turkey overnight. It goes in the brine at bedtime (11:00-12:00) and comes out a little before time to go in the oven. It works well for me.

I was planning on putting turkey in oven at 9:30AM.
Do you think brining 15 hrs is too long?
I go to bed early:) thats why I was going to start brining around 6:00PM


Be sure to rinse the turkey thoroughly inside and out to remove excess salt solution as that will make your gravy too salty. Otherwise, I've not had an issue with brining.

Yes that seems to be the consensus with every recipe/article I have read so I will make sure I do that. Thank you
 
I have used this recipe with a whole turkey in the past and loved it. I am cooking the turkey (parts) this year for 20+ folks and have bought 2 bone in breasts at Trader Joes. Not sure how I am going to proceed, but proceed I will. Has anyone used this recipe for turkey parts?
 
I was planning on putting turkey in oven at 9:30AM.
Do you think brining 15 hrs is too long?
I go to bed early:) thats why I was going to start brining around 6:00PM

Yes that seems to be the consensus with every recipe/article I have read so I will make sure I do that. Thank you

15 hours should be fine, especially if the turkey is large.

I just fill up the sink with cold water and soak the turkey for ten minutes or so turning once to rinse the turkey. I find that this is a little less messy than rinsing under running water.
 
Another brining newbie here -- would it be safe to use a large Ziploc bag (2 feet x 1.7 feet) for brining? I'm only going for a 12 lb. turkey but having trouble finding a suitable container.

I had entertained thoughts of doing a duck but got my plans changed for me.
 
Another brining newbie here -- would it be safe to use a large Ziploc bag (2 feet x 1.7 feet) for brining? I'm only going for a 12 lb. turkey but having trouble finding a suitable container.

I had entertained thoughts of doing a duck but got my plans changed for me.

If you have a target nearby they have brining bags, although they may sell out soon. The are essentially giant ziplock bags. They are on an end cap with other turkey cooking stuff like basters and lifters.

Also if you are in the grocery store you could ask if they have any empty frosting buckets in the bakery, those work well.
 
Thanks a lot, guys. Not only at Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for the help and the many things I learn here on DC.
 
Back
Top Bottom