Herb Brined Turkey

This was my first time cooking a whole turkey! I looked at several brine recipes and took what I liked from all of them and made my own brine recipe. I think the turkey turned out great. I made my own vegetable broth so I will include the broth recipe below. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on something I could just make at home! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the turkey before we started cutting into it, so my picture isn't a great as it could have been! I used Alton Browns cooking method. He gives very detailed instructions, which I like. It makes it much harder to mess up!

1 gallon vegetable broth.

2 gallons of filtered water
1 T. olive oil
2-3 carrots cut into big chunks with skins left on
4-5 stalks of celery cut into big chunks
2 onions quartered
3 cloves of garlic with skin on
1 bay leaf

Preheat oven to 425 F. Toss vegetables with olive oil and spread onto a baking sheet. Roast vegetables in oven for about 40 minutes or until vegetables are soft and caramelized. In a large pot bring 2 gallons of water to a boil and then add roasted vegetables and rest of ingredients. Simmer until liquid is reduced to about half, about 1 hour. It may take more time than that, I wasn't paying close attention to time. Strain out vegetables and allow broth to cool to room temperature or chill in the fridge.

Brine

1 gallon vegetable broth
1 C. Kosher salt or sea salt (I found that kosher salt was used most often in the recipes I looked at, but I did find one or two that called for sea salt. One cup of salt was used with either type of salt).
1 T. crushed dried rosemary
1 T. dried sage (I had fresh, so I used 1/3 C.)
1 T. dried thyme
1 T. black peppercorns
1 gallon of heavily iced water

In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to dissolve salt. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in ice water. Wash and dry turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator over night. Yes it is possible to fit the bucket in the refrigerator. I just took one shelf out and it fit fine. You could also use a cooler. Let the turkey sit in the brine for 10 to 16 hours or up to 20 if you have a very large turkey. Remove the turkey, rinse off brine and pat dry.

Aromatics

1/2 onion sliced
1 apple sliced (If you use a red apple, don't be alarmed when your juices have a red tint. Just make sure your turkey is at the right temperature!)
1 cinnamon stick
1 C. water
In a microwave safe bowl, combine ingredients and cook for five minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Insert into the cavity of the turkey along with 4 sprigs of rosemary and 6 sage leaves.

Baking the Turkey

Preheat oven to 500 F.
Place turkey on a roasting rack and set roasting rack in a roasting pan or on a cookie sheet. Tuck wings underneath themselves and make sure the legs are tied together. Usually they are already tied together with oven safe material. Rub the turkey liberally with canola oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. It's best to use a digital thermometer so you don't overcook the turkey. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the bird. I put mine into the bake side of the breast. Make sure the probe doesn't go into the cavity or bone. Next, make a large triangle out of foil and shape over the turkey breast. Remove foil and set aside. The foil will be used later to ensure the turkey breast doesn't get overcooked. It's just easier to shape it to the bird now, so you don't have to do it when the bird is really hot. Place your turkey legs first into your 500 degree oven. Cook at 500 degrees for thirty minutes. Cooking it at a high temperature initially will make help the skin brown and crisp. After 30 minutes, carefully place the foil over the turkey breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Set your thermometer to 161 degrees F. Do not open the oven door until your turkey reaches 161 F. Remove from oven and cover loosely with foil. The carryover cooking will raise the temp to 165. Let the turkey rest for at least 15 minutes before removing the probe.