Spice Brined Roast Turkey

As I said in the previous post, many people get a dry roast turkey after roasting in the over for a long period. I had the same problem for a while and tried various methods, but none of them have worked. About 3-4 years ago, I read a recipe developed by Curtis Stone for coles about how to brine a turkey. I then tried the same way as said in the recipe but the meat went overly salty.

 

Over the years, I made some alterations to the recipe and it worked beautifully for me now.

 

Ingredients 

 

1 Coles Finest Hunter Valley Free Range Turkey – 3.5 Kg

 

 

To make the brine

3 cups of sugar

3 cups of salt

2 fresh garlic bulbs – cut in half

3 lemons – 1 for squeezing juices into the pot

2 limes – 1 for squeezing juices into the pot

1 fresh bay leaf

1 bottle of masterfoods dry herb mixture

1 spring onion

 

Steps

1. Making the brine

 

Add to a large pot with 2.5-3 liters of water and all the ingredients above (not including the turkey :P), including the squeezed lemon and lime juices. Warm the mixture up at medium heat until all salt and sugar are soluble. Cool the mixture to room temperature before placing the turkey in. Make sure the turkey is fully covered by the brine and leave in the fridge for at least 24 hrs.

2. Stuff the turkey with potato, carrots, celery and spring onion. Rub the skin of the turkey with small amount of sea salt. Roast the turkey at 220 oC for 20 mins until golden brown. Placing in an oven bag and continue to cook at 150 oC for another 2 hrs. At 1.5 hrs, add the potato and carrots in a tray and continue.

3. After the 2 hr period at 150 oC, take the turkey out of the oven bag and continue roasting at 190 oC for another 1/2 hr. Take the turkey out of the oven and cover with aluminium foil to rest for 0.5 hrs before serving.

In this way, the turkey is perfectly seasoned, moist and tender and has a good crispy skin. Yum! Maybe you can try this next time and amaze the family. 😀