Thanksgiving Day & Baily's Birthday

Thanksgiving 2012

So today is Bailey's actual birthday. She was very excited to have her actual birthday on Thanksgiving day. My mom and D.J. came and spent a couple of nights with us. Nana came on Tuesday night. D.J. said he was staying to work late that day. So she packed up and came over. D.J. joined us on Wednesday.

Tuesday we got the 2 turkeys brining in an ice chest. They still needed some good thawing but we put some ice in there as well so it wouldn't happen to fast.  

Wednesday we spent making pies and dressing.

Thursday, after a morning run, we started the rest of the dinner. Eat at noon was the plan. It was going all according to plan. We put everything on the table. Put the beautiful turkey on the table and took the picture below. We all sat down. Bryant proceeded to cut the turkey. We had fancy thermometer so we could follow the recipe. The first clue there was a problem was that the turkey was done much to soon, the second was there was hardly any drippings.  Thermometer said 150. We took it out like it the recipe said. The problem came when Bryant cut into it and bloody juices started oozing out. That was when we realized the thermometer probe must have been touching the bone. We had a 12 pound and a 20 pound turkey. I cooked the 12 pound first and misjudged the thickness of the breast. Ooops!!! So we cut off some breast meat and put it on the grill to finish and put the turkey back in the over. We sat down and had a sample of turkey with our dinner. We had lots of leftover turkey because we still had a 20 pound turkey to cook. That one I forgot about and overcooked it. It was a no win because of human error but the recipe was great. Lesson learned: Never put the thermometer probe touching the bone. I new that but it is not like it beeped at me that it was touching the bone.

We then celebrated Bailey's birthday with pumpkin cheesecake pie and opened presents. I think it was a successful day after all.

No one went hungry.

 Brady helping his Nana make her famous rolls. He wears flour well.

 

 Whitney didn't quite wear as much flour.

 Bailey was the best helper she has ever been. Growing up nicely.

 For being underdone. It did look pretty.

 Waiting for dinner. Turkey is on the grill finishing up.

 

 Bailey's birthday

Good Eats Roast Turkey

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, also featured in Food Network Magazine

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

7 hr 0 min

Cook Time:

2 hr 30 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

 2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.