Sunshine Brined Turkey

Although it's not blustery and sucky cold in Chicago yet, I've already begun to crave the light and warmth of my California homeland - the inspiration behind my first brined turkey!

I've always done a version of the basic, cheesecloth wrapped turkey that I found in Food and Wine about seven or eight years ago (an issue I sadly can't find now for the life of me...) with great result, but, you know, turkey could always be moister.

This was started with the Alton Brown brined turkey recipe, but with a bunch of my own changeups and whatnot - like food jazz - so it's a different thang now - and fricking great!

SUNSHINE BRINED TURKEY

I had an almost 17 pound natural frozen turkey and let it defrost in the fridge for several days.

Instead of using a plastic bag, I brined it in this giant stainless steel pot I have that was large enough to hold the bird and enough of the brine to cover the whole thing.

In another big 'ol pot I mixed:

Two quartered oranges, two quartered lemons, a quartered onion, about a cup of Kosher salt, three teaspoons of poultry seasoning, three teaspoons of cinnamon, three teaspoons of ground black pepper, about a cup (maybe a little less) of brown sugar, about five or six teaspoons of vegetable bouillon (this one) and a bunch (you know - a bunch;) - about a gallon and a half) of water.

After mixing it all up, pour all of the brine into (I put the bird drumsticks up so I could pour the brine into the cavity too) and onto the bird until totally covered. I then covered the pot with its lid and then weighed the lid down with several cans to keep it tightly covered. Keep it like that for at least eight hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove from the brine and rinse with cold water - I just dumped out the brine and added the clean water to the pot to rinse it that way to avoid trying to wrestle a giant bird in my wee sink. Reserve the onions, oranges and lemons for stuffing the bird with

Stick turkey in a roasting pot and stuff with:

The leftover onions, oranges and lemons from the brine. Another lemon and orange or so. Another quartered apple and a quartered raw onion.

Melt two sticks of butta in the microwave with a little bit of poultry seasoning. Once melted, add about a third of a cup of olive oil. Add a large piece of cheesecloth to the bowl of butter and oil, and coat cloth completely, allowing it to completely soak up all of that awesomeness.

Cover the turkey completely with the buttery cheesecloth and stick it in the oven.

Roast for three hours or so.

Remove from oven and let rest for at least a half an hour or so. Remove cheesecloth. Then move the turkey from the roaster to a platter - now this was NOT easy! The turkey was so moist that the wings and legs were falling off with even a little bit of pressure.

Put on the table and watch it disappear. Look how gorgeous it came out! Seriously, I've never seen people go at a turkey like that. Which is, of course, the biggest compliment any cook can get. Enjoy!