A Bucks County Thanksgiving - Fool-proof Turkey Roasting

I am not one to use a wet brine because to me it is more trouble than it’s worth, really. Gallons of water are hard to control and when you add poultry you are creating gallons of salmonella sauce which can easily be spilled or dripped, cross contaminating or down right ruining anything it touches. Did I scare you? Good. I use a dry brine which imparts just as much flavor and is a lot easier to handle. Besides ordering my heirloom breed, fresh air and sunshine raised turkey from a local farm (Bolton's in Silverdale on Rt 113), the other secret to my success for a juicy and flavorful roasted turkey is to separate the meat – white from dark. I use two pans and put the dark in one and the white in the other. I usually give the dark meat a head start depending on how many turkeys I’m cooking.

My dry brine always consists of at least 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup smoked paprika and ½ cup of salt. Then I add some other spices that I’m in the mood for such as; garlic powder, dry sage, Mrs. Dash, Herbs de Provence, or dried Tuscan Herb blend. So on Wednesday morning, I wash and separate my turkeys and put them into their separate pans. Then I give them a light coating of oil and rub them down with the dry brine mixture, making sure to get the brine into every crack and crevice. I cover them securely in plastic wrap topped with tin foil and let them hang out in the fridge overnight. On Thanksgiving morning I bring them out of the fridge, leaving any juices or spices in the bottom of the pan and rinse the turkeys off thoroughly. I then re rub the turkeys with more brown sugar, spices and salt (not the same amount and ratio as the brine, just enough to coat). I generally leave the turkeys out on the counter – in their pans – for about an hour or so while the oven is preheating to work off the chill from the fridge before they roast. Before putting them into the oven, I add about two cups or so of chicken broth, two carrots, an onion and two stalks of celery to each pan to help flavor the pan drippings which will be added to the gravy. I am usually roasting two 18-20lb turkeys at 325 degrees and it takes about 3 hours. Stay tuned for my gravy recipe……