Brine Turkey

Brine for 18 pound turkey

NEED LARGE POULTRY OVEN ROASTING BAG or large pot and a place to put it where it can be refrigerated for 10 hours.

Ingredients

3 cups Apple Juice Or Apple Cider
2 gallons Cold Water
4 Tablespoons Fresh Rosemary Leaves
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1-1/2 cup Kosher Salt
2 cups Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Peppercorns
5 whole Bay Leaves
- Peel Of Three Large Oranges

Preparation Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Stir until salt and sugar dissolve. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and cover.
Allow brine to cool completely

Remove giblets and neck from the cavity. Rinse the outside and inside of a thawed turkey. Using paper towels, pat the turkey dry.
Pour cooled brine into a large brining bag or pot.
Place uncooked, thawed turkey in brine solution.
Refrigerate.
Allow the turkey to marinate for 10 hours(18 lb turkey) and up to a full day for a larger bird. After half of the hours (5 in this case) rotate/flip bird in the brine solution.
When ready to roast turkey, remove turkey from brine.
Discard the brine.
Submerge turkey in a pot or sink of fresh, cold water. Turn on the water and move the turkey underneath the water, allowing the water to run all the way into the cavity, and even using your hands to rub the surface of the turkey as it rinses.

After rinsing, allow the turkey to sit in clean water for 15 minutes to remove excess salt from the outside. This will .purge. the excess salt that has built up in the skin and surface meat and just decrease the intensity of the salt in the drippings.

Pat dry before adding additional seasoning, butter, or oil in preparation for roasting.

Additional suggestions as I don't know how you prepare the gravy.

Use low sodium broth or 5. Boil the giblets in water until they.re cooked through, then keep the broth from the giblets and use it to thin the gravy as you cook it.

Heat 2 T of vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Chop the neck into 3-4 pieces and chop the gizzard in half. Put turkey pieces in oil along with 1 large yellow onion cut into 2 inch chunks. DON.T use liver in broth.
Cover and stir often for 20 minutes.
Add 4 Cups of cold water, 1 small chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery stalk, a bay leaf, 2 sprigs of thyme and 2 sprigs of parsley, and 10 peppercorns.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30-40 minutes, strain it.

While the broth is warming up and the roasted turkey is resting waiting to be carved, pour all the drippings from the roasting pan into a fat separator cup. Let it sit for a minute so the juices settle to the bottom and the fat rises to the top. Pour a few T into the giblet broth. Taste it.

Next spoon off 4 T of the fat and add it back to the roasting pan. Put the roasting pan across 2 burners, and set the burners on medium heat. Sprinkle 6 T of flour into the pan and use a wooden spoon to combine the fat. Cook the mixture for 2 minutes.
Next slowly pour about Once it simmers, add a few stems of thyme and sage and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Then strain the gravy and add herbs. 1 tsp of chopped sage,

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