I love to cook. There’s something about working through a recipe in my tiny kitchen with a glass of wine in my hand that relaxes me. I always say if I wasn’t a photographer I’d want to be a chef – and so I married one instead :) And this time of year I get all kinds of excuses to try out new recipes. This week I accomplished a culinary feat I’ve never attempted before. Normally in a situation like this I would rely on my chef of a husband but he came home from his hunting trip sick so I took over the food prep and fed him copious amounts of Nyquil. So now I can successfully say – I have made a Thanksgiving turkey.

We had our first of four thanksgiving dinners Wednesday night with our church small group and since we host at our house and we’ve had a turkey in our freezer for a while I volunteered us to make the star dish – in my mind thinking Scott knows how – he’s got this. So when it fell to me I did the first thing I always do when getting ready to make something new – consult our good friend Pinterest. Then Bon Appetit. And called my mom. Thankfully between those things I haven’t had a kitchen disaster yet – and this was no exception. She turned out brilliantly – yes our turkey is a girl and I named her Lucy. When you are dealing with a 12 lb bird it helps to have a name to call it as you wrestle it on the counter and weigh it on your bathroom scale. And so in the spirit of the holidays and if you are saddled making your own star protein I’m going to share what I learned with you and hopefully you’ll end up with something like this:

A huge thanks to my Aunt Jenn for the Pampered Chef roasting pan! I think it was a huge contributor to my success.

So…to begin, take the turkey out of the freezer and start defrosting. I learned it takes up to 4 days to defrost a turkey so you might want to start now. Like right now. Stop reading and go get your turkey out of the freezer. Since I learned this late in the process we gave ours about a day – plus a couple hours in the sink with cold water running over it – that’ll work in a pinch though I think it was still partially frozen when I put it into the brine. Then remove all the innards/gross stuff. I didn’t save them but you can make stock out of them if your super ambitious.

Brine your turkey. This is a must if you want a juicy, not-dry bird. My mom has been doing this for years and it makes all the difference. You’ll want the turkey to sit in the brine for 8-10 hours. I started ours Tuesday night before we went to bed and didn’t take it out until about 1 the next day. Alton has a great recipe for his, but since I know my mom’s is tried and true I used hers instead:

• Get a big pot/bucket/container – I used our small beach cooler. You’ll want it to fit the turkey with room for liquid all around it.
• Boil 2 quarts of vegetable stock with 1 cup of kosher salt and any desired herbs/flavorings – I used sage and thyme because that’s what I had on hand.
• Then add that to cold water with ice cubes in it (no specific measurement just enough to cover the turkey) and either leave in your garage if you’re using a large bucket – or in your fridge. The most important thing is to keep it below 40 degrees for food safety reasons. Soak all night.

Take the turkey out of the brine and pat dry – including inside the cavity. Careful not to tip the bird up and spill brine all down the front of your apron. Not saying it happened but it could. Then DO NOT stuff the cavity. After readings Alton’s dire warnings about “salmonella bread pudding” I never want to eat stuffing from inside a bird again. Plus he says the stuffing takes much longer to cook that way and will ultimately dry the turkey out. So instead I put onions, garlic, and more herbs in there.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and – this was one of my favorite parts – cover that baby in butter. Get a half a stick of butter and rub it all over your hands and then massage into the bird like you are “a masseuse on a mission”. Yum. Put it on an oven rack one up from the bottom (you’ll probably have to remove your other rack) and cook for 30 min – and your turkey skin should be nice and golden brown. If not give it another 10 minutes. Then make a foil breastplate and cover the top of your turkey shiny side up. It’ll reflect the heat and protect the turkey from getting too dry.

Lower the oven to 350 and cook for 20 min per pound according to Google. For our 12 lb Lucy it ended up being less time – more like 3 hours. Don’t trust that weird pop up button though! It’s set to pop at 180 and that is way over done. You want the white meat at around 161 (it’ll keep cooking some after it comes out) and the dark meat closer to 180. So trust your own thermometer!

Lastly, let it rest for up to an hour covered so all those juices don’t escape! Then call your husband and make him carve it :) Enjoy with several sides and finish off with Pumpkin Silk Pie. A super easy alternative to normal pumpkin pie – though I have some improvements to that recipe too – maybe I’ll share them in the near future.

For a much more eloquent and detailed process read this article where most of my turkey knowledge came from: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/alton-brown-s-perfect-roast-turkey

So what dish are you making this Thanksgiving?  Next week I’m improving an old family favorite – Broccoli Cheese Casserole. Or if you don’t cook at all – what are you looking forward to eating? :) Comment below I’d love to hear about it!