Cider & Sage Brined Turkey with Perfect Gravy
This turkey is delicious, filling and cozy. If you want a meal to impress you can’t fail with this. And you’ll never go back to a gravy packet again after this, either!
Servings Prep Time
10 – 12 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
Approx. 4 1/2 – 5hours 2days (plus thawing)
Servings Prep Time
10 – 12 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
Approx. 4 1/2 – 5hours 2days (plus thawing)
Ingredients
For the Gravy
For the Brine:
For the Herb Butter:
Instructions
  1. If your turkey is frozen you need to start by thawing it. Place it in a roasting tray, breast-side up and in its plastic wrapping, and place in the fridge. It will take about 4 ½ days to thaw in the fridge this way (6 hours per pound of turkey). Drain off any water that collects in the tray as the turkey defrosts. You can do the cold water method of thawing by filling your sink with cold water and submerging the wrapped turkey in the water. Change the water out every 30 minutes, allowing about 8 – 10 hours of sink time for it to thaw. The USDA FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Services) says that you have to cook the turkey immediately so you really need to do this pretty early in the morning (like, you’re-not-going-to-bed-Wednesday-night early), depending on when you plan on eating I guess, which means you don’t have much room for error in the event that the turkey doesn’t thaw fully. That, and because you may want to free up some freezer space for other uses, I favor the fridge method. I pull the turkey out of the freezer one week, to the day, before we’re having dinner – it gives you 5 days to thaw it, 1 day to brine, and 1 to dry, with perfect timing. You can take your frozen turkey out up to 2 days sooner and fridge-thaw it and it will be perfectly fine resting, thawed, in the fridge for those 2 days before you start brining.
  2. Once the turkey is thawed pull out the giblets from the cavity, remove the liver (either discard or stash in the freezer for a later use, and keep the rest (neck, gizzard, heart, etc.) in the fridge until you start the gravy in a few days. Sometimes the liver, gizzard and heart are in paper or plastic bags and the neck is separate and they can be stuffed in the back cavity, neck cavity, both or in the space between the two. They are there. If you can’t find them (I’ve been there) then get someone else to look, too.
  3. Start on the brine making. Pour about 4 cups of the water into a large 10 to 12-quart pot and bring to a boil.
  4. Once it’s boiling, stir in the salt and sugar and stir just until they are completely dissolved.
  5. Once the salt and sugar are dissolved pour in the remaining water (which now is 20 cups/5 quarts) and half a gallon of apple cider to cool down the brine. Drop in the herbs, spices and other ingredients and stir to combine. Let it sit until it has completely cooled to room temperature.
  6. Carefully place the turkey, breast-end first and facing up, into your brining vessel and pour over all the brine so it is completely submerged in its salty, fall-scented bath. Let it all brine for 24 – 36 hours.
  7. When the turkey is done brining (done is a full 24 hours, minimum, before you’re going to start cooking the bird, but don’t brine it for over 36 hours) get on with the final preparatory things.
  8. Pull the turkey out of the brine and dry off very well with paper towel until it is as bone-dry as you can get it (don’t neglect the cavity, either – this must be very dry as well).
  9. Line the bottom of your roasting tray with some paper towel and, once properly dried, transfer the turkey to the roasting tray. Stuff a little paper towel in the cavity before moving to the fridge where it will sit, uncovered, for those final 24 hours before it hits the hot oven. This will help to dry out the skin so when it goes into the oven it gets a deeply browned and crisped. If you skip this step, not matter how hot of an oven you put it in, if the skin is flabbily wet, as it is, it will never crisp, though it may brown, so do yourself a favor.
  10. You can also do yourself a favor and make the herb butter now, too, so not only can the flavors come together and mellow but you yourself can be mellow when tomorrow roles around. One less thing to have to think about. Throw everything, except the butter, into a small food processor and pulse until everything is pretty finely minced. Drop in the butter and whirl it until everything is well combined. Turn it out into a small storage tub, cover it and set it aside, on the counter to stay soft. You could also make this a few days earlier and stash it in the fridge, taking it out to sit on the counter for several hours (though I’d take it out the night before) before you’re going to roast the turkey so it can fully soften.
  11. 2 – 3 hours before the turkey goes in the oven take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature. This is also a necessity in keeping it crisp on the outside and moist, flavorful and evenly cooked within.
  12. Lift the turkey out of the pan and set aside.
  13. Roughly chop 2 of the onions (skin on, please), carrots, celery and 1 apple and tumble them into the roasting tray with half of your 8 – 10 sprigs of thyme, a few sage leaves and 2 bay leaves, so they are all evenly distributed and mixed.
  14. Rub the turkey down, underneath and over the skin and in the cavity, with the herb butter.
  15. Cut the other onion into quarters, skin on for ease, as well as the other apple.
  16. Stuff the quartered onion and apple, along with the remaining sage and bay leaves and remaining half of your 8 – 10 sprigs of thyme up the cavity of the turkey. If all of the apple and onion wont fit up the bird just set the few chunks aside (there should really only be a few small wedges unable to fit) and throw them in with your stock later to fortify the gravy with a little more flavor or in the bottom of your roasting tray. Move the turkey back onto the tray, resting it on the vegetables.
  17. Preheat the oven 450°.
  18. Pour 2 cups of the stock and ½ cup of the cider over the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan and pop the tray in the oven once its preheated. Roast for 20 minutes to develop a bronze crust.
  19. Turn the oven down to 350 and roast for 4 – 4 ½ hours more, basting with the pan juices every 30 minutes. If the breasts or legs start to brown a little too much, especially in the last hour or so, cover them loosely with foil.
  20. Start checking at just before 3 hours to see how the its coming along by sticking it with a digital thermometer in the thigh, making sure its not touching the bone. It needs to read 160°.
  21. While the turkey is roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a 4-quart saucepan until hot. Sear the turkey neck from the giblets until it’s deeply caramelized on one side before flipping over and adding the rest of the giblets (EXCEPT the liver, of course). Sear them all for just a minute or two before pouring in the remaining turkey stock. Bring to a full rolling boil before reducing to a simmer on low for at least 1 hour.
  22. When the turkey is done remove it from the oven and pull the turkey out of the roasting tray. Transfer it to another roasting tray or baking sheet or cutting board, so long as it has little waterways carved into it for the juices to collect in. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for 45 minutes (though it does stay piping hot for probably 15 minutes after that even, so if you’re running a little behind don’t worry too much).
  23. Crank the heat on the stock, remove the giblets and bring back to a full boil.
  24. Put ¾ cups of the flour into a bowl and, using the turkey baster, mix in enough of the pan juices from the turkey into the flour until it is a smooth and somewhat liquid paste. It’s hard to say exactly how much pan juice you’ll need, partially based on the fat-liquid content of the juices and partially due to that I’m using a baster and not some technically accurate form of measure (although my new baster has measurements on the side, which I just noticed). The point is you want it to be a smooth, soft paste that’s pourable but not liquid (think somewhere close to the consistency of soft polenta). Once you’re at this point beat the remaining 2 tablespoons of softened butter into the paste.
  25. Once the stock is at a full, rolling boil, whisk in the paste. Let it continue to boil for a 2 – 3 minutes before reducing to a simmer again until the turkey is ready. If it is not thick enough for you take a few big ladlefuls of the gravy out and whisk with the remaining ¼ cup of flour and repeat the boil, add, whisk, simmer process.
  26. Carve the turkey by cutting off the beasts whole and cutting into ½” – 1” thick pieces and cutting off the legs, wings and thighs. Either leave the carcass behind or bring it to the table for picking at (or hide it and save it for soup-making later!) and decant the gravy into a boat.

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