We made this gorgeous turkey last year and I’m so excited to share it in my Journal before Thanksgiving this year. This bird is brined in apple cider over night and slowly roasted the day of the feast. It is tender, juicy and bursting with unique flavors.

Ingredients:

Whole Turkey (Small to Medium)
1 Gallon Apple Cider
1 Stick of Butter
1 Fresh Fennel Bulb, quartered
1 Apple, sliced
1 Orange, sliced
1 Tbsp, each of fresh chopped Sage, Rosemary, Oregano
6 Tbsp. Salt

Instructions

Brine:

In a large pot, heat the cider over medium until it reaches 100 degrees. Add the salt and orange slices and then let cool to room temperature. Add the turkey and enough water for it to be completely submerged. Place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. (If you don’t have a big enough pot for this nor enough space in your fridge; you can use a cooler with a few bags of ice packed around the turkey to keep it cool.)

Herbed Butter:

Combine 1 stick butter at room temperature with chopped sage, rosemary, oregano and 1 tsp of salt.

Roast:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take the turkey out of the brine but keep about 3 quarts of the brine liquid. Gently separate the skin of the breast from the meat with a butter knife and add 3 tbsp of the herb butter to each side. Stuff the inside of the turkey with fennel, apple and the remaining herbed butter. Tie the legs together with cotton twine.

Pour the left over brine into the roasting pan and place the bird inside on a roasting rack, breast facing up.

Roast for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Then, lower the temperature to 250 degrees and roast for another 5 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. The size of the turkey can significantly vary the cook time at this point in the process. A general gauge for roasting time is, 20 mins per 1lb of poultry.

Bast the turkey with the juices in the pan every hour and check the temperature to see if you are getting close to 165.

If the skin is looking too brown, tent the top of the turkey with a piece of tin foil.

Once the turkey is cooked, let it rest for 30 mins to cool down before cutting.

Enjoy!