Brined Roast Turkey

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing turkey in the fridge.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries and candied ginger in a large stockpot over a medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove from heat, cool brine to room temperature and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you’d like to eat:

Combine the brine and iced water (with cubes of ice) in a 20 litre bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with all innards removed) breast side down in the brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in a cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 260 degrees C. Remove the bird from the brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on a rack inside a large roasting tin and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 250 ml water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey’s cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 260 degrees C for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees C. When the thermometer reads 72 degrees the bird is ready – a 6 to 7 kg turkey should take a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting.

Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil for 15 minutes before carving.

It really is worth buying a good thermometer – it take’s all the panic and guessing out of roasting a turkey.