Friday, June 28, 2013

Thanksgiving in June































I recently found myself in a position of having to cook at 15-pound turkey. In June.

It's a long story, but the short version goes something like this:

We spent Thanksgiving on a cruise last year with my in-laws, so we did not have a traditional turkey meal. However, our neighboring supermarket was holding a promotion where they gave away free turkeys to everyone who spent more than x amount of dollars that month.

The friendly manager at the supermarket ended up pressing the free frozen turkey upon my father-in-law, saying "why refuse something free?"

So that's how I found myself with an extra turkey in the freezer for 6 months. Last week, I finally decided it was time to reclaim my freezer, and so decided to throw a "Thanksgiving in June" playdate party on a Monday in June.

I found a "dry-brine" recipe online and brined the turkey in the fridge for 36 hours. The genius part of the recipe is that it brined as it defrosted in the refrigerator, and was ready for the oven by the time I got back from a weekend away! The result was juicy and tender -- the best turkey I've ever made! This will now be my go-to recipe for turkey. I cannot wait to try this again in the fall.

Russ Parson's Dry-Brined Turkey

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