Posted this else where today but probably belongs on the cooking thread.
HTB Top Secret Dry Brine (now in the hands of the Chinese Government)
Zest of three lemons
Zest of three oranges
Four tablespoons salt
Four tablespoons brown sugar
Two teaspoon poultry seasoning (get a new bottle Not the one that has been sitting in your cupboard since Clinton was in office)
One teaspoon allspice.
One teaspoon Zatarains Creole Spice
One teaspoon Beau Monde.
One medium turkey.
Mix together and then rub on turkey UNDER the skin. All over, get the breast the legs the back don’t forget the inside the cavity and under the tail. (You did take the gibbles, neck, gravy pack and silly pop up thermometer out, right? Good)
Remove the skin from the oranges with a knife leaving the flesh exposed and stuff the oranges inside the cavity.
Now get a very large bowl, you can even use the turkey roaster if you like, cover the bird and pop in the refrigerator.
Keep it there for a couple days (Honestly you can do it up to four with no loss of quality of the meat) turning every twelve hours.
Now the drying portion, uncover the turkey, place on a rack and let the skin dry (still in the refrigerator naturally). 24 to 36 hours. Do not skip this step. The skin will not crisp as nicely without doing this.
Thanksgiving Day.
Take the turkey out and remove oranges. Now chop two parts onion, two parts apple, one part celery, one part carrot and a packet of the fresh poultry herb. (You can use a half teaspoon of dried of fresh is not possible to get but get fresh if you can. So worth it)
Stuff cavity and tail section.
Bush skin lightly with melted butter.
Heat your oven to 450 degrees, pop in turkey (covered, breast side down) and lower the temperature to 350.
Cook until it is a half hour from being done. Now turn turkey and uncover. Lightly brush skin with butter again if you like. Now continue to roast uncovered until done or skin is desired crispness.
Take out, let rest for about 25 minutes (covered).
Eat.
Oh, you want to know what to do with the gibblets, neck and tail?
Ok, slice and fry in a bit of butter (on the day you defrosted the turkey, organ meat decomposes rapidly when raw) boil the neck and tail to make broth. Pick bones out of neck. Store meat and broth until you are ready to make gravy. When you turn the turkey you should be able to get some drippings, add to broth and meat, heat on stove, add arrow root to thicken. Done!
Now can we eat?
You want to know what to do with the gravy pack?
Target practice.
LOL! The recipe sounds great - and, yes, the pop-up thingie is the first to go, when we do turkey ;-)
I wish they wouldn’t put that thing in there.
Beau Monde seasoning is always confusing to me. It’s hard to find these days, so I’ve looked for recipes. They’re all so different, with some being made mostly of celery salt and onion; and others containing spices.
This is similar to what I’m used to:
http://www.food.com/recipe/beau-monde-seasoning-closer-to-the-real-thing-253767
And here is a ‘spiced-up’ one:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17713/almost-beau-monde-seasoning/