Cider Glazed Turkey Recipes

CIDER-BRINED-AND-GLAZED TURKEY

Steps:

• For brine:
• Simmer 1 quart apple cider, salt, allspice, and bay leaves in 20-quart pot 5 minutes, stirring often. Cool completely. Add remaining 3 quarts cider and 4 quarts water. Place turkey in brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Drain turkey and rinse. Arrange on several layers of paper towels in roasting pan. Refrigerate uncovered overnight.
• For broth:
• Simmer all ingredients in large saucepan 30 minutes. Strain sage broth into bowl.
• For glaze:
• Boil cider in saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 15 minutes. Whisk in butter. Cool completely.
• Set rack at lowest position in oven; preheat to 350°F. Remove paper towels from roasting pan. Pat main and neck cavities of turkey dry; stuff loosely with stuffing. Place turkey in pan, tuck wings under, and tie legs together loosely.
• Roast turkey 1 hour. Brush with some of glaze. Roast until beginning to brown, about 1 hour. Cover with foil. Roast until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 175°F, brushing with glaze every 30 minutes and adding up to 1 cup water to pan if drippings begin to burn, about 3 hours longer. Transfer turkey to platter; tent with foil. Let stand 30 minutes.
• For gravy:
• Pour pan juices into large measuring cup. Spoon off fat. Reserve 3 tablespoons fat and degreased juices. Pour sage broth into roasting pan. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Combine flour, sage leaves, and reserved 3 tablespoons fat in heavy large saucepan; stir over medium heat 1 minute. Whisk in broth from roasting pan and reserved pan juices. Add applejack and cream and boil until gravy thickens slightly, whisking often, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Strain into sauceboat. Serve turkey with gravy.

CIDER-BRINED TURKEY WITH MAPLE-CIDER GLAZE

Steps:

• For the turkey brine: Heat the apple cider, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves, oranges, shallots, parsley, sage and thyme in a saucepot to dissolve the sugar and salt. Then let the mixture cool completely.
• Divide the turkey pieces between two 2 1/2-gallon resealable plastic bags or containers big enough to hold them. Add equal parts of the brine to the two bags. Let rest for several hours in the fridge, preferably overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry. Rub the skin with oil and sprinkle with pepper. Set the turkey on a metal rack placed over a rimmed baking sheet and cook about 15 minutes per pound, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers about 165 degrees F. The temperature will go up 5 to 10 degrees as it rests.
• For the glaze: Place a small saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the apple cider, turkey stock, maple syrup, butter, peppercorns and orange rind. Bring the mixture to a light simmer and reduce by half. Baste the turkey every now and then during the last half of the cooking time.

CIDER GLAZED TURKEY

Steps:

• Brine:
• In a large pot with a lid that is big enough to fit the turkey, add all but 2 cups apple cider and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the salt, 3 sprigs of thyme, 3 sprigs rosemary and stir to dissolve the salt. Remove from the heat, add 5 cups of ice, 6 cups water and stir. Put the turkey in the pot with the brine and hold it down so that the cavity fills with the brine. If the turkey is not completely submerged in the brine, add another 2 to 3 cups of water to the pot until covered. Cover the pot with a lid and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse and pat dry. Arrange it, breast side up, in a roasting pan. Stuff the remaining thyme and the bunch of sage into the cavity and tuck the wings back underneath the bottom of the breast. Tie the legs together with a piece of butcher's twine.
• In a small bowl combine the canola oil, poultry seasoning and pepper. Brush the turkey liberally until completely coated. Put in the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. About 30 minutes before the turkey is done, liberally baste the bird with the cider glaze. Baste with the remaining glaze 2 more times at 10 minute intervals. Remove from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before carving. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.
• Glaze:
• In a small saucepan combine the reserved 2 cups of apple cider and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Simmer until reduced to about 1/2 cup.

CIDER ROAST TURKEY

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Wash and dry the turkey, removing any feathers. Pull out the giblets and the neck, then set aside. Lift up the skin that covers the neck opening, then stuff the stuffing up and under the skin, securing it tightly underneath with a skewer or two cocktail sticks. Weigh the stuffed turkey, then calculate the cooking time, allowing 40 mins per kg (20 mins per lb).
• Put the leeks and carrots along the bottom of a roasting tin in a single layer - this will make a trivet for the turkey to sit on and add flavour to the gravy. Add the neck to the tin. Sit the turkey on top and coat the breast all over with butter. Pour in the cider, cover with foil, then roast according to your timings. Keep checking the tin - if the vegetables look like they're burning, add a splash of water or cider. At 30 mins before the end of cooking, remove the foil and season generously.
• To test that the turkey is ready, pierce the thigh through its thickest part; the juices should run clear. Take the turkey out and leave to rest, covered with a clean tea towel. Can leave to rest for up to 1 hr. Now make the gravy. Drain the fat and juices from the tin into a jug, discarding the veg and the neck. Place the tin over a flame, then pour in the cider, scraping up the flavour-filled crusty bits with a wooden spoon. Reduce the cider by half, then strain into a saucepan (this will save you hob space later).

CIDER-GLAZED TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lower third.
• Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Put turkey on rack in roasting pan and season inside and out with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Put apple, onion, and thyme in large cavity. Fold neck skin under body, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with string.
• Add water to pan and roast, without basting, 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, boil cider and sugar in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until emulsified. Let glaze stand until ready to use.
• After turkey has roasted 1 hour, rotate pan 180 degrees. Roast, without basting, 40 minutes more.
• Brush turkey all over with all of glaze and continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (test both; do not touch bone) registers 165 to 170°F, 5 to 15 minutes more (total roasting time: 1 3/4 to 2 hours).
• Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into pan. Transfer turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (reserve juices in roasting pan) and let rest, uncovered, 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 170 to 175&Deg;F). Discard string.
• Strain pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into 2-quart measure and skim off fat (or use a fat separator), reserving fat.
• Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add wine and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Strain through sieve into measuring cup containing pan juices.
• Put 1/2 cup reserved fat (if there is less, add melted butter) in a 4-quart heavy saucepan and whisk in flour.
• Cook roux over medium heat, whisking, 3 minutes. Add pan juices and stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly, then bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Briskly simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve turkey with gravy.