Alton Brown's Roast Turkey, Questions, and Awards

Okay, Thanksgiving is long gone and Christmas is in full swing, but let's talk turkey for a minute. Awhile back, I found Alton Brown's recipe for his Good Eats Roast Turkey while searching the recipes at Food Network. I am very big on searching recipes according to their ratings and was surprised to find that Alton's turkey recipe had been reviewed 2709 times and carried a five star rating!! Never in all of my recipe searches have I seen anything reviewed so many times and given such a high rating. I knew that I was going to have to try this recipe for my Thanksgiving turkey.

Here is a quick summary of how the recipes goes. First the turkey is brined. I had brined my turkey last year, using a Martha Stewart recipe and had good results, so I was all for brining another turkey. I prepared the brine, stuffed the turkey in a newly purchased tub large enough to hold it all, and crammed it into the refrigerator in the garage to "brine" for several hours. On Thanksgiving morning, the turkey was rubbed down with Canola oil and stuffed with a red apple, an onion and some other miscellaneous aromatics. It was roasted, uncovered, at a high temperature , 500F, for 30 minutes. After that first 30 minutes, the turkey had a very nice caramel color to it and the oven was reduced to 350 for the remainder of the roasting time, 2 hours.

Alton Brown's recipe for roast turkey can be found here on the Food Network. You can also find a review about this recipe on Teresa's blog, A Blog About Food. Teresa gave the recipe four out of five stars.

Notes/Results: When the turkey was removed from the oven it had an absolutely breathtaking color. It was the most beautiful turkey I've ever cooked. (Too bad I didn't have a chance to take a proper picture of it). My husband carved it up and plated it and we sat down to eat. I was expecting the turkey to really stand out and it didn't. It looked beautiful on the platter, but it tasted just like any other turkey I've ever had. It was moist, but it wasn't anything special. In fact, my mom had brought a small baked ham and everyone seemed to enjoy the ham more. Most of the turkey was left on the platter when the dinner was over. I have to say that I might give the recipe 3 or 3.5 stars out of 5. Pretty on the plate, but nothing great.

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This leads to me to the burning question -- DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY LIKE TURKEY? DO YOU PREFER TURKEY OVER HAM OR DO YOU PREFER HAM OVER TURKEY? For example, my family told me they wanted turkey for Thanksgiving, so I prepared it and they ended up eating mostly the ham. I think people have to have the turkey setting on the table for Thanksgiving, but don't always want to eat it given the choice between ham and turkey. What do you think?

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The week of Thanksgiving I was given some awards and I am terribly late in saying thank you! Thank you to everyone who shared these awards with me. I feel terrible it has taken me so long to post them, but it has been crazy here lately.

From Chaya of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog, I received the Honest Scrap Award! Thanks Chaya!

From Nat of Nat's Baking in New York City, I recieved the Happy Mama Award! Thanks Nat!

From Lissaloo at One Step at a Time I received this Sugar Doll Blogger Award. Thanks Lissaloo!


From Rhandi at Straight up Good Food, I received the Kreativ Blogger award. Thanks Rhandi!

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I would love to pass and share these awards with everyone. A couple of these awards ask that you share ten things about yourself. I decided to share ten things I'm wanting to cook and/or bake:

1. Alex Guarneschilli's Cheese Fondue Hash Browns, found here. Toasty hash brown potatoes cooked in a cast iron skilled and topped with an entire wheel of Camembert - Hello...does that sound delicious or what?'
2. I'm on a roll here...Alex Guarneschilli's Spice-Rubbed Bacon with Fried Eggs and Toast Soldiers, found here. Alex takes thick hand cut slices of slab bacon, slathers them in spices and fries them. Fries her eggs in the bacon drippings, basting her eggs with bacon drippings while frying. Basting fried eggs with bacon drippings....hmm...
3. On a roll with breakfast foods, I'd also like to try Pioneer Woman's Bacon, Onion & Cheddar Biscuits, found here. Drool-worthy!
4. On my Christmas cookie list are our favorite traditional cookie we make each Christmas, the peanut butter blossom (a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey kiss in the middle).
5. We have really enjoyed the Cheeseburger Soup recipe that I made last month and have made it twice since then. It is one of our new favorites.
6. In love with Ellie Krieger's new book, So Easy, I've been wanting to make her Emerald Stir-Fry with Beef. A tasty sounding stir fry with all kinds of green veggies.
7. Tamales. I have always wanted to make them, but I never get around to it.
8. Jamie Oliver's Pasta with Camembert Cheese, found here.
9. Baklava, never made it before, but it is one of my favorite things to eat.
10. Chicken Fajitas - anyone have a great recipe?

Hence, the next question: with the exception of Ellie's Emerald Stir-Fry with Beef, none of the other recipes are very healthy at all. I can't make them all back to back, but which ones should I start with? Which ones sound the best to you?

After all, I think the holidays deserve some decadence, don't you?