The early turkey catches the worm, right?  Well, we bought an extra turkey last year (because we have a spare freezer, and the price per pound and deliciousness per bite were both excellent deals).  Actually, we bought two extra turkeys, because that’s normal.  One was cooked up months ago, and we decided that now is the perfect time for the second extra turkey.

We used Alton Brown’s “Classic Brined and Roasted Turkey” recipe, which yielded a wonderful turkey last year and a wonderful turkey this year.

Scott did a lot of research before he picked that recipe, and here’s one of the helpful tidbits that he learned.  If you’re using a standard frozen turkey, there’s a really good chance that it contains a fair bit of sodium already.  They’re basically pre-brined (unless you get a super fancy organic one, in which case you should read the label to see if it’s pre-brined or not).  So if you’re using a frozen turkey and a recipe that calls for brining, you should probably skip that part.  Look how much time you just saved!

I already told you that this makes a good turkey.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of our good turkey.  But trust me, it had perfectly golden brown skin and nice carrots and onions peeking out around the edges.  It looked very much like the turkey above, minus Alton Brown’s face in the background.

And now?  Well now we have leftover turkey to feed a crowd.  Or us for a week.  There will be pot pie and fried rice and lots of happy leftovers coming our way (and yours) soon.  And that is why you should cook  your turkey on November 3, not November 27.