Dry Brined Turkey

Buy an unprocessed or non-enhanced turkey of about 12 to 16 pounds.

Salting works like brining, without the water. Just sprinkle the
turkey with kosher salt, then store it in the fridge for 4-days for a
12- to 16-pound bird. At first, the salt pulls moisture from the meat,
but as time passes, almost all of those juices are reabsorbed,
bringing the salt along with them.

Salt a 12-16 lb thawed turkey with 1-Tbs kosher salt for every 5-lbs
of bird. Concentrate the distribution of salt on the thickest parts of
the meat, the breast and the thigh.

Store salted turkey in fridge in a 2-1/2-gallon sealed plastic bag.

After three days, remove turkey from bag. There should be no salt
visible on the skin surface and the skin should be moist but not wet.
Place turkey on platter, breast side up. Return to fridge and allow
the turkey to air-dry in the refrigerator overnight, prior to cooking.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Brush melted butter over all of the turkey
and cook bird uncovered. Do not stuff turkey. Do not baste the turkey
during cooking.

Start the salted bird at 425 F. degrees, breast-side down. After 30
minutes, flip the bird right side up and reduce the temperature to 325
F. degrees for the remainder of the cooking.

For doneness, you are aiming for a final temperature of 165 F. degrees
measured in the deepest part of the thigh.

A 15-lb turkey should take roughly 3-hours to cook.

Let the bird sit and rest for 30 minutes after removing from oven, to
finish cooking and enable the juices to redistribute evenly through
the meat prior to slicing and serving.

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