The 2012 Turkey

This here is some mustard seeds, black peppercorns, and bay leaves.  Set over a low heat until they get 'fragrant'.  They didn't really do that before they started toasting unless you got your face right up in it.  I figured toasted was fragrant enough.

This here is when you add some water, brown sugar, kosher salt to those toasted little earth nuggets.  Stir it until the sugar and salt are dissolved and then remove from heat and let it cool.

This here is what it looks like when you throw a bacon blanket over it and add the brine (shown above) and some onions and a few bottles of Guinness to it.  The actual bird is breast side down cuz you want that part submerged in the brine.  You'd probably actually want the entire bird submerged but I didn't have a pot big enough for that nonsense.  So we gave it a bacon security blanket.  Don't worry, there's bacon on the underside, too.  This will sit in the fridge for 24hrs.

This here's what that precious bird looked like when we pulled it out of the oven after it'd been roasting for about 3 hrs.  I cooked it for about 1.5hrs with a bacon blanket on top of it, removed that for the last hour of cooking to make sure it got that lovely golden brown.  The drippings and debris left in the pot made a delectable gravy.
I see you, Turkey.  You did a good job & I apprecicate the tough life you had so we could eat you.

This here's what Matt looked like when he carved up that delicious bird.