Thanksgiving is all about tradition, but it’s time to ditch the old school turkey and start cooking with booze. This Maker’s Mark Bourbon Turkey Breast will dominate your Thanksgiving dinner.
You’re screwed if you haven’t started defrosting your turkey yet. Not even the Butterball Hotline can help you now. It takes 24 hours to thaw for every four pounds of turkey, so it’s game over unless you bought a 4-pounder.
Luckily most people only want turkey breast, and the grocery store probably still has those sitting around. With a bourbon brine followed up by bacon and more bourbon, you can make Thanksgiving even better than it would be with a full bird. Plus, cooking stuffing inside the turkey is for suckers. Just make my Jim Beam Bourbon and Bacon Stuffing on the side, and you’re good to go.
These ingredients are just for the brine. I forgot to include all the random stuff for cooking the turkey in the photo, but you have all become pretty adept at reading lists so it should be OK. The important part is that it includes a 1/2 pound slab of bacon and a bunch of bourbon. The rest is pretty irrelevant.
I initially took a picture of the brine simmering on the stove, but you don’t really need another picture of a pot, do you? Seen one pot seen ’em all. Instead I took the opportunity to show you how you put a turkey being brined in the refrigerator. It’s tough stuff, and I wanted to make sure you knew how it was done.
Oh that? Just a few beers I picked up to enjoy while cooking.
She’s choppin’ broccoli! She’s choppin’ brocc-o-lie! She’s choppin’ she’s choppin’ she’s choppiiiiin’. She’s chop-pin’ broccoli. I’m sorry, Dana Carvey never wrote a little ditty about carrots, apples, and onions. After the broccoli song that would have been pretty redundant though.
Please take a moment to appreciate my artful arrangement. I actually spent about a minute trying to space things for some reason instead of just dumping it all in. What can I say, I’m neurotic to the bone. No doubt about it.
I’ll be honest, I sleep in a car bed with rims and a CB radio every night, and I’m still jealous of the bed on which the turkey gets to cook. Who wouldn’t want to nuzzle with bacon and apples in a 400 degree oven? I hear it’s a dry heat so it’s not that bad.
Instead of waiting around for hours while a whole bird cooks, this sucker was done in about an hour and a half. That’s how I gobble. It’s perfect for a loser like me who’s cooking just for himself.
Seeing the final meal reminds me of a scenario onto which I stumbled. I saw 3 kids playing Magic: The Gathering at Target. Meanwhile I was there to buy Thanksgiving-for-one supplies. Which one is worse? Sadly I think it’s me.
The Maker’s Mark Bourbon Turkey Breast is about as easy as it gets for Thanksgiving, and aside from the brining it doesn’t take very long. You can add it to the Ludacris Cognac Sweet Potatoes, Bourbon and Bacon Stuffing, and the Vodka Cranberry Sauce and have yourself a glorious meal. It will certainly make the conversation about how you parents are going to be in a nursing home before you get married a little easier.
This recipe comes for Mark Maker himself. I did half of everything for my creation. I think we’ve established that it’s Joliat Party of One.
Brine:
- 1 cup Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 cups water
- 1 piece cinnamon stick
- 10 pieces allspice berries
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 whole turkey breast, 6-8 lbs (I used 1 breast, not a full rack)
- Combine everything except the turkey breast in a large pot. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolves. Simmer for 10 minutes then remove from the heat. Allow the brine to cool down completely.
- Place the turkey breast (breast side down) into the brine in a large container. (Or you can put the turkey in a triple layered plastic bag and pour the brine in, tying the bag at the top). Allow the turkey to cure for 6-8 hours, then remove from the brine.
Turkey:
- 1 brined whole turkey breast, 6-8 lbs (I used single breast, decrease cooking time if you do as well)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
- ½ lb slab bacon, cut into ¼-inch thick pieces
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into ½-inch thick pieces
- 1 head fennel, cut into ¼-inch thick slices vertically (I skipped this)
- 1 large red onion, cut into ½ inch thick slices/rings
- 10 cloves whole garlic
- 1 gala or granny smith apple, pitted, cut into ¼ inch thick slices
- 4-5 fresh bay leaves
- Salt and fresh black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Remove the turkey breast from the brine and pat the outside and inner cavity dry. Season generously with salt and pepper, and the minced thyme inside and out.
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, Maker’s Mark® Bourbon, vinegar, apple juice, brown sugar, and rosemary, whisking until well combined.
- In the bottom of a small roasting pan/large casserole dish, arrange the bacon pieces, carrot slices, fennel, onion, garlic, apple slices, and bay leaves. Pour the marinade over the vegetables and then place the turkey breast on top, breast side up.
- Roast the turkey for an hour at 400F, basting occasionally with pan liquid. Reduce the heat to 350F and continue to cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 158F and the skin is golden brown, about an hour and a half more.
- Allow the turkey to rest for at least 30 minutes, tented in foil. The meat will continue to cook as it rests.