The Hunt For The Tiniest Turkey & Reflections 50% Through (The Final Turkey)

The way the timing on this project worked out, my Thanksgiving turkey put me at the 50% mark for the cookbook. I'm thankful I have the resources to tackle a project like this; I've added kitchen equipment (I still need to try my fancy nitrogen charged cream whipper), I've used some exotic & expensive ingredients and I've been having fun. So I'm feeling blessed.
As I look at the current state of the master recipe list a few things jump out at me. So far this book has been shining on the classics; Oatmeal, Scrambled Eggs, Blueberry Poundcake, Chicken Parm Balls... They're all improved versions of familiar dishes. The unexpected rock star is the Black Beans/Brown Rice, this is my most repeated recipe from the project.
There is A Lot of seafood left on the list. Also everything that requires a smoker. Plus an ice cream machine is going to be needed. This is the list at 50%.

1. Breakfast Carbonara *
2. Always Perfect Oatmeal *
3. Buttermilk Lassi
4. Blueberry Pound Cake
5. Pho Bo
6. Oatmeal Banana Bread
7. BCLT Tacos
8. Little Brown Biscuits
9. Grits with Shrimp
10. Chilaquiles
11. Overnight Coconut Oats
12. Nitrous Pancakes
13. Mr. Crunchy
14. Scrambled Eggs V3.0
15. The Greens
16. The Black-Eyed Peas
17. The Corn Bread
18. Seedy Date Bars
19. Cold Brew Coffee
20. Peach "Cobbles"
21. Amaranth Wafers
22. Lacquered Bacon
23. Apple Spice Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze
24. No-Can Tomato Soup *
25. Grilled Cheese Grilled Sandwich
26. BBQ Potato Chips
27. My Big Fat Greek Chicken Salad
28. Tossed Beet Salad
29. Mushroom Wheat Berry Pilaf
30. Turkey Sliders
31. Beale Street Cheeseburger
32. Smokey the Meatloaf
33. Roast Broccoli Hero
34. Roasted Thanksgiving Salad *
35. Fish Sticks and Custard
36. Black Beans/Brown Rice
37. Chicken Parmesan Balls *
38. "Enchilasagna" or "Lasagnalada"
39. Oyster Po'Boy
40. Iceberg Slaw
41. The Final Turkey
42. Not Just Another Kale Salad
43. Green Grape Cobbler
44. Butterscotch Puddin'
45. Brown on Blonde
46. Kick-In-The-Pants Smoothies
47. Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
48. Thai Iced Tea
49. Savory Greek Yogurt Dip
50. Crispy Chickpeas
51. Red, Red Wine (Sangria)
52. Zissou's Buffet of Underwater Delights
53. Cucumber Lime Yogurt Pops
54. Fiery Ginger Ale Concentrate
55. Onion Oxtail Soup
56. Chicken Piccata
57. Cocoa Nib Vinaigrette
58. Kimchi Crab Cakes
59. Barbecue Pork Butt
60. Mussels-O-Miso
61. Bourbon Bread Pudding
62. Bad Day Bitter Martini
63. Char-Burgers
64. One Pot Chicken
65. Heavenly Orbs of Belgian Goodness
66. Weeknight Spaghetti
67. Cream Whipper Chocolate Mousse
68. Garam Masalmon Steaks
69. Pumpkin Cheesecake
70. Salisbury Steak
71. Snapper-Dome
72. Smokey Tequila Sour
73. Mushroom Stroganoff
74. Turkey Tikka Masala
75. Totally Panini-Pressed Dinner
76. Grilled Squid Salad
77. Peach Punch Pops
78. The General's Fried Chicken
79. Preserved Lemons-ade
80. Quick Preserved Lemons
81. Pate de Sardine
82. Hot Saltine Hack
83. Salty Chocolaty Peanut Buttery Crunchy Bars
84. Grilled Shishitos
85. Roasted Chili Salsa
86. The Last Pizza Dough I'll Ever Need
87. Barley Water *
88. Chuan'r
89. Watermelon Campari Sorbet
90. Cider House Fondue
91. Chocolate Chess Pie
92. Cockpit Shrimp Cocktail
93. St. Louis Ribs
94. Fried Rice
95. Midnight Mug Cake For 2
96. Chili Glazed Wings
97. Chocapocalpse Cookies
98. Open Sesame Noodles
99. Jungle Bird
100. Tomorrow, French Fries*

The aforementioned turkey is a simple preparation, but not simple to cram into a pot. I've made the One-Pot Chicken so I'm familiar with the dutch oven technique used to cook The Final Turkey, but finding a dutch oven that fits your average sized American megamart turkey is a challenge, and I didn't actually want to buy the size of pot Alton endorses for the recipe. Instead I enlisted my father to find the smallest turkey we could, requesting the tiniest turkey they had from a local poultry club. They came through with a 9lb bird that sort of fit into my dutch oven (I actually have a larger back up dutch oven a friend of the family hooked me up with in exchange for homemade toffee, but I was too lazy to re-season it).

I say it fits. Close enough.

This is the simplest turkey seasoning I've ever seen. It's just salt brine and a little salt & oil for cooking. It does work. The bird cooked fully* and didn't dry out, with meat that's tasty to eat.

Nice crispy skin with moist meat, victory.

Difficulty Level: Medium
Will It Get Made Again? I'm probably not making this my default turkey recipe. I am absoltely a convert to brining the bird though and if I needed to a turkey with a short roasting time I'd have in mind that I got this out of the oven in under two hours.
* I ended up sticking it back in the oven for an extra half hour after the temperature check, I think it might have been fully done on schedule if the pot lid were sealed.