Dry-Brined Roast Turkey with Really Good (Cognac!) Sauce

Original recipe by: Leslie Brenner

The technique for this beautifully browned, crisp-skinned, succulent and flavorful roast turkey, inspired by the late Judy Rodger's Zuni Cafe roast chicken, was developed for the big bird by Russ Parsons at The Los Angeles Times in 2006, when I was Food Editor there. In the annual effort to come up with something original for a Thanksgiving issue, I had a brainstorm: what if you treated a turkey like Zuni Cafe chicken? I asked Russ to investigate, he nailed the technique and Thanksgiving would never be the same.

If you like, you can make the bird without bothering with the Cognac sauce; the turkey technique is almost comically simple, and the recipe has but two ingredients (turkey and salt). What's brilliant about it is you don't have to wrestle the bird into a huge pot of brine. Just rub it with salt three days before you serve it and seal it in a 2 1/2-gallon zipper bag. Take it out of…