Thanksgiving Recipes

Turkey Brine

November 22, 2019 /

To brine or not to brine…..that is the question???? Well I’ll make this question for you easy…BRINE! I know it gets confusing on how to cook the best turkey, but hey it’s the centerpiece that has to be done to perfection (we all have seen the scene out of Christmas Vacation!) And this my friend is the perfect example of why to brine. It does come with a bit of science so I will do my best to impart some science into my explanation. Turkey is a lean meat with not a lot of fat to help keep the meat moist. When you brine, the turkey will absorbs some extra moisture to help it stay juicy. Also, the salt will break down some of the turkey’s protein, making it more tender. So just in case you accidentally over cook the bird, brining will give a bit more assurance. Now over the years I have added some crazy ingredients to my brine and at the end of the day, I couldn’t taste the ingredients and it was a huge waste of money especially when your tossing in a whole bottle of wine!!! Thankfully a dear friend and awesome cook told me to just add equal parts of sugar and salt. Wow, that’s easy. Because I don’t listen very well, I do also add peppercorns and some thyme but that’s it I promise:) I also drink the wine instead of wasting it in a brine… a dry Riesling is wonderful and also helps make a great gravy but now I am diverting (look at the rest of my thanksgiving recipes for that one! Alright, lets get to brining this turkey.

Ingredients:

  • 15-17# turkey
  • 1 cup of kosher salt
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns
  • 8 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 2 gallons of water

Directions:

You need to find a vessel big enough to hold the turkey covered in the brine and/or enough reality space in your fridge. Make sure the container is food safe. I personally always use a cooler lined with a big durable garbage bag. I add all my ingredients to the bag and dump my turkey in it (make sure you unwrap your turkey and remove giblets.) Depending on your cooler size you may need to add more water as you want the turkey fully submerged. I do this the night before Thanksgiving and take it out in the morning (we usually eat around noon) I would take out your turkey about an hour before you plan on putting it in the oven because you need to rinse the turkey with cold water and pat it dry. You want the turkey to warm up a bit before placing in oven.

Tips:

Make sure that you thoroughly rinse the brine off of the turkey before cooking otherwise your gravy will be super salty. Also if your turkey already has salt injected into it you don’t need to brine (someone did all the hard work for you)

If your turkey is not quite thawed when you are ready to brine, don’t worry about it your bird will continue to thaw while brining.

One area to be particularly careful of though is you want to make sure your turkey stays at a safe temperature so if need be add a bit of ice to the brine if your going the cooler route. I typically don’t worry about it because my turkey is always a bit still frozen in the center when I add the turkey to the brine and we live in the Midwest and my porch stays pretty cold. I know some folks will  use a large stock pot…just make sure your turkey is fully emerged and you’ve made room in your fridge. I also have gone to the hardware store and purchased a 5 gallon bucket.