NIFR: Is anyone going to brine their Thanksgiving Turkey?

Melicakes · November 2009

I am a Food Network follower, Alton Brown is one of my favorite guys on Earth.

On a show the other day he brined his turkey and when it was done it was all moist and delicious looking.

Has anyone ever tried brining their turkey?

Kitkatishbakk · November 2009

I was curious about this too... Hoping someone has some good experience with it.

KoCoLoCo · November 2009

I brine mine every year, it is hands down the best turkey I have ever had. I can give you the recipe I use if you are interested.

icedcoffeeluv · November 2009

I love Alton Brown! I brine my turkey..makes such a difference. His brine recipe is supposedly great. I've never used it before though. I just bought a bag of brine mix for this year so I'm hoping its good!

shipoopiisforme · November 2009

we are kosher so our turkey is already brined. actually a lot of my friends buy kosher turkeys b/c the work is already done for them.

alicb · November 2009

If we were doing turkey this year I would have written down the recipe from that show - you're right it looked delicious!

lovemymonkey · November 2009

KoCoLoCo:
I brine mine every year, it is hands down the best turkey I have ever had. I can give you the recipe I use if you are interested.

I'm going to brine mine this year. KoCoLoCo, please share your recipe! :-)

Melicakes · November 2009

Oh wow cool ! Glad I am not alone in this experiment.

KoCoLoCo, yes please do share your recipe !

OOOh now I am really excited t omake my turkey this year !

Melicakes · November 2009

icedcoffeeluv:

I love Alton Brown! I brine my turkey..makes such a difference. His brine recipe is supposedly great. I've never used it before though. I just bought a bag of brine mix for this year so I'm hoping its good!

Alton Brown is my fantasy husband, that man can cook and he's so smart !

Where can you buy a bag of brine mix?

floridakat · November 2009

We used Alton's recipe last year, and it was good. However, being in a warm climate, it was a pain to keep a 20lb turkey double bagged and iced down in a cooler all night. ;-)

We also use Giada's recipe for Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus, and it's just as juicy and a lot less work. That's the one I'm going back to this year.

dulcinea03 · November 2009

I'm not cooking this year (my holiday to work), but I've used Alton Brown's brine recipe for the last several years and it is very good. I won't do a turkey without brine.

KoCoLoCo · November 2009

I also love brining because it gets the huge turkey out of the fridge and makes room for all the stuff I can make ahead of time. I have tried Altons method before and found this one was better....but I do use his gravy recipe (so good!)

Here is the brine recipe, I usually make a ~24lb turkey, and this makes plenty, but you can use this same recipe for smaller birds. Let the turkey sit in the brine 12-24 hours:

8 quarts water * 1 1/2 cups coarse kosher salt * 1 cup honey * 1/2 cup brown sugar * 2 bunches fresh thyme * 12 large garlic cloves, peeled * 2 lemons halved * 3 TB coarsely cracked black pepper

Mix as much water as your largest pot will hold with the salt, honey, brown sugar, thyme, and pepper over low heat until the salt, honey, and sugar is dissolved and allow to cool
Rinse your turkey really well w/ cold water, and remove all organs and neck and put it in whatever you are going to brine it in (I use a kitchen trash bag inside another trash bag, then a large igloo cooler). Pour the brine mix over the turkey and add as much water as you need to get you to 8 qts, toss in the garlic cloves and lemon halves. Do whatever you need to do to get the turkey covered in the liquid (I tie up the first bag really really tight - with DH's help, then tie up the 2nd bag even tighter for support) and chill (I dump a couple of bags of ice over it all in the cooler and leave on our back porch - brining ghetto style!)
3-6 hours before you are going to start roasting the turkey, remove it from the brine (discard everything in there) and rinse really really really well inside and out with cold water. Place uncovered in the fridge to allow it to dry some then it is ready to cook.

Some notes on cooking...you cannot stuff the turkey, the stuffing will be way too salty, but you won't need to at all. To cook mine, I cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juices into the cavity and toss in the halves, along with 2 or 3 celery stalks, 2 or 3 carrots, and a big handfull of fresh thyme sprigs. I also will melt a stick of butter and inject that all over the bird prior to cooking. I also rub olive oil on the skin prior to roasting. Roast at 350 for an hour, then baste with low-sodium chicken broth. Continue to cook until thickest part of thigh is ~165, basting every half hour with additional broth.

The sugar and honey in the brine will cause your turkey to brown rather quickly, so to avoid a too dark color I will cover the wings after an hour or so of cooking with foil, and then cover the whole bird with foil after 2-3 hours or so (just keep an eye on the color when you are basting). When it is done, it will be a glorious deep brown color. I couldn't believe how pretty mine was, like a magazine. My poor mom and southern grandma has officially been replaced as the turkey makers.

To make gravy, I would reccommend making a seperate turkey stock and and adding very little of the pan juices (as they are pretty salty).

KoCoLoCo · November 2009

Crap, I had bullets in this so it was way easier to read. Don't know what happened!

DHelenL9 · November 2009

I have also brined in the past.... very moist and delicious! Your recipe sounds great... thanks!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Meepit · November 2009

ABSOLUTELY!!! I'll never do another turkey without brining it. But if you haven't bought your kosher salt yet, go NOW. The stores will be crazy, and the Good Eats turkey recipe is SO popular that they sell out quickly if they haven't stocked enough.

Oh, and don't deviate. You really don't want to stuff the bird. Cook the stuffing in a casserole dish and do the aromatics. Everyone will remark on how amazing your kitchen smells.

Melicakes · November 2009

I'm getting more excited by the minute !

I have kosher salt but I don't have pepper corns or garlic....

I have table black pepper in a shaker, could I use that? I also have a garlic oninon medley seasoning, can I use that?

I do have the brown sugar so at least that's one more substitute I don't have to make.

If I go to Shoprite one more time they will arrest me for stalking the premises lol !

KoCoLoCo · November 2009

I think the black pepper would be fine, if you don't have garlic bulbs, I would just omit it. The flavor they give the turkey is really small since you leave them whole and they are in cold water anyways. Can't wait to hear how it turns out!

schoolsoutbride · November 2009

I haven't, but I'm tempted to after seeing him do it!

lovemymonkey · November 2009

thanks KoCoLoCo! I'm going to try your recipe out!

by the way- I C&Pd your text into an email and the bullets showed up!

KoCoLoCo · November 2009

lovemymonkey:

thanks KoCoLoCo! I'm going to try your recipe out!

by the way- I C&Pd your text into an email and the bullets showed up!

Wierd! You will have to let me know what you think....I am excited for you to try it!

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