Anyone "brine" a turkey before?

[m&m's mom]

My DH and I have somewhat foolishly volunteered to do the Thanksgiving turkey. Last year I remember seeing a lot of mention of soaking the turkey in brine before baking.
Anyone have specifics? Like, how do you do it?
Does it make the turkey more salty?

 

[MrsPete]

My DH and I have somewhat foolishly volunteered to do the Thangsgiving turkey. Last year I remember seeing a lot of mention of soking the turkey in brine before baking.
Anyone have specifics? Like, how do you do it?
Does it make the turkey more salty?

We did it last year, following the directions on Alton Brown's show "Good Eats" on the Cooking Network. You can easily google the episode. We put our turkey into a double-layered trash bag, then put the trash bag into a cooler. It had to "brine" for several days. I was a little worried about bacteria and germs, but my husband (and Alton Brown) said that the salt keeps the meat safe. We all ate it and lived, so they must've been right.

It was fairly expensive -- we used a very large amount of vegetable broth and spices -- but the results were delicious. Exceedingly tender and moist. No, the turkey wasn't specially salty.

 

[chell]

Good Eats Roast Turkey Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
See this recipe on air Wednesday Nov. 15 at 1:00 AM ET/PT.

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Recipe Summary
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
User Rating:

Episode#: EASP01
Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

Note at the top of the quote this episode will be airing Nov. 15 if you want to see it done.

I usually just soak mine overnight in salt-water to help add moisture and flavor.

 

[debster812]

We've done AB's Brined Turkey for 5 or 6 years now. At my ILs for Thanksgiving, there are usually 3 or 4 turkeys (we're a big group ) and ours is usually the one that's gone first.......

It really makes a HUGE difference.

 

[themarquis]

does anyone know an easier way to brine (that doesn't perhaps take several days, a cooler, and a ton of broth?) that might achieve some of the same results?

 

[horner5]

We also follow Alton Brown's recipe for the brining and just do it overnight. We'll put it in the brine by the time we go to bed. My husband uses a large paint bucket that he bought at Lowe's or Menards (5 gallon, I believe..probably about $5) to do the brining. It makes a huge difference when you brine. Even if you only brine it for 6 hours-you'll notice!

I am not a poultry fan at all because it tastes "gamey" to me, if that makes any sense...even with marinades! However, I will eat a turkey that's been brined like Alton's recipe and I actually enjoy it.

 

[chell]

does anyone know an easier way to brine (that doesn't perhaps take several days, a cooler, and a ton of broth?) that might achieve some of the same results?

What I do is find a large container that will fit in the fridge and put the turkey in it, fill with water and sprinkle some kosher salt on top (maybe 1/4 - 1/2 cup salt). I just soak it this way overnight and bake the next day. I also do this with chicken and it is always moist, even boneless chicken breasts.

 

[kennancat]

does anyone know an easier way to brine (that doesn't perhaps take several days, a cooler, and a ton of broth?) that might achieve some of the same results?

Buy a kosher turkey - they have gone through a process as part of the koshering that is similar to brining. Also, if you do buy a koshered turkey, don't brine it

 

[TurboKitty]

We brined our turkey last year and it was delicious. It was salted through, but not salty, if that makes sense.

We did a very basic brine of 2 to 1 on the cups of kosher salt and brown sugar. No other spices, just water, salt and brown sugar, soaked a turkey in it the whole day and night before in a big Ziploc sweater sized bag in our fridge. We had a pretty small bird, a 12 pounder, so I think we used 2 cups salt and 1 cup sugar in 2 gallons of water. We did flip the bird in the fridge once. It was well worth the effort.

 

[JennyMominRI]

If you want to keep it simple there are 3 main thngs needed for a brine..Salt, Something sweet and something citrusy....Kosher salt, Brown Sugar and lemon juice is fine....The rest is just extra.

 

[m&m's mom]

You guys are good. Thanks!
I am definitely going to TIVO the AB turkey episode. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[missypie]

I brined last year...it was good but not super-great. The problem is that DH always buys huge turkeys...22+ pounds. It fit into a paint bucket we had. I lowered a shelf in the fridge. I made LOTS of brining stuff to pour into the bucket. It was all very heavy....at some point, I had to lift bucket containing the 22+ lb turkey plus pounds of liquid and carry it into the house, then get the turkey out.

It was heavy and messy. I'd do it again, but with a much smaller turkey.

 

[BLLB]

Williams Sonoma has a brine mix that I used before, the only problem I had was that the juices were too salty for gravy.

 

[JunieJay]

We've done it the past couple of years and are hooked. It really does make the turkey extra juicy!

 

[Cantw8]

I did once, I must have done something wrong because with all that work, it still tasted the same

 

[hentob]

We followed this Wolfgang Puck recipe to the exact measurements last Thanksgiving and it was AMAZING! Right down to stuffing the turkey with apples (and other lovely things).

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25005,00.html



It looked like a magazine picture! Very mahogany in color. And it was soooooooooooooooooooooo yummy!

 

[Nancyg56]

I have also followed AB's brining method, and the results were worth the effort. I have used a cooler, but SIL is bringing home a new paint pail this year. I think that this is a giant hint to brine again because I complain about the cooler each time I scrub it out and each time I swear that it is the last time.

 

[DaisyD]

I did this last year as it was all the rage. I followed the directions exactly and still ended up with a salty bird! It wasn't disgusting but you could really tell the thing had been brined. Never again!

 

[MrsToad]

Butterball recommends NOT brining their turkeys as they are pre-basted.

 

[m&m's mom]

Butterball recommends NOT brining their turkeys as they are pre-basted.

I was wondering about that too.
I think we will buy a small regular turkey and try the brine thing and also buy a Butterball in case we mess the other one up.
We are our 40's and 50's and DH and I have never cooked a turkey before. Our parents are passing the baton to us and I don't want to mess it up. We are also getting a big Honeybaked ham so at least we will not go hungry - if that's ever possible at Thanksgiving.