Recipe of the Week

Thanksgiving Turkey Brine

This is just about the BEST turkey you will ever make! It comes out so moist and flavorful. The gravy is fabulous (it can be on the salty side). Directions for brining is at the bottom of the recipe. Be sure to read the entire recipe days before you plan to cook the turkey so you understand all the steps involved, have all the ingredients and have enough time! This takes some work...but it is sooooo worth it!!!

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 juniper berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
For roasting:

3-4 cloves garlic cut in half

1 onion cut in half
4 sprigs rosemary

8-10 sprigs of thyme
6 leaves sage

Whole lemon, cut in half

Salt

Pepper
Olive 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 -10 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. 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. Rub bird skin with garlic cloves and onion, toss inside the cavity. Rub skin with lemon juice and toss the rind into cavity. Chop ½ of the remaining herbs. Loosen skin around the breasts and spread chopped herbs over the breast pieces under the skin. Stuff remaining herbs into bird cavity. Tuck back wings and tie legs together, coat whole bird liberally with olive (or other neutral) oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

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. (Roast 15 minutes per pound) Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Make gravy from drippings. Carve turkey just before serving.

Poultry Brining 101

The best way to get flavorful poultry, regardless of how it is prepared, is to start with a brine. Brining adds moisture and flavor to poultry and helps to keep it from drying out. A turkey can be a serious investment in time so you want to make sure it is perfect, especially if you're entertaining. Whether you grill, smoke, fry, or roast your turkey, you should use a brined bird.

To properly brine a turkey you need to start the night before you plan to cook. You will need 10 to 12 hours (or more), a container large enough to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it. You'll also need salt, water, sugar, seasonings, and enough room to refrigerate it. A large stainless steel stock pot or even a 5 gallon clean plastic bucket Whatever container you choose the turkey needs to have enough room to be turned so it should be big. Both Reynolds (Oven Roasting Bag for Turkeys) and Ziploc (XL Storage Bag) make very large food safe sealable bags that are great for brining.

Now let's get to the turkey. The turkey should be cleaned out, completely thawed, and should not be a self-basting or Kosher turkey. Self-basting and Kosher turkeys have a salty stock added that will make your brined turkey too salty. A fresh turkey works best, but a completely thawed, frozen turkey will work just as well.

To make the brine, mix 1 cup of salt in 1 gallon of water. You will need more than 1 gallon of water but that’s the ratio to aim for. One way of telling if you have enough salt in your brine is that a raw egg will float in it. Make sure that the salt is completely dissolved before adding the seasonings you like, making sure not to add anything that contains salt.

Sugar is optional to any brine, but works to counteract the flavor of the salt. While you may choose a brine without sugar, I do recommend that you add sugar (any kind of "sweet" will do) to maintain the flavor of the turkey. Add up to 1 cup of sugar per gallon of brine. Like the salt you need to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.

Place the turkey in a container and pour in enough brine to completely cover the turkey with an inch or two to spare. You do not want any part of the turkey above the surface of the brine. Now you put the whole thing in the refrigerator. If you are like me, making enough room in the fridge is the hardest part of this project. The turkey should sit in the brine for at least 1 hour per pound of turkey. You can leave the bird in the brine for as much as 24 hours but the amount of moisture the turkey will absorb decreases over time. 10 hours should be the minimum for brining a large turkey. Brining for too long can ruin the flavor and make the turkey too salty. 24 hours should be the maximum amount of time you brine. If you are using a smaller turkey use the hour per pound rule.

Don't have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler. A cooler big enough to hold your turkey makes a good container for your turkey and brine. The cooler will help keep it cool and allow you to brine your turkey without taking up precious refrigerator space. If the weather is cool, but not freezing you can put the whole thing outside until you need the turkey. If the weather is warm fill a half gallon milk carton with water and freeze it. Place this in the cooler with the turkey and brine and it will hold down the temperature during the brining process.

When you are ready to start cooking your turkey, remove it from the brine and rinse it off thoroughly in the sink with cold water until all traces of salt are off the surface inside and out. Safely discard the brine and cook your turkey as normal. You will notice the second you start to carve your turkey that the brining has helped it retain moisture. The first bite will sell you on brining turkeys forever, and after you've tried this you will want to brine all your poultry.