i was so nervous about this brine- my husband chose the recipe, and when it was hot it smelled AWFUL! i let it cool, and it smelled a little better, but just a little. i made just a turkey breast (though it was huge!), so i brined it about 12 hrs, then roasted it with butter and maple syrup glaze (martha stewart has a good recipe). my husband's fave holiday is thanksgiving- he took me aside to say it was by far the best turkey he's ever had. not bad for the vegetarian chef!
This is a great brine the soy sauce gives the turkey a lovely rich color and the turkey was very juicy. I put the garlic cloves in the cavity for cooking and people were fighting for them! For smaller birds use a shorter time in the brine to keep it from being too salty.
I rated this recipe last year about this time and still love it, I just wanted to add to the review. This year I actually had a nice big 5 gallon bucket from Lowes with a lid to Brine it in for two whole days before putting it in my new convection oven. I made a twenty pound turkey. I used some of the brine to baste the turkey, but not much about a cup. I substituted the brown sugar for a brown sugar I made with stevia instead, so basically molasses and stevia in the raw. I did double the recipe though since I needed more than original recipe called for with such a large turkey. This Brine is super delicious though. For those of you using a brine for the first time, make sure you rinse the brine off before cooking/baking otherwise the salt will overwhelm you.
This will be the brine that I use from now on. It was excellent. I put it together the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving so that it could chill over night and I could start brining the turkey on Wednesday. I did a taste test after it was simmering for several minutes and decided to up the maple syrup to 2 cups instead of 1 because I wanted more of a maple flavor. With this addition it was perfect for my taste. The finished turkey turned out neither too sweet nor too salty and so moist. I cooked a small turkey - just under 11 lbs. and the amount of brine this reciped yielded was perfect for that. You might want to consider doubling the recipe if you are doing a large turkey. Thanks for a great recipe!
Best brine ever! I've made turkey with this brine several times and now I've started adding a couple tablespoons of liquid smoke and a couple teaspoons maple flavor extract to kick it up a few notches. Bake it with the maple glazed turkey recipe from this site and I have had so many people say that it's the best turkey they've ever had. I even have people offer to pay me to make their turkey for them! I quadruple the recipe and brine 2 birds at a time in a cooler checking the ice.
This is my favorite and only way I will roast a turkey or chicken now! It leaves the meat so moist! I know it may have a bad smell but it will make the best Thanksgiving Bird you have ever had! The very first time I ever roasted a bird I used this recipe and everyone raved about how amazing it was and how well I did! easy for cooking beginners as well!
Amazing brine, use it for turkey and whole chickens. I usually don't have the whisky around so I've made it without- very delicious and doesn't smell terrible when you make it. ;)
This is the only way we cook our turkeys now!!! Brine and cowboy charcoal!!! Nothing but rave reviews from our family and friends!!
Love this! I use Red Stag by Jim Beam Black Cherry Whiskey...Is Amazing! Cooked on the gas grill!
Wasn t impressed at all. Too much sugar caused the turkey skin to burn. And the flavor of the meat wasn t maple. In fact it wasn t much of anything beyond normal turkey (almost as though I hadn t even brined. Not at all worth the time/money.
