Out of This World Turkey Brine

My first attempt at doing a brine and I will NEVER prepare a turkey any other way from now on. This definitely was out of this world, moist and tasty. It was very easy to do also. I just bought a new 5 gallon pail, mixed up the brine and plopped the bird down inside. Covered it and put it in the garage overnight, then roasted using Alton Brown's method (from Food Network) which was to start it in the oven at 500 degrees for the first 30 minutes, then turned it down to 350 degrees for the remainder. Awesome, phenomenal....best turkey I ever put in my mouth!!!

Excellent brine! Added a sliced onion to give more depth to the meat and left the peppercorns whole! Helpful Hint: 1.) For those concerned about keeping your "bird" cool, clear out your crisper drawer to submerge your bird. Steady, even temperature with no danger of spoiling! 2.) Brined turkeys cook faster ~ monitor your bird closely so it will not overcook!!! Enjoy!

FIRST-TIME BRINERS: AFTER BRINING, YOU MUST THOROUGHLY RINSE THE TURKEY IN RUNNING WATER (about 2 mins) and then PAT IT DRY thoroughly before baking. Also, DON'T BRINE A TURKEY THAT IS MARKED "PRE-BASTED". I suspect one or the other of these is the issue for those complaining about their bird being "too salty" even after cutting back on the salt. Do not cut back on the salt! The rinse and/or the unbasted bird will solve your problem. This recipe is terrific, but the author unfortunately assumed users would know these things. Do try it again!! I add 1/2 can of orange juice concentrate but everything else is the same. If you are using frozen turkey, it should be thawed before brining. A FRESH turkey will always turn out better.

this was the first turkey I put in brine. I let it set two days, used a frozen turkey, about 20 lbs. I added an extra half of this recipe to cover it completely.I put it in a large clean pail/bucket, covered it and put it in the garage(34-35 degrees F. in the garage,) the weather was perfect. when cooked, it was flavorful and really nice. my husband even commented on the difference. will try with chicken sometime. A+++++

This is the perfect base for killer smoked, deep fried or even oven roasted turkey. I just bought a new 5-gallon bucket with lid that I could put in a cold corner of my garage for 3 days. Just remember to drain and dry your turkey extremely well before cooking by any methods. Even the breast meat comes out as tender and as juicy as dark meat!

Tried this for the first time this Thanksgiving...and I must say it was the BEST turkey I have ever tasted. I was a little leary at first and hoped that it would be seasoned enough, but it was perfect. I stuffed the inside of the turkey with a stick of butter, three stalks of celery and about 5 cloves of garlic. Then placed the bird, breast side down in a disposible roasting pan and covered tightly with foil. Then a put it on the smoker Thanksgiving morning. It was the juiciest turkey I have ever cooked! My family RAVED over how good it was.

This was great. The turkey was so moist and had a wonderful flavor. I was concerned about the stuffing being to salty so I left out the salt in my stuffing recipe. It turned out perfect. Will never make turkey again with out brining it first.

I used this for a thanksgiving turkey. It gave the turkey great flavor. I roasted a la Safeway's "2 hour turkey." Unstuffed, the 22 pound bird was done at 475 in 2 hours.....

Excited to try this brine this year......After reading the reviews, I wanted to send out this note about NOT using black garbage bags for your turkey. You should not use anything that is not food grade or meant for food to be in. There are chemicals that they treat those bags with.....so please find Zip-lock or something else that won't make your family sick......I've been to many food safety classes just so you know that I know what I'm talking about. I'm a caterer and work with school food service too.

Great simple wonder! FYI REGARDING SALT! You can NOT substitute regular table salt for canning or kosher salt. Table salt has MORE salt per measurement since it is a finer grain. A cup of table salt weighs 10 ounces, while a cup of kosher salt weighs between 5 and 8 ounces. If you use table salt witht the measurements provided you will have an DOUBLE the amount of salt in the recipe. Thus is the reason why a few in the 2007 holiday season stated it was way to salty. Cooking is chemistry!

4.5 stars as written, our family gave it a 5 with some small changes. First, I cut the salt down to 1 cup. I thought 1 1/2 cups would be to much and it would have been to salty. I did use the type of salt called for in the recipe. After reading some reviews, I remembered someone had used large ziploc storage bags. I can't remember which section of the store they are in, but they are Ziploc brand XL storage bags. So I used HOT water for one gallon and mixed up the salt and sugar until it dissolved and then added the other ingredients and the 2nd gallon of water. Then I placed the turkey in the bag and placed the bag in a cooler filled with ice. Then you don't have to worry about gross turkey juice in your cooler. I let sit for 2 1/2 days, then drained and patted the turkey dry. Placed in the roaster and stuffed with quartered apples and an onion. I roasted it breast-side down at 500 degrees for 30 minutes, then turned it down to 325 and roasted til done. I made gravy with the drippings using milk and flour. I DID NOT add salt and if I would have added salt to the gravy, it would have been WAY too salty. Overall a very good brine and my turkey was very juicy and flavorful. Will use it for Thanksgiving dinner.

I have been brine-ing my holiday turkeys for years-they are always raved over! My recipe is very similar to this one except I use 1/2 cup kosher salt per 4 cups of water (omit the soysauce). So for a 20# turkey I used 2 cups kosher salt and 16 cups (2 gallons) water. I brine the turkey 40 minutes per pound (too long and the bird will start to turn mushy). Herbs will get lost in the brine so mash them with some butter and tuck them under the skin. This recipe will also brine a large pork loin or other meat. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Better than the plain white sugar, salt and pepper brine.

What did I do wrong? Was very moist and tender but so salty we could hardly eat it. I used canning salt.....???

Best Turkey Ever! Wow. Everyone raved about how juicy and tender and flavorful it was. I agreed. I've never before enjoyed turkey this much. I soaked the turkey for 3 days then rinsed it and rubbed butter, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into the skin before baking it and got a crispy and flavorful skin, too.

I cut this recipe in half and used it for a 3-4lb. chicken. Left it in the solution for maybe 8 hours then oven roasted it (unstuffed) at 375 for 1 1/2 hours. Absolutely delicious! Possibly the best roast chicken I have ever made. It also made great chicken sandwiches a couple of days later.

Excellent brine. Not too salty. I'm no big fan of Worcestershire but it added a nice depth to the flavor. I added oranges and lime to mine, too. It was perfect amount for my 15 lb. turkey that I put into a 5 gal. drink picnic thermos. As this was right after the Blizzard of 2009, I just sank the covered thermos into a 2 foot snowbank and it stayed nice and cold! I let it brine for about 24 hours. I did rinse the bird several times and then let it soak about an hour in clear cold water after rinsing to get excess salt off of it before baking. The drippings were then suitable for making gravy and the gravy wasn't overly salty.

This really, really, really is amazing! Our Christmas turkey was super juicy and moist that when hubby carved the turkey, it squirted him in the face. Eeek. We got a 10lb frozen turkey that we defrosted in the fridge for 3 days then brined for 2. We did change some stuff in the brine. What we did was add a whole big onion, a sprig of rosemary from the garden, and more garlic, mixed all the ingredients and cooked everything in the saucepan. We then put the mix into the rest of the water and poured it into the thick black garbage bag with the turkey waiting in it. We made sure we burped the cavity and the entire bag of air so the whole turkey is submerged. When we were ready to cook, we RINSED the turkey off thoroughly and patted dry. Then on the pan, rubbed dried thyme and basil all over the bird. Made a tin foil tent over the turkey as it cooked. For a 10lb bird, we cooked at 175C for 4.5hours, covered, and undisturbed. Then for the last 30minutes, opened the tent up to let butter melt on the skin, and loosely put the tent back on. It was amazing. We also ended up with almost 2 medium-sized saucepan worth of gravy from the drippings. The gravy too was superb!

I used this brine last Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. I have been cooking the holiday meals for years and this was the most moist, flavorful turkey I had every tasted. My family raved about how good the turkey was and wanted to know what I had done different. I followed the recipe exactly as written. This is fantastic and I will never make my turkey any other way.

This was fabulous! I took someone's advice and used the big Reynold's bag, put the brine and turkey in there and set it in the biggest bowl I had. It worked out great, turkey tasted fabulous!

This was delish! I have never done a brine, nor heard of anyone doing one. I let it sit outside in a bucket (I live in Alaska) on my deck for 2 days. Even the dry looking turkey breast, was very moist and tastey!! Had rave reviews come time to serve!!! Thank you!!!

After this brine, I will never make a turkey without it again. I have always considered myself to me an ok cook, but even I was impressed with the turkey I made.

This is very similar to the brine I used for the whole and breast turkeys I made for Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. My family fell in love with the brine and smoking method it is now the only way I can make a turkey now. It is important to say that your turkey should be fully submerged in the brine. I did thaw mine first, rinsed and removed the gizzards, neck, and liver. Then placed in into the reynolds bag and was able to fit the whole bird in a large bowl in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours before smoking. When I removed it from the brine, I did rinse the salt off, but then added a few pats of butter and cajun seasoning and let it rest on the counter for 20 minutes before placing into the smoker. OMG, truly out of this world delicious.

This was my first year making the Thanksgiving turkey and we were doing only a turkey breast. I was told the breast is usually the driest, so I was worried my turkey would be too dry and not flavorful enough. My family had never used a brine before, but I'm SO glad we gave it a shot! This brine made our turkey PERFECTION! It was JUICY! Since this was my first thanksgiving, my gravy actually didn't turn out - but it was actually OK because the turkey was juicy AND flavorful even without gravy!

I have used this brine several times on my deep fried Thanksgiving Turkey and they have all been amazing. I do like to let the brid steep a little longer in the brine, closer to 3 days as the brine tenderizes the bird much more. Additionally one trick I use is a clean 5 gallon bucket with a lid to keep the turkey fully submerged(you may need a plate or item to assist with keeping it under), and make sure get the cavity of the bird filled otherwise it will float.

I do a lot of custom meat smoking and tried this brine instead of my custom blend. The ingredients are simple and you can find them at any super market. It leaves the turkey moist and flavorful the way it should be. Just remember to stir your brine every 4 to 6 hours after you place your bird in the brine if you can for a more evenly moist bird. Even if you do boil the salt down the ingrdients will settle. Great Brine . PS. i am a good cook but my spelling not so good.

This brine gave very good flavour, even after a short time (12 hours). I had a 10 lb turkey and used my injector to add brine directly to the breast, legs, and thighs. I added a quartered apple and onion to the cavity along with some orange juice, smoked the turkey for 6 hours at 220f (2 hours smoke/heat, + 4 hours only heat). 75-80c internal temp. Nice mild smoke and flavour to the bone :o)

This is the second time I have brined a turkey before cooking. Our usual turkey consists of my dad smoking and deep frying the turkey, which he did this year as well. I went and bought a turkey so we could have some leftovers. I had a 17 lb. turkey and followed this recipe as is, but I did add onion and some liquid smoke to the brine. I brined for about 14+ hours, as I didn't have 2 days to wait. I roasted the turkey in the oven for about 4 hours, but I roasted it for the first 2 & 1/2 with the breast side down so that all the juices would drip into the breast meat. The last hour and a half, I turned the turkey over and roasted it with the breast side up, and continued to baste as it cooked. NOTE: I RINSED the turkey thoroughly before roasting. If you don't do this, it will be overly salty! This turkey turned out VERY moist and VERY tender! It had good flavor, but it was just a touch salty. Not enough for me to complain about, but it was there. I would certainly recommend this brine and I will definitely do my turkey this way again, because I don't have a turkey fryer. If I had more time, I would have smoked the turkey too. This one is a keeper, but remember, THOROUGHLY RINSE the turkey after taking it out of the brine!

Just pulled out the extra Thanksgiving turkey from the freezer and can't wait to try the worcestershire in the brine! I am making the weekly menu and this is going on it! If you brine a turkey overnight you can't really go wrong. We have been brining for about ten years and have found a great and easy way to do it. We just put it in a clean, strong trash bag (the thick yard ones work well. You don't want it to tear). My husband squeezes all the air out (so we never have to add more brine to cover it), then twists it closed very tightly and binds it with a rubber band. Sometimes I twist up the corners too, or he just puts it in one corner of the bag. The turkey is completely surrounded by water. Then we put it in an ice chest, with enough ice to keep it cold, overnight. (We have even just put it in the fridge right on the shelf if there's room.) I flip it first thing in the morning. Take it out about an hour before cooking to warm up a bit, then bake, smoke, fry, grill, whatever!

This should be on Allrecipes list of recipes to make for Thanksgiving! Used this for my first attempt at making turkey, it turned out succulent! Even rave reviews from my mother-in-law, which is a compliment indeed. Thank you for this recipe, I will never use another!

This is a good brine, be sure to let bird marinate over night to get full effect of brine. Thanks for the recipe.

I have used this for my turkey EVERY year since I first tried it! You will not be disappointed! If you have never brined your turkey, do not be intimidated by trying something new! I guarantee you will never NOT brine again! Juiciest most flavorful turkey ever!!!

This is my 3rd attempt at brining a turkey with 3 different recipes. Although my sister swears by it, I find the turkey too salty. This time I rinsed the turkey for 10 minutes, inside, outside and upside down and still too salty. You have to check the turkey temperature every 10 minutes after 2-1/2 hours for a 20 lb turkey (cooked in a bag). The turkeys cook a lot faster when brined and are so easy to over cook. The internal temperature can jump 20 degrees in a matter of minutes. I wish I had some success with this. Thanks for sharing it.

I had a cold and couldn't taste anything on the night I smoked this bird. My family said it was the best dam turkey they have ever tasted and were looking forward to another invite for a smoked turkey dinner.

Last Thanksgiving, I used this recipe for the first time in conjunction with the Easy Herb Roasted Turkey recipe also found on this site. The result was the best turkey my husband and I have ever eaten. We are making our turkey the same way this year. I stuffed with celery, apples, lemons, onion, and garlic and then roasted it following the Easy Herb Roasted Turkey recipe. I followed that recipe to the letter. I'm telling you...that was the best turkey I've ever tasted.

Yummy!!!!

I'm not sure if its the brine or the upside down cooking method i used but the combo of the 2 of them made one heck of a moist turkey that I wont ever NOT be brining!

I have used this recipe 3 years in a row. I just made it again today. This plus Alton Brown's turkey recipe = the best! My 72 year old father-in-law said it was the best turkey he's EVER eaten! I lovingly get teased from my mother-in-law about it every year! I use a cleaned out ice chest and cover the top layer in 3" of ice cubes and store it outside (I live in the NW and the outdoors keeps it cold).

My husband thought this was great. I did not. I left it in the brine for 2 days like it was recommended, but it turned out too salty for my taste. The flavor was great, so next time ill leave it in for less time.

Phenomenal! I used it twice already to brine turkeys and my mother used it once to brine a pot roast. We both skipped the brown sugar - just didn't see the need for it.

This is without a dought the best brine I have ever used. I find it works well mixing everything into a 5 gal. bucket and sticking it someplace cold for at least 24 hrs.

The name of this recipe says it all! I halved the recipe and used it to brine a chicken instead of turkey. I then slowly roasted the chicken over indirect heat on my charcoal grill with hickory chips to get the smokey flavor. It was by far the best chicken I have ever had. It was so moist-even the breast meat! I won't ever make chicken without brining it first again!

Cut the recipe to 2 servings, and brined 4 boneless skinless turkey breasts. This was some of the best turkey I've ever had. Moist and juicy. To prepare them I buttered them, sprinkled with a little seasoned salt, and put them in a slow cooker with a little water and slices of celery and onion. Wonderful! Don't think it was the slow cooker because these were better than anything I've had out of a Crock Pot, too.

Buy an extra large roasting bag, put turkey in the bag and put it in a large cooler pour the brine to the bag and tie ... add ice to keep cold. Leaves fridge free for other things:)

I will never again cook a turkey without first brining.... cooked our Thanksgiving turkey using this brine in our new oil-less turkey frier, and wow! So juicey and delicious! My dad secretly informed me that it was the best turkey he had EVER had!

This was by far the best way we have found to prep a turkey for cooking. We only brined the turkey for about 18 hours, but next time will definitely do it for at least 24...Overall very good recipe.

The results with this brine were excellent. This is definitely the best turkey I have made. I followed the recipe exactly, except used a mixture of kosher salt and sea salt. Next time if I am using this kosher/sea salt mixture, I will probably reduce the salt by 1/4 cup or so as the turkey was a little saltier than I would have liked - but noboby else thought so and everyone RAVED about the flavour and juiciness. I used a roasting bag to brine, as recommended - placed the bag in a foil roasting pan, added the turkey then poured in the brine. I then placed it on the roasting pan tray from the oven. Let it sit in the fridge overnight, stuffed in the morning, rubbed with canola, then roasted it at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, then 350 for 3 hours (it was a 19 lb bird). It was not difficult and the results were amazing. This is the only way I will be cooking turkey from now on.

I used this brine recipe for my turkey, and it came out nice and juicy! The Turkey just melted in my mouth, thanks.

Amazing! Did the brining in the bottom drawer of my fridge. Cooked the turkey in an oven bag. Best turkey ever! Saving to do again!

This was excellent. First time I have used a brine and the turkey was moist and tender; even the next day the leftovers were great. There was no need to season the bird before cooking, it tasted perfect.

First time to brine. Worked wonderfully on my frozen turkey.

DELICIOUS!!! The only way I will ever make turkey. Flavorful and moist!

Followed the recipe exactly- I brined the turkey in a jumbo size ziplock bag overnight, (11 lb fresh turkey) . Put the turkey and brine in the ziplock then put this inside a big plastic bowl in the fridge and it worked well. This was the juiciest and best turkey we ever had, everyone loved it. Also made gravy with drippings- a little salty but we liked it salty so it was good. Absolutely will make again and again. As an additional note I now use a round Igloo cooler (used at construction sites for water) to brine in, it works perfect.

I WISH I COULD RATE THIS 10 STARS!!! Every Thanksgiving we have 40 people and do 3 turkeys in a roaster/smoker with light smoke. I decided to try this brine based on the reviews. We usually get great raves on our birds. Everyone said that these were the best we have ever done!! All of the leftovers were taken by our guests. I used garbage bags to seal in the brine. If you do this, make sure that you remove as much ari as possible from the bag and tie it good. I highly recommend this recipe.

Moist! I have never had a turkey be this tender and moist before! There is no need to season the turkey, the brine imparts so much flavor! I used Alton Browns cooking technique, as mentioned by another reviewer. Start it at 500 degrees for the first 30 mins. then lower it to 350 and cover the breast with foil, till its done cooking. Thank you Sudemers for posting this recipe.

Never have I used brine before and I was a little nervous as to how my bird would turn out. If I could give this more than 5 stars I would! We will never eat turkey any other way! Hope to try it with pork next. We cooked the turkey using "Garbage Can Turkey" by GLORIA2003 from Allrecipes.

I seldom write reviews, but I must say, all the folks who said this was the best brine recipe they'd had were not lying! I followed it exactly as written, along with the advice to integrate the salt by boiling it with some of the water before adding it to the rest of the mix. It truly was the best turkey I'd had in a long time.

I tried this for Thanksgiving. It really was out of this world! Turkey was juicy and tender. Make sure you put a turkey pop up timer in the breast...it cooked faster!!

Simply the best. I add onion and quart of chicken broth and quart of vegetable broth. Mesquite smoked to 150 degrees. If you were a dog you'd get down and roll in this. Great brine!

We have been wanting to try brining poultry for some time now, finally decided this was the time. WOW! Wish I did this sooner! I doubt I will ever cook a turkey again without doing this. It is IMPORTANT to make sure the bird in question IS NOT "pre-basted" or "contains up to 15% of a solution to enhance flavor" or any such mess. If you brine a bird like this, it will be too salty to eat. I DID bring half the water to a rolling boil, added the ingredients and the rest of the water (as cold as possible). Put this large pot in my cooler, poured ice all around it and added a 6 lb. turkey breast. Let it sit 24 hours and roasted it in the oven. Wife said it was the best turkey I ever made, possibly the best she had ever eaten! And she likes dark meat! I can't WAIT to do this in my smoker...

Wow! great brine .. the best turkey I've ever made. Thanks!

I did this brine for 2 days before smoking it, and it was AMAZING!!! Best turkey I have ever had!!

If I could give this recipe a 10, I would. It made my first venture at roasting a turkey perfect. Out of Worcestershire sauce, I used an equal amount of low sodium soy sauce, substituted sea salt for canning salt, and added in onions as per another reviewer. Following another reviewer, I found 2.5 gallon Ziplock bags that were the right size to hold all the liquid and the medium size turkey I used. I brined it the whole two days, patted it dry, and roasted with Italian seasoning. Utter perfection. Next time I will probably rinse the turkey, then roast it, because a lot of the salt settles at the portion of the turkey at the bottom of the bag.

OMG. I will NEVER, EVER make turkey without brining it first. Every bit of the turkey comes out so juicy and delish. Make sure to rinse the turkey very well after removing it from the brine. I got lazy last time and the gravy came out too salty. I promise- this will get you compliments from everyone.

Amazing! I used this for thanksgiving and we had no leftover turkey for the first time ever.

I have used this brine recipe several times to prepare turkey and chicken. It is consistently excellent. After brining, I smoke the poultry in our Weber kettle using the indirect methos and with hickory chips. Every time I prepare a bird this way, my husband says that he would be happy to never eat any kind of meat again if he had this every day.

Really adds flavor.Keeps the meat really moist during cooking.Good brine for pork also.

I used this recipe last thanksgiving and it was the juiciest bird now i use it for chicken i grill, roast, or do in the rotisseree, Very good, fool proof.

This was a perfect brine. I did add a few sprigs of rosemary to the brining bag, but that is the only change I made. Juicy and tender and flavorful breast meat. I never thought it possible. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, I was really reluctant to try this recipe and ruin the turkey as I like my turkey well seasoned and marinated. We had an early Thanksgiving dinner this weekend since we were not all going to be together in Thanksgiving day in a few days so I decided to make a stress free, easy early Thanksgiving day so I gave this recipe a try. I am glad I did. I was suprised how good the turkey came out. I didn't have to baste. I just glazed it during the last hour with a pomegranate glaze, I usually put in all my turkeys and I ended up with the tastiest, perfectly browned, moist turkey I ever hoped for. The only changes I made was to use Kosher salt, added sprigs of fresh rosemary and a bit of garlic and Onion powder to the water. Thanks for sharing!

This is THE best brine ever! We used this before smoking a couple of Butterball frozen turkey breasts (netted kind). I reduced kosher salt only because this turkey has already been "marinated" or injected with seasoned solution to keep moist-and it turned out fantastic! Hubby took to work and his co-workers are now requesting it for the Christmas buffet...one even asked him if he would smoke her turkey for home! Tried several other brines but this is far and away the best! Cant wait to do a "real" turkey with this- thanks for the EXCELLENT recipe :)

This is the first turkey brine I've used and I was amazed! My hubby is not fond of roast turkey, but he raved about this one!

Perfect! Just make sure you wash it and dry it good before cooking.

I used this combination of ingredients (but on a smaller scale) to brine boneless chicken breasts. I left them in the brine several hours, then grilled them. They were succulent! An awesome recipe that I will share with others.

I lined a 5 gallon bucket with a large 30lb turkey bag and followed the recipe as written. The turkey was in the brine 17 hours. Most tender turkey I have ever cooked! The temperature outside was cold enough, it would have been a challenge to get it in the fridge.

I made my first turkey ever this year and used this brine recipe. It turned out fabulous! The turkey meat was moist and flavorful. Thank you for making my first Thanksgiving a success!

Best brine recipe ever and can be adapted to any spices you may prefer. My husband would never eat turkey until I started using this brine. Now he looks forward to it all through the holidays.

Helpful hint: I had a 24 lb. bird and could not find a container large enough to accommodate. I bought a 10 gallon plastic storage container with a lid and lined it with a new, clean Hefty trash bag. Pour the brine in the bag, put the turkey in and store in the fridge. Turn it every so often. I also added lemon and orange slices to the brine- very very moist turkey. There was no need to salt the turkey. I put pats of butter in between the skin and breast meat before roasting. Perfect turkey. I've brined for years and this was a new recipe for me. Enjoy and experiment a bit. Brining will definitely convert you into being a master Thanksgiving chef :-)

Excellent.

What did I do wrong? I used the recipe with a 10lb turkey. I followed the directions exactly. Our turkey turned out way too salty. Hence so did the gravy. I was so disappointed.

Great recipe. I added a half gallon of orange juice to get a citrus flavor. Smoked it on moy traeger grill and it was fantastic. Thank you to who ever submitted this!

wow, I used this turkey brine recipe for Christmas and everyone loved it. Taking some turkey is usually a chore since it's usually dry. This year everyone wanted seconds. I used the bottom drawer in my refrigerator too and started the bird at 500 degrees for the first half hour as suggested by other users. I will never cook turkey without using this recipe again... thanks!

By far the best turkey I can ever remember! About the only thing I changed was to use a lot more garlic. :) I had a 10.5 pound "store brand" turkey. For roasting, I detached the skin from the breast and put butter and Mrs. Dash in between the skin and meat. I actually stretched the skin back over the meat fairly tightly, tucked it into the neck and held it in place with tooth picks. There were a couple of small "holes" in the skin (from my skin loosening, I'm sure!) and I patched those by tucking in some extra skin from the neck so that the breast meat was "sealed". I sprinkled all the skin with the pickling salt, pepper and rubbed in lots of Mrs. Dash. Wish I had NOT used the extra salt - the pan drippings were too salty for gravy. I cooked it on a wire rack in a roaster pan at 350 for about 3 hours. I started cooking with the turkey covered with foil, breast side down. I turned it over to breast side up half way through my cooking time. I left it uncovered at that point. I turned the oven to convection for about the last 15 minutes. The whole turkey sat on a serving platter covered with foil for about an hour and a half before while being transported to my Moms. (It was Norman Rockwell beautiful before slicing!) When I cut it, it was still hot, and wonderfully moist. Can't wait to try it on the smoker. I will be picking up extra turkeys to put in the deep freezer while they are on sale for the holidays -- a first for me!

Da Polish Guy say's- that this is OUTSTANDING! Adding some apple juice concentrate is an added bonus.

The best! I was only able to soak for about 24hrs and it still turned out wonderful. I also used the Deep Fried Turkey Rub for the outside. We used a oil free turkey frier that we bought at home depot. It was the best turkey I have ever had, and everyone wanted the recipe. I highly recomed this brine for your turkey.

We use my husbands brine for every turkey--each year the word gets out--and we have more people asking how to do it. Additions we make--4 squeezed oranges-with the juice& 2 large lemons 5 bay leaf, and whole pepper corns and we use natural sugar-not white.---place bag in a large cooler--and just keep changing the ice a few times--also turn the bird a few times. We brine ours for 2 days. Happy cooking!!

I loved this recipe, I used a roasting pan and soaked it breast side down for 24 hours and then Wing side down for 15. When we begain roasting I left the cover off at 425 for 25 min then turned the pan for another 25 min. placed the cover back on and and turned the temp to 325 and our 16.5 lb turkey cooked in 3 hours and it was delicous!

Absolutely amazing! This is the best turkey I have EVER made.

Used this to brine a 12# turkey for the 4th of July. Followed directions exactly. Put "Memphis Rub" on turkey after rinsing and drying after 2 days brining. Refrigerated overnight and smoke cooked the turkey about 4 1/2 hours next morning. Made baste of butter and additional rub. This made a very moist, tender and delicious smoke cooked turkey. Will try a different rub next time. Reason for only 4 stars is because this was my first attempt at doing a turkey this way.

my first turkey - and it was simply marvellous! Excellend recepie, the meat came our tender, juicy and flavorfull to the last bone! Few things to not from my experience - I did wash and pat dry the turkey after 48 hrs of brinning 12 lb bird and it was not salty to our taste (though if you prefer less salty then you could soak less or reduce 10% salt). I oven roasted my bird and added a tsp of liquid smoke to the brine and it add a very light smokiness to meat. To brine the bird, I used veggie drawer from my refrigetator (washed it thoroughly before and after) and it worked out well. (may not work for a large bird) If you decide to rub the turkey with additional flavors make sure you don't add any salt. Great recepie!!

LOVE THIS BRINE! I have been cooking turkeys for 20 years and this was by far the best I have ever made. Thank you so much for sharing.

This was the easiest and best brine I have ever used. It was wonderful! Best turkey I ever made. I took another poster's advice and followed Alton Brown's directions for roasting: 1/2 hour at 500 degrees and then 350 until done. I also microwaved a sliced onion, a sliced apple and a cinnamon stick in a cup of water for 5 minutes then put it in the turkey cavity after I sprinkled it with ground sage. Just the best!

This recipe is much tastier than the other one I have tried. I add a bouillon cube to the brine. When you cook the chicken after brining, it is faster, so cook as if it is 1/2 lb smaller or so of a bird. Rinse after brining, then peel the skin up a bit to slide in fresh rosemary and pats of butter. Then use a lemon pepper on the skin. Delish!

I think I'll have to do this every year. I made a 30lb turkey and it was juicy and flavorful. Everyone loved it.

This was my first time to brine a turkey...it was also my first time to smoke a turkey..not sure what worked well, but it came out pretty good. Thanks for sharing!

This is the best turkey I ever made. It did not taste salty or garlicy. It was awesome. The family has been raving about it since Thanksgiving (now Christmas).

I used this recipe exactly for for our Thanksgiving turkey this year (which we cooked in the smoker), and it was AMAZING! I will be using this every time I smoke a turkey!

This was my first time brining a turkey-WOW! I have never tasted turkey so flavorful and JUICY. It just melted in your mouth. I did use a small amount of the water hot - just to dissolve the salt, and then used almost ice water for the remainder to make sure that the solution was not warm when putting the turkey in. otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I roasted in the oven instead of smoking, but turned out great! This is the only recipe anyone needs for preparing turkey! Thank you, SUDEMERS, for this outstanding recipe.

I don't think I will ever bake a turkey with out brining it first! This was great!!! The turkey was so moist! I baked it as other had suggested; Bake @ 500 for the first 1/2 hour and then the rest of the time at 300 with the breasts covered with foil. I also cooked in in a turkey bag. Awesome recipe!!!