Helpful tip: Use a turkey roasting bag (i.e. Reynolds) to hold your turkey in the brine and then put into roasting pan for stability and then put in the refrigerator to soak in all the good flavor. When draining brine put turkey in a strainer and cut bag, drain liquid, then lift bag out and drain bird. Easy and worth it...Yumm!
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!!!
I had never cooked a turkey before and decided to add the extra step in brining it. It was an 18lb turkey so I emptied the bottom drawer from my fridge and brined it overnight in there. I was only able to put about 3/4 of the water that the recipe called for and was worried that it would be salty but it wasn't. Also, it would have helped dissolve the salt in hot water and then add the rest of the water. I added salt and it kind of just sat at the bottom.
I made two turkeys this week (they were on sale). I did what Secret Agent suggested and used a washed out cooler to brine the two. The first turkey I soaked for only about 5 hours and it was just ok (cooked in a bag). However the second one - OUT OF THIS WORLD is right. It was the very BEST turkey that I have ever ever made... EXCELLENT. The flavor was wonderful!! Thank you so much I will never cook another turkey without brining it like this again. (I used fresh garlic and Rock Salt since I didn't have any other kind of salt)
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!
If you really want to kick it up...add apple juice whole cloves lemon juice ground sage rosemary and thyme. Then (and this is key) stuff turkey with apples oranges lemons and onions...and cook it BREAST SIDE DOWN
