What are you using to brine your turkey?

I decided to forego all the brine recipes I had read or been told about including my mother's. I am only doing a large double breast (both breasts with the rib cage) this year since it is only my wife and I. Here's what I did.....

1- Removed the back section to make it lay down flatter in the pot

2- Once I knew how much water to use I added enough kosher salt to make it salty like seawater

3- I added fresh ground white and black pepper, ground sage, onion powder, garlic powder, ground red pepper, and a few bay leaves


I am letting this brine for 24 hours and will take it out tonight around 11:00 and dry it off before putting back into the fridge to dry the skin out some. I then plan to cook it for 2-3 hours in a bag at 325 until done. I will report the results, good , or bad



Dennis in Cary

I brined a 16 pounder last weekend. It took 4 gallons of water to which I added 2 cups table salt, 2 cups sugar, and 1/4 cup poultry seasoning. Turned out real well. Your method sounds great. Let us know!

Just put mine in the mudroom an hour ago. I use Alton Brown's recipe: 1 gallon vegetable broth, 1 gallon icewater, 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, tablespoon of black peppercorns, tablespoon of allspice berries, tablespoon of candied ginger.

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky Bishop

Just put mine in the mudroom an hour ago. I use Alton Brown's recipe: 1 gallon vegetable broth, 1 gallon icewater, 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, tablespoon of black peppercorns, tablespoon of allspice berries, tablespoon of candied ginger.

OK, I'm intrigued. What's a mudroom? How did it come to be called that?

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky Bishop

Just put mine in the mudroom an hour ago. I use Alton Brown's recipe: 1 gallon vegetable broth, 1 gallon icewater, 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, tablespoon of black peppercorns, tablespoon of allspice berries, tablespoon of candied ginger.

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky Bishop

Just put mine in the mudroom an hour ago. I use Alton Brown's recipe: 1 gallon vegetable broth, 1 gallon icewater, 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, tablespoon of black peppercorns, tablespoon of allspice berries, tablespoon of candied ginger.

Try again. As mentioned in another thread, I also use Alton Brown's brine recipe, as well as his cooking approach, maybe with some apple, lemon and onion chunks in the cavity (dressing separate).

A mudroom is a kind of entryway area to a house where you are supposed to leave your muddy boots, wet coats, and such. Generally in New England and other colder climes?

Ah, a utility room. I had picturesque visions of a mud walled root cellar in Lucky's backyard next to the rapid transit tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by DLnWPBrown

I decided to forego all the brine recipes I had read or been told about including my mother's. I am only doing a large double breast (both breasts with the rib cage) this year since it is only my wife and I. Here's what I did.....

1- Removed the back section to make it lay down flatter in the pot

2- Once I knew how much water to use I added enough kosher salt to make it salty like seawater

3- I added fresh ground white and black pepper, ground sage, onion powder, garlic powder, ground red pepper, and a few bay leaves


I am letting this brine for 24 hours and will take it out tonight around 11:00 and dry it off before putting back into the fridge to dry the skin out some. I then plan to cook it for 2-3 hours in a bag at 325 until done. I will report the results, good , or bad



Dennis in Cary

Well the turkey came out just about perfect. It took 2 hours as I had planned on, as well as juicy as I had prayed for. I only had one problem though, I have been on super antibiotics for a week and a half and can't hold anything down. The joys of a severe staph infection.

Needless to say the wife will be enjoying plenty of turkey..... me I might take another pill and fire up the grill just to keep from losing some keilbasa in the fridge. I have some oak so I might as well do something even if I can't eat.

quote:

Originally posted by GordonW

Originally posted by Lucky Bishop
Try again. As mentioned in another thread, I also use Alton Brown's brine recipe, as well as his cooking approach, maybe with some apple, lemon and onion chunks in the cavity (dressing separate).

A mudroom is a kind of entryway area to a house where you are supposed to leave your muddy boots, wet coats, and such. Generally in New England and other colder climes?

Indeed in New England, although traditionally, the mudroom is just off of the kitchen, entered through the back door. But since we live in a row house, which complicates access to the back door, the mudrooms are out front.

Unlike Alton, we stuff our birds (with a cornbread, sausage and pecan stuffing with fruit and nuts, in fact). In fact, other than the brine, I didn't use his method at all this year, but went with Gourmet's suggestion from last month's issue: brined, stuffed, covered in salt and pepper, roasted at 450 for around an hour and 45 minutes. Although because we only had a 10-pound bird this year (only 4 of us), the probe thermometer was rocketing up so fast that I dropped it down to 350 for the last 35 minutes or so.

Magnificent bird -- could be the best one I've ever made. Stuffing was a little dry this time out, though.

Bill Voss: I'd love to have a root cellar (not least because it would give me an excuse to lay down some homebrew lager to age), but my wife's family has lived in this house since 1957. Do you know how many generations of housecats I'd have to dig through to build a root cellar?

Lucky, I'm hoping you mean cat droppings, but figuring you mean dropped in the ground cats who lived all 9 lives.

The latter, I'm afraid. I'm scared even to dig down enough to plant bulbs, for fear I'll unearth a cat from 1966 or something.

I used a combination of ice, water, fat-free / low salt chicken broth (Swanson's Natural Goodness), dry white vermouth, kosher salt, brown sugar, and pepper.

Then I used Alton Brown's method for roasting: half an hour at 500, cover with a pre-made foil garment for the breast (to avoid having to touch a 500-degree bird), then back in at 350 for two or three hours. No basting.

It was sensational.