Brine a turkey for Christmas!

[GoatGuy]

If I head over tonight, SsS will have to drive.

Wandering in while dinner is being served is just plain disrespectful.

Enjoy!

Hahaha, late dinner last night.

[M.Dean]

Well, after a "Few" drinks last evening, me and a few of the Boy's figgered we'd try this Brining Thing with this years Turkey! Got the Brine made all fine and dandy, I think we added Vodka instead of water, it weren't Whiskey cuz I didn't let that bottle get out of my grip all night!!! Anyway's, every thing was going just hunky dorry until we's went to put the Turkey in the big brine pot, what a bloody mess!!! That god dam 34 pound big bird started flapping and screaming it's fool head off the second we tried to put the lid down on it's head!!! The water was steam'in hot, but not really boil'in like the pot of water me and my little brother pulled over on our heads a few years back, we still look just fine! Now, you try to catch a big bird like that, half scalded and pissed right off and put it back in that big brine pot!!! Dam lucky the Wife keeps her 12 gauge loaded, behind the firewood pile in the kitchen here! Took Zeff about 4 or 5 blasts and that dam turkey buzzard finally quit his flapp'in and bled out on the table! Anyway's Gate, if I can call you Gate, Mr. Gatehouse??? Reason for our plea of help here is, will this brine thing work with a Dead Turkey Buzzard, or do you's use only nice, live fresh ones??? And this "stuff'in" thing, seems like a lot of extra trouble, all's we've ever did was feed the turkey a pile of bread crumb's, onions,celery and meal worms dipped in sage the night before the big meal, works good enough for us, and the stuff'in's crazy good!!! Hey, and a handy little tip from Zeke here, if you got to patch up shotgun blast holes in drywall, just mix up some flour and a bit of water, spread it out with a egg flipper, and presto, it blends in dam near perfectly!!! I'll let you all know how Dinner turns out tomorrow, should be something to behold!!!

[Gateholio]

Thanksgiving is coming up,don't forget to BRINE!

[SR80]

Tried this exact recipe last year...wow! Ill never not do this, ive been voted the turkey maker in our family now

[drum_boy101]

We use Alton Brown's turkey recipe exclusively, so good!

Ingredients
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 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

[Glenny]

Nice . I brine all my chiggin always. Bring on the turkey lurky..

[boxhitch]

We have been brinin' since this was first posted up. Brining large roasting birds almost monthly.
May even try this on a Flemish Giant or two

[QUOTE=drum_boy101;1823181]We use Alton Brown's turkey recipe exclusively, so good!

Discard the brine.
[QUOTE]Looks good enough for sop stock

[Bod]

Do you want the juiciest turkey ever? You should brine it. I started brining turkeys a number of years ago, and never looked back. I have written out the instructions lots of times, but never seem to save them, so nowdays I just copy it from the Food Network site. It's virtually identical to what I do, although his insrucitons are more precise- I just poke at the thing and say "yup, it's ready"

I make the stuffing in a pan on the side- It's easy to do and if you use some good chicken stock nobody will know it's never seen the inside of a turkey!

Anyway, if you want the juiciest turkey for Christmas, forget the old recipes of stuffing, cooking all day and whatever else grandma used to do...Use the brine!



How to Brine and Roast a Turkey

Yield: 12

Try brining for the best tasting, juiciest holiday turkey ever! It?s a centuries old trick that the pros use. Best of all it?s very simple and it really works. Brining encourages the tightly wound proteins in meat to uncoil, bump into each other and form a web of sorts that sets with the heat of the oven and traps moisture.

Ingredients:
How to Brine and Roast a Turkey

• See Directions (below) for Ingredients as they vary depending on size of bird

Directions:
How to Brine and Roast a Turkey

1. You will need an accurate meat thermometer to gauge exactly when the meat is done. Don’t rely on the pop-up thermometers; they are calibrated so high that they guarantee dried out meat!
2. For a standard 12 to 25 pound turkey you will need 2 pounds of salt, ideally sea salt and 2 cups of brown sugar. You will also need a clean picnic cooler large enough to hold the turkey when completely submerged in water.
3. Place the turkey, salt and sugar in the bucket. Cover with 4 gallons of cold water and submerge the turkey upside down. Turn the turkey a few times to mix the salt and sugar. Place the bucket in a cold place for four hours for a smaller turkey and as much as six hours for a larger one, no more no less. If necessary to keep the brine cold replace some of the water with a few bags of ice or even throw in some freezer packs.
4. Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Let rest uncovered overnight in the refrigerator. This will drain any excess moisture and help dry out the skin so it will brown better.
5. Rub the turkey with butter, ground pepper and your favourite herb or spice mix. Stuff the turkey with fresh herb sprigs, garlic cloves and large chopped pieces of carrot, celery and onion. Place breast side down on a clean well oiled roasting rack in a roasting pan. Add two cups of water to the pan.
6. Place the turkey in a preheated 400° oven. Roast one hour then, without opening the oven, turn the heat down to 250° and continue roasting for two hours longer. For a 20 to 25 lb. turkey or larger roast for three more hours. If you have a convection oven only roast for 45 minutes first before turning down the oven heat, no other adjustments are needed.
7. Flip the turkey breast side up and baste it thoroughly. Add two cups of water to the roasting pan. Turn the oven back up to 400° and continue roasting until the breast meat is exactly 165° and the thigh reads 170°. Baste and check the temperature every 15 minutes or so. This finishing heat will help brown the skin. Let the turkey rest covered with foil for 20 to 30 minutes before carving then serve immediately.

Just did this with about a 16 pound bird and it turned out awesome. Now that that's out of the way, bring on the hunting. Thanks Gatehouse

[Buckmeister]

Just did this on the weekend for Thanksgiving. Worked awesome!!! Even better than I expected. Will certainly do this again.

[IronNoggin]

So Gate! What would this brining recipe do for a domestic duck (Muscovy) or Goose??

Wondering...
Nog