Usually we do a breast, but this year I THOUGHT we’d have extra people, so I ordered a premium super-fine-ass whole turkey. They gave me a size range, but pretty meaninglessly - I think the “medium” was something like “12-18 pounds”. Went to pick it up today after a doctor’s appointment (I was thinking, hey, beat the rush - good thing I did!) They tell me, oh, by the way, they all came in big.
It’s 18 pounds and change.
I thought it was going to trip the passenger seat weight sensor on the way home from the store and make the car think it needs a seatbelt.
I cannot imagine the actual turkey involved, on the hoof so to speak. What the hell were the “large” people taking home? If I hadn’t gotten there relatively early I wouldn’t have gotten one of the smaller “mediums” either.
So, what the hell do I put this thing in to brine it in? My smaller stockpot worked fine for the breast, but there is no WAY to fit this bad boy in any of my pots. (Frankly, I’m concerned about my roasting pan, too.) Additionally there is a fridge space issue - I can’t just leave it in a bucket outside, I live in South Carolina and it’s supposed to make it up to 79 today. The turkey fits in the fridge now, but it won’t fit in a pot even if there was a pot to put the thing in.
Check to see if it’ll fit in the roasting pan, first - just plop it in, still wrapped up. If it will, buy some roasting bags (in the same aisle as aluminum foil etc.) and make sure you’ve got the “turkey-size” - link . That should be enough to hold the turkey and brine per what I posted in this thread. The roasting pan is essential in this; the bag will leak a little bit.
bathtub?
You can just go to Wal-Mart and buy some sort of plastic storage bin that will hold the beastie. If you get one a size larger you put ice in that and the brine and turkey inside that one.
I usually do my 18-21 pounder in a (clean) 5 gallon bucket reserved for the job.
My only complaint is that a bird that size never quite fits into my Nesco (electric oven) with enough clearance to brown. My mother’s okay with that; I think she’s a philistine serving white skinned turkey. But it’s still technically “her Thanksgiving”, even though I do more than half the cooking! Harrumph.
If all else fails, you can always use a garbage bag (or two) with lots of ice. Just reduce the amount of water you put in the brine to allow for extra water crete by ice meltage (this applies if you find a bucket as well).
What about a cooler? Just add part of the water as ice (or add some ice if you’re worried about the brine being too concentrated). That should keep it cool.
Is it frozen? If you have an 18lb turkey and it’s still frozen, I don’t think you’d need to keep adding ice to the brine to keep it cool. Stick it in a cooler. I could be wrong, but I’d think that much mass should keep the brine cool for 48 hours easily.
I’ve brined quite a few birds (and chops, and shrimp), and we usually do it for about twelve hours. If you started with a frozen bird today, it should be thawed enough by dinner time tomorrow (give or take) to start taking the brine, no?
If you have a large Igloo-style cooler, you can use that. If you do, clean it with bleach afterwards. We don’t put it in the refrigerator while it’s brining…we do it overnight and leave it on our mud porch, which gets cold enough at Thanksgiving time. An unheated/uninsulated garage would work, too, if you have one, and if it gets cold enough where you are…I’m guessing your Novembers in SC aren’t like ours here in Chicago! You can also ice the brine, as others suggested.
Definitely a 5-gallon or 6 1/2 gallon food-grade bucket. I’m not entirely sure what makes a bucket food-grade or not, or whether there are any ill effects from using a regular ol’ plastic bucket, but I know all my brewing books emphasize the fact that one should not use any ol’ bucket they find at Home Depot. I suspect it won’t make much of a difference for something like brining a turkey, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable can chime in.
The bird does fit the roasting pan. (Barely. One hopes that drips cling to the turkey and fall from the bottom.) I think the bird and the roasting pan will fit in the fridge if I can either lower a shelf OR take a shelf out alltogether. The simplest answer seems to be to get the turkey bags and do it in the fridge, rather than worrying about ice and such. If I get nasty turkey juice all over the groceries, I’ll blame you, Mama Zappa. (But I was planning on trying your brine this year anyway, so it might all balance out.)
The giblets are bagged, so we just pull them out when the bird is thawed. We usually use them for gravy (or stock) and the brine adds a nice flavor to the giblets and neck for that as well.
As far as rinsing is concerned, we rinse the bird inside and out before it’s cooked. Since the brine has already penetrated the bird, it’s not going to hurt the flavor by being under the faucet for a couple of minutes. Then we pat it dry before it’s fried or roasted or whatever.
I double bag the bird in garbage bags, pour the cooled brine in and tie it up. Then I put him into a styrofoam cooler you can buy at any local grocery or convenience store, cover with ice and let him do his thing. The styrofoam cooler doubles as an airtight disposal device for the carcass, which you do not want in your garbage can for more than a day.
Hey, the veggies need to be brined in raw turkey juice too, right?
Actually, it just occurred to me that, if you do the roasting pan / roasting bag thing, you could put the whole shebang in a plastic garbage bag in the fridge. This way, if there are any drips that escape, they’ll be contained and won’t ruin other fridge contents. My roasting pan is big enough and deep enough that this is not an issue.
