I’m roasting a turkey for Christmas dinner, and I’d like to do something special - a little more than the run of the mill roast turkey with gravy. So I was watching Alton Brown on the Food Network, and he recommends brining the turkey first to make it juicy.
Here is the suggested brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
Basically you combine the above in hot water then after it cools, you soak the turkey in it for about six hours.
My concern is that this will make the turkey too salty. Has anyone ever brined a turkey before? How did it turn out? Any input would be oh-so-appreciated
Thanks minty, and may I ask - what container should i use to soak the turkey in? I dont have a bowl big enough and I’m thinking of buying one of those styrofoam coolers you can get at Publix for $2.99, but I’m not sure if plastic is the best route.
I have made Alton’s recipe several times and every time it comes out fantastic. I picked up a 5 gallon bucket at Home Depot for a few bucks that works just fine.
Note that brining the bird for more than 6 hours isn’t the end of the world – I’ve brined turkey breasts up to 18 hours in the fridge with no loss of quality.
We brined our turkey for Thanksgiving. It was fantastic–genuinely much moister and more tender than usual. The flesh was a tiny bit salty, but not enough to be a problem. However the skin was noticeably saltier than usual–it really tasted too salty. Of course a lot of people don’t eat the skin anyway.
Bless you sir, I wanted to make Brown’s recipe this weekend but it was gone from the Food Network’s Good Eats site. Last year I made a wonderfully juicy turkey using another method that included inserting pats of butter between the skin and the meat but I think his method should work better…
Fortunately they did still have the Cranberry Dipping Sauce recipe for the leftovers recipe…
Here’s the best one I’ve tried, from Emeril Lagasse. Really, really good stuff. And I just brined it in the roasting pan, flipping the bird over a couple times to make sure everything got good and soaked.
What’s the difference between kosher salt and regular salt? Is one salt just blessed by a rabbi, or is it a different kind of salt? Why is it better than regular Morton’s table salt?
It’s salt used for Koshering. It has a different texture (more grainy, more flaky) than table salt. I’ve heard people claim it tastes less “salty” than table salt, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that myself.
Kosher salt doesn’t contain iodides, unlike table salt. That could have some effect on the flavour if you’re using a large quantity. Kosher salt comes in larger pieces than table salt, also, which makes it slower to dissolve, which would make it taste less salty.
I brined my turkey this year and it was incredible.
I used Alton Brown’s recipe, using the kosher salt. I brined mine for about 8-9 hours.
When I told my mother what I was doing, she was convinced it was going to be a horrible salty mess.
She kept saying, “Well, okay, but don’t use too much salt. Why don’t you just use half that amount of salt? Otherwise it’ll just be too salty and taste bad.”
I just love to prove her wrong. It doesn’t taste salty at all. It makes the turkey moist and juicy. Even days later, the leftovers were still moist and juicy and flavorful.
:Smug Smilie:
I also got a big 5-gallon bucket from Home Depot. $3 for the bucket, $2 for the lid. I’ve marked it clearly, “TURKEY BRINING BUCKET” so my husband won’t use it for nasty dirty stuff, and hidden it in the basement.
SKIN EATERS: You must rinse the turkey when you pull it from the brine or the skin will be too salty.
And to make it really great, you should dry it in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours, by which I mean put it on a platter and stick it in the fridge. Or better still, up on a rack so that the air can circulate. The skin will become dry and tight. Then roast the bird on high heat, fast. The skin will crisp up beautifully and the juices will be sealed in. Yummers.
One thing to remember - make sure the bird you buy isn’t injected with saline already. That’ll make it way too salty. Otherwise, it’s a great way to make turkey.
