Brining a Turkey

Brining a Turkey



This is the result of my efforts yesterday!

 Thanksgiving is coming, and coming quickly.  I love this season as it really is all about family and friends spending time together.  When Geoff and I married, it was the first time that I was cooking my own Thanksgiving turkey normally I was heading off to Mom’s or another family members house to enjoy a feast!  I have been fortunate to grow up with a number of very talented women in my family which are also wonderful cooks and are masters of feeding small armies of people.  I have a very large extended family – Mom is one of 6 and Dad is one of 12. We are all close so large family gatherings are common place. It is someone’s birthday – let’s have a party! Someone is graduating – let’s have a party! It is Tuesday – let’s have a party! I am a product of my environment so having a party is one of the best things about cooking. I get to cook for people that I care about and if they are smart they come with their own plastic containers for leftovers!

When I was faced with the challenge of cooking a turkey for my new family, I did what I do best – Google!  So I searched the many ways to cook the bird...regular, deep fry, etc.  The method that appealed to me the best was brining. Marinating the turkey in seasoned salt water makes the bird very moist and flavourful. It is more effort than many other ways but in my opinion well worth the effort.

There are many recipes for brining from simple (just salt and water) to more complex (salt, water and a bunch of seasonings).  This is one of the opportunities when you can truly experiment and make your own flavour combination. Below is what I do, or at least come close to doing every year.  It is hard to do the same thing twice but this is the combination that I work from.  The brining itself takes a little effort but once the bird is out of the brine there is nothing else to do.  This is also a good technique to use with chicken and pork. Generally, I will leave the turkey in the brine for 1 hour per pound, so you will need to start this a day or so before. There is a little math required to figure out when you need to start the turkey in the brine:

·         Decide what time you want to eat

·         Subtract 30-40 minutes to have turkey out of oven to rest and be carved

·         Subtract about 15-20 minutes per pound for cooking on 350F (unstuffed/stuffed)

·         Subtract 1 hour/pound of bird (18lbs = 18 hours) there is a little flexibility here but a good measure

·         Subtract 1 hour to get the brine mixture ready

So as an example if you wanted to eat an 18 pound bird (unstuffed) at 3pm you really want to start this process at least 3pm the day before.

You will need the following supplies:

·         Cooler large enough to hold the bird,

·         A few ice packs, or Ziploc bags that can be filled with ice (2-3 will work) or 2l juice containers (2 is generally enough)  filled with water and frozen

·         Large garbage bag (there are brine bags available on the market but a garbage bag works as well.

·         Cheese cloth and kitchen twine

·         1 gallon apple cider

·         1 turkey

Brine Ingredients

8-10 cups	Water
1 ½ cups	Kosher Salt
2-3 sticks	Cinnamon
2 tbsp	Whole pepper corns
5-8	Whole Star Anise
2 sprigs	Rosemary, fresh
3-4 sprigs 5-10	Thyme, fresh Sage Leaves, fresh
1-2 cups	Dried apple slices
½ cup	Dried cranberries

Place the cinnamon, pepper corns, star anise in a square of the cheesecloth and tie shut (this makes clean up easy). In a large pot, bring water to a boil.  Add boil for another 10 minutes, until salt is completely dissolved. Cool completely.




I learned the joys of putting everything in a grabage bag and cheesecloth after this Christmas Brining experience.

 

Remove the giblets and wash the turkey. Place ice packs, Ziploc bags or juice container in cooler. Place the garbage bag in the cooler, then place turkey in the garbage bag.  Pour in apple cider and brine mixture including the cheesecloth, rosemary, thyme, sage, dried apples and dried cranberries into the garbage bag. Let turkey stay in the brine mixture for about 1 hour per pound.

Remove turkey from the bag and rinse well.  Truss the turkey and place breast side up on a rack of a turkey roaster. Cook on 325F.  I do not stuff my turkey so I cook at about 15 minutes/pound. If you choose to stuff you will need about 20 minutes/pound.

I do not baste or do anything with the turkey once in the oven!  I am, however, a big fan of using a meat thermometer to make sure it is done (reaching internal temperature of 165F).

Remove the bird from the oven and let rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.

ENJOY!