How to Brine a Thanksgiving Turkey

The Thanksgiving holiday, while a wonderful time to spend with family, tends to get in the way of a lot of people's normal schedule. Because of this, people are always looking for ways to cut down on the time that creating an age old Thanksgiving feast takes. One of the unavoidable parts of the Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey and by spending less than an hour working the night before you can prepare a turkey that will surely please the masses.

Brining a turkey the night before will add a lot of flavor and texture to your Thanksgiving meal. Brining a Turkey is simply the process of creating a brine solution and letting the turkey soak in it for an extended period of time. Emeril Legasse, a world famous chef, did a special on how to brine a turkey and I've experimented with his ideas and some of the results of those experiments were quite tasty. Unfortunately the recipes I find online all seem to be very strict and I find that this is one of the areas of cooking where you can be most creative.

Getting Started

You don't need much in order to get the basting accomplished and the time consumption should be manageable. You will want to gather the following before you get started: salt, brown sugar, seasonings (I use thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, and fennel seed), a large plastic roasting bag or non-reactive pot to brine in, various citrus (your choice), butter, and your turkey. Once you have all of your items together you can get started on cleaning the turkey. Remove the neck and giblets (save for later if you like) and rinse the turkey thoroughly.

Preparing the Brining Solution for your Turkey

Fill your roasting bag (or other container) to about two thirds full of cold water in one gallon increments. Make sure you leave enough room for the turkey. For each gallon of water that you use add in 1/3-1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I tend to vary the amount of salt I use and so far it hasn't made a huge impact, so if you are trying to cut out some of the salt in your diet, don't hesitate. Your solution does need to have a salt component though, so don't cut it down too much. You can mix in some amount of garlic salt here if you wish, though the flavor difference isn't as noticeable as I thought.

Mix the sugar and salt well until it fully dissolves. Cut your citrus in halves (lemons and oranges work well, but again, feel free to experiment) and add them to the brining solution along with your seasonings. I'm very liberal with the amount of seasonings I use in my basting solutions so there is no hard and fast rule. Four to six sprigs of rosemary and thyme should be more than enough and as with a lot of ingredients you don't want to overdo it. Don't worry too much though as the water content will keep the seasoning from getting too overpowering.

Lastly, place the turkey in your bag and seal it (or cover your container). Refrigerate the turkey until you are ready to start cooking the following day (at least 4 hours). Remove the turkey from the bag and prepare it using your favorite recipe. Remember, this is one of the more creative parts of cooking. Try changing up seasonings or ingredients. Adding various flavors to your brining solution will add a lot of flavor to your Thanksgiving meal.

I hope you enjoy your brined turkey as much as my family does and I hope it's a nice addition to your Thanksgiving feast.

Happy Holidays!