Since the house is done and we have a basement now, we decided to have everyone over for Thanksgiving. This is the FIRST time ive EVER made a turkey before! (We may all be having frozen tv dinners) haha I am going all out! I am going to BRINE a turkey the day before and then cook it. Since I have my whole family addicted to the pioneer woman I got the recipe from her. I bought the brining from Sonoma Williams andd the whole shi bang! My mom didnt even know what brining meant! haha.....Ill let you know how it turns out!
Brining a TurkeyOct. 24, 2007
Living on a busy, action-packed cattle ranch with a husband and four kids, I have very little tolerance for unnecessary steps when it comes to cooking. Especially at Thanksgiving, I’m always looking for shortcuts and steps to cut out so I can get the food cooked in as little time as possible. The men get really hungry around here and it gives me a nervous twitch when they start hovering around the stove.
There was a time when I’d lumped brining a Thanksgiving turkey into the category of “Unnecessary Cooking Steps”—that is, until I actually pushed myself to try it one year over five years ago. And as soon as I took the first bite of that turkey, I felt a wash a shame and guilt come over my body. It was so succulent, so flavorful, so delicious, I scolded and spanked and flogged myself for being so close-minded and short-sighted and lazy and dumb and messy and disheveled, but some of those things are outside the scope of this cooking post.
Brining a turkey, folks. It may sound intimidating and labor-intensive, but it’s really not. The concept of brining involves submerging a piece of meat in a salt-water solution for several hours before cooking. While volumes and volumes of scientific data do exist that support and explain the process of brining, I’m not going to outline them all here. First of all, I don’t really understand all that stuff. Second of all, I don’t really care WHY it works; I just know it DOES work and I’ll never, ever cook a Thanksgiving turkey without brining it again.
Okay, I’ll try to explain it. Soaking the turkey in an aromatic solution of salt water, herbs, and spices not only infuses the meat with a subtle (but definitely not overpowering) hint of flavor, it also affects the molecular structure of the meat. A turkey that has been brined before cooking will be juicier, more tender, and much less prone to drying out. Bottom line.
After using a couple of different recipes for brining solutions, three years ago I began using a brining solutions sold by Williams Sonoma. I’ve used it ever since. The combination of spices and herbs is really yummy and I’ve just found it’s easier to spend $16 on a jar than dig around my spice cabinet trying to find all the right ingredients. But making your own is a cinch, too: you simply need salt, and any aromatic spice or herb you like: rosemary leaves, bay leaves, etc. Williams Sonoma’s brine contains sea salt, dried apples, juniper berries, lemon peel, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and bay leaf.
Let’s brine a turkey together, shall we?
The Cast of Characters: One Turkey, Brining Spices, Brining Bags (optional; can also use a large pot or bowl), and water.
Here’s a closer look at the brining spice. It’s about 1 pound of spices, so begin with about a cup-and-a-half of salt and build up your spices from there. (Or, just spend $16 at Williams Sonoma like I do. That’s only four days of Starbucks! See, that’s why I can justify buying ready-made brining spice—I don’t have a Starbucks nearby.)
The first thing we’ll do is make the brining solution, because it needs to cool before you add the turkey.
Bring one gallon of water to a boil, then open the jar of brining spice and take a whiff. Faint.
Then, when you come to, pour the spices into the boiling water. Stir to dissolve…
Then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until cold. Or, if you’re like me and don’t like waiting, place the hot pot in a large bowl of ice, stirring to cool. Pour off the water as the ice melts and keep adding more ice…and within about five minutes, the solution is cold. Have I mentioned I hate waiting?
Now, let’s open up the turkey! It’s the easiest thing in the world. First, cut off the outer plastic netting.
Then, with a sharp knife, cut the plastic open near the metal closure.
Cue up the burlesque music, then strip all the plastic wrap from the bird.
IMPORTANT: Have you ever seen those Funniest Home Video episodes where some lady pulls the turkey out of the oven and discovers she never removed…gulp…the bags? Don’t let that happen to you.
This bag contains the turkey neck, which you’ll want to rinse and save in a Ziploc in you fridge. We’ll use that later.
Now, on the other end, you’ll notice that Butterball has very neatly trussed the turkey by neatly tucking its legs under a slit in the skin. That’s great, but it’s hard to thoroughly rinse the bird that way. So just set the legs free for awhile.
Here ya go, Tom…now you can stretch your legs for a little while.
Now, look really closely. Do you see anything that doesn’t belong?
Wheeeee! It’s another bag! I really do like this part. It’s like finding little treasures in the Epiphany cake at church when I was growing up. Sort of. This bag contains the giblets, which you also need to rinse and store in a Ziploc in the fridge. We’ll definitely need them later, too.
NOW it’s time to rinse the turkey thoroughly with cold water. Just hold the little sucker under your kitchen faucet and rinse away, lifting up the arms and legs, and getting all the crevices.
Now, I like to do the brining in one of these large Brining Bags, also sold at Williams Sonoma. But you can also use a pot or large bowl; just be sure it will fit in your fridge.
Place the turkey in the large bag…
Then pour the cool brining solution into the bag.
Get it all in there…
Then add 1 gallon of ice water on top of the brining solution.
Now seal the brining bag…
Put it in the fridge, and let it work its magic for 16-24 hours. Every now and then, turn the bag around and upside down to ensure even brining.
Now walk away, do yoga, or eat an entire package of Oreos. Then come back later and we’ll cook this sucker! That’s when the fun rrrrreally begins.
