Brining A Turkey: The Best Turkey You'll Eat
Last night, I had some friends over for a potluck. I had a 9 lb pastured turkey that I bought back in November and after hearing such good things about brining poultry, I decided to give it a shot. After thawing the turkey for a few days in the fridge, I dropped it in the brine about 7 hours before I wanted to put it in the oven. You want to brine for about an hour per pound, but less brine time is better than more. Here we go with the recipe I used:
Brine
1 cup of salt per gallon of water (I needed about 1.5 gallons of water)
1/2 cup raw honey per gallon of water
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp dried ginger
I smashed up the ginger, pepper, and coriander in a mortar and pestle, combined all of the ingredients, and dissolved the salt and honey. Put the turkey in, make sure it’s all covered, and put it back in the fridge. Flip it over once about halfway through brining.
Before putting the turkey in the oven, rinse it well to remove any salt sticking to the exterior. The brine should have absorbed into the meat, so there’s no need to do anything to the outside of the bird.
Turkey Stuffing (stolen from Alton Brown)
1 red apple
1/2 onion
1 tbsp sage
3-4 cloves garlic
1 cinnamon stick
Simmer all ingredients about 10 minutes, then stuff into turkey.
I cooked the turkey at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes, then turned the heat down to 350 for about another hour. The pastured turkeys seem to cook quicker and this was a pretty small turkey anyway. The skin was an amazing golden brown and I had to resist every urge to just eat it all while I carved, leaving none for anyone else. That wouldn’t have been very friendly though. The brine made for the juiciest turkey I’ve ever had. I highly recommend brining and will probably do so to every turkey I cook from here out.
Gravy
Of course, since there were giblets, there had to be some gravy. Earlier in the day, I made a broth by simmering the giblets, neck, a chopped onion, and a chopped carrot for about an hour, then chopping the giblets and discarding the rest. To this broth, I added the pan drippings from the turkey and some kuzu root starch to thicken it. It turned out nicely.
Sorry, no pictures of it all cause it disappeared pretty quickly. The only leftovers I got out of the turkey were one leg and thigh and a few random morsels.
And after joking about it for some time, my friend Brian brought the Bacon Explosion. One pound of bacon, one pound of sausage, and 2 hours over low heat on a grill. It’s dense and heavy, but wow is it delicious. Top with a touch of barbeque sauce and you’ll be pleased.
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
18 Reader Comments
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This sounds very good, especially since it disappeared so fast. I’ll have to give it a try.
We brined our turkey for the first time this year and it turned out great! We also got a picture perfect skin by starting high and then finishing lower. Don’t worry I let my wife have some
Question though…about the kuzu root starch. I have been trying to use xantham gum but can’t seem to get it right yet. It seems to have a more gel like consistency. I would love to use something to create a great gravy like I get with flour or cornstarch. Do you have a specific method to use any of these low carb gums (xantham or guar) or is that why you used the kuzu root starch? I’ve never heard of it till now and I’ll have to do some research.
Hope you had a great time skiing. MY friends go to Utah this week and its the first year I won’t be going.
Joe
bacon explosion??!?!?! that sounds like heaven on earth!
At Thanksgiving, I used the dry brine method for my farmer’s market turkey. Instead of sticking it in a bucket of water (didn’t have a bucket big enough), I mixed some kosher salt with some Mrs. Dash and some black pepper, and packed it around the turkey and let it sit over night.
It was by far the best turkey I ever ever had. Ever.
I have brined my turkey at Thanksgiving the last two years following a recipe very similar to yours above (Alton Brown’s process, actually). I did this as a last resort because I thought I just didn’t like turkey. What’s to like — dry, tasteless, and tough. Yuck.
But now? Are you kidding me? Turkey cooked this was is absolutely amazing. Juicy, tasty, it’s almost too good to eat with gravy. I tell everyone to eat a slice just as it came off the bird (i.e., no gravy) so that they can savor the taste.
I’ll never cook a bird any other way.
That sounds like an awful lot of honey. Any conerns about the sugar content?
The SoG
We’ve been doing this for many years now (Alton is my hero!) and there is no turning back. We don’t use any honey, though. I will say that the Bacon Explosion is going on the table this year for sure!
Hooray for brining!
I brine all my poultry and pork: it makes a huge difference. I learned it from the ever-fantastic _Cooks Illustrated_ — and I’ve used almost without exception for some years now.
BTW, all that’s required for brining is salt and water — and for smaller cuts of meat, even just an hour in the brine works wonders. Also, brining can be a convenient way of fulling thawing out partly frozen meat.
That does rock. Might do it with a chicken fryer this weekend.
Thanks Scott
BTW, my pigs feet did not turn out so good, tossed the batch.
Oh my goodness! That sounds delicious!
I bought a turkey for Christmas at the farmers’ market. A friend told me about brining, and even sent me the recipe, but I didn’t try it out. In fact I let someone else cook it in an oven bag! Shameful, I know. But I try not to be picky at other people’s houses. I will definitely have to give this a try.
TrailGrrl
Hhhhmmm…this sounds good. I never heard of brining Turkey before but it sure looks like it’s worth a try!
That bacon thing looks awesome!
Wow, is that the turkey you ate or is it stock? It looks hot… um I mean delicious lol.
I followed the link to the Bacon Explosion. That certainly looks interesting, although almost too rich for me. The Bacon cheese roll, though, looks scrumptious!
I’ve been brining chicken for a couple of years, ever since I read about it in Cook’s Illustrated. It does seem to make the chicken more juicy and tender. I omit the sugar they call for; my understanding is that the sugar is to enhance browning when cooking (although if it has other functions in the brining process, I’m not aware of them).
Cook’s Illustrated website offers a free 2 week trial, if you want to get their brining technique. They aren’t afraid to really experiment and try different stuff when updating old recipes. Nutritionally, they are quite conventional – occasionally offering low-fat versions of recipes, and nary a care for all the carbs. Ah well. Hopefully that will change. It would be lovely if they would offer low-carb versions of recipes!
YES! Brining is the ONLY way to go for a delicious large bird. I use Alton Brown’s method too but really with brining, it’s hard to over cook the meat.
Organic free range chicken drumsticks are delicious too prepared in this way! Overnight soaked in large freezer bag: water, tamari sauce (it’s gluten-free, as opposed to soy sauce), handful of brown sugar or honey (yes, not Paleo but nec for isotonicity), 1 Tbs chicken poultry seasoning, 1 Tbs dijon.
Joe, I was told to use kuzu root over arrowroot because arrowroot will separate if left to sit whereas the kuzu root stays in suspension.
Ryan, that’s probably a valid explanation of the Bacon Explosion.
SoG, 1/2 cup of honey contains about 136g of sugar. That was diluted in 1.5 gallons of water. I didn’t up the honey when I upped the water to cover the bird. Much of it is discarded with the brine and then what is absorbed is spread over a 9lb (in my case) turkey. It doesn’t really worry me…just keeps the brine from being too salty.
Yavor, that isn’t my turkey, just a stock one. Sorry, should’ve made that clear. It didn’t last long enough to get a camera out.
Cheers
Scott
I used to brine my turkey until I came across this article -
http://www.latimes.com/theguide/holiday-guide/food/la-fo-turkeycontest,0,4898567,full.story
I loved the brined turkey until I read this and gave it a go – oh ya – da best turkey I ever ett!
I have to agree with Brady – this method is the best. I would recommend you do have to measure the salt – too much would make it too salty and the gravy was just a tad salty, but delicious – treat that salt with respect. DO NOT SALT the gravy until you have tasted it. I do come from the school of “some is good, more is better” and I did add some more salt than they called for – worked fine, but restraint is called for.
Bottom line for me – dry salt – less work, less hassle and way delicious!