Best Thanksgiving Turkey Brine Recipes

THANKSGIVING TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• Mix water, chicken broth, and salt together in a 5-gallon bucket with lid until salt dissolves. Add garlic, rosemary, onion, basil, savory, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, oregano, pepper, and coriander and mix well. Stir 2 cups ice into brine.
• Place turkey into brine, filling cavity with brine. Add enough ice to bucket to cover turkey. Secure lid on bucket. Swish bucket from side-to-side to chill water. Refrigerate turkey and bucket, refilling with ice every 2 hours as needed, 12 to 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove turkey from brine and pat dry. Discard brine. Place turkey on a rack inside a roasting pan.
• Bake turkey in the preheated oven, basting every 30 to 40 minutes, until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 5 to 6 1/2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• In a medium pot, bring 3 quarts of the tap water to a boil over medium heat. Put the kosher salt in a large bowl and slowly (and carefully!) pour the boiling water over the salt. Stir to blend.
• Add the molasses, honey, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sage, thyme and garlic to the salt and water mixture. Stir to blend. Add the remaining 3 quarts of cool water. Add the ice to a cooler or bucket large enough to hold the brine and the turkey. Pour the brine over the ice and use a large whisk to blend all of the ingredients.
• Submerge the turkey, breast side down, in the brine. Make sure the cavity of the bird fills with the liquid as you are submerging it. Cover the cooler and allow the bird to sit in the brine overnight or for about 12 hours.
• Remove the bird from the brine and dry it thoroughly with thick (absorbent) kitchen towels. Take care to wipe inside the cavity as well. Discard the brine. Whisk together the butter and the lemon zest. Gently lift the skin covering 1 breast of the turkey and spread half of the butter right on the meat under the skin. Repeat with the other breast. The butter will add extra moisture and richness as the bird roasts.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Arrange the turkey in a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Put on the lower rack of the oven and roast until the internal temperature of the turkey taken from the thickest part of the thigh reads 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 3 1/2 hours. Remove the turkey from the oven to a cutting board or serving platter and tent with foil. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving and serving.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY DRY BRINE

Steps:

• 1. PREP/PREPARE
• 2. Wet Brine: Wet brining has been around for hundreds of years, and moved from Europe to the United States about 75 years ago. The brining process helps the turkey (or whatever you're brining) retain moisture. The process dissolves muscle proteins, and when this happens, the fibers lose their ability to contract during the cooking process. If they can't contract, they can't squeeze out any moisture, which means a juicer bird. In addition, brining helps to season the meat before cooking. Wet brining will increase the water content of your bird, and decrease the amount of moisture due to the cooking process. However, that additional moisture is really nothing but water.
• 3. Adding Additional Spices to a wet brine: Well, in two words... Don't bother. Cell walls are semi permeable. If the pressure on one side of the wall is greater than the other, liquid will pass through to equalize the pressure... that's called osmosis. So, the higher concentration of salt solution in the brine interacts with the liquid on the other side of the cell wall, and since it's of higher concentration, it allows the liquid to pass through. In addition, because salt is a very small molecule some of the salt will also pass through the cell wall (membrane). But most spices are too big to pass through, so they wind up on the outside of the bird. Many brining recipes call for bringing in a number of aromatics-carrots, celery, onions, spices, and herbs. This makes the brine smell really good, but doesn't do much much beyond the skin.
• 4. The Bottom Line: Wet brining will increase the overall moisture of the bird, and will minimize the loss of moisture during the cooking process. It's a win-win situation, right? Well, not exactly. The additional moisture will be in the form of water; which dilutes the flavor of the turkey's original juices, and the breakdown of the fiber structure give the turkey a different mouth feel... almost like ham. If done correctly with exactly the right amount of salt, and the right temperature and time, wet brining can produce wonderful results. But, can we do better...
• 5. The Dry Brine: I will admit that it took me a bit of time to mentally work through the process of dry brining a bird. I was skeptical about the whole process... until I got into the science of the whole thing. Brining is not about a bunch of liquid; it's about concentration of elements, and in this case the primary element is salt... good old salt.
• 6. How Dry Brining Works: When you sprinkle salt on a body of a turkey, it will eventually draw moisture out and will mix with the salt solution. Then, over time the salt causes the muscle proteins to break down, and the moisture will be reabsorbed into the muscle fibers. As opposed to an 8-hour wet brine, dry brining takes up to 3 days. The brine will penetrate deeper, into the bird, and (if you're using them) bring some spices along for the ride. The Bottom Line: So, if you're not adding any additional liquid, how does this help... Good question. The dry brine will do several things: • It will flavor the natural juices of the bird without watering the whole thing down. • Because of the long process (3 days), it will penetrate deeper into the bird, and bring a few well-selected spices along for the ride. • The dry brine will not add more liquid; however, it will prevent most of the natural juices from escaping. I'm doing two birds this Thanksgiving: One with a traditional wet brine, and one with a dry brine... We'll see which one wins on Thursday.
• 7. THE DRY BRINE RECIPE
• 8. 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per 5 pounds turkey, and dry spices; ground up in a spice grinder until fine.
• 9. Chef's Note: The only additional spice that I use is dried oregano; however, you could use smoked paprika, ground bay leaf, some thyme, or rosemary... whatever suits your fancy.
• 10. Sprinkle the salt and spice mixture evenly over the bird.
• 11. Place the turkey in a sealable bag, and squeeze most of the air out, and wait 3 days.
• 12. Twice a day, open the bag and massage the salt mixture into the bird.
• 13. On the third day, remove from the bag and allow to air dry in the refrigerator for 8 hours.
• 14. Cook according to your best traditions, and baste with a bit of butter.
• 15. Chef's Note: A brined bird will cook faster than a non-brined bird by 20 percent or more.
• 16. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a stock pot, bring mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minute Allow brine to cool completely.
• Rinse turkey under cook running water, inside and out (remove giblets from cavity). pat turkey dry with paper towels, then immerse turkey in cooled brine. Turkey should be completely submerged in liquid. My pot wasn't big enough, so the tips of the legs were sticking out a bit, but it still turned out ok.
• Cover the pot and refrigerate for 8-10 hours or up to 24 hours. Remove turkey, rinse, pat dry and roast as usual.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• In a medium pot, bring 3 quarts of the tap water to a boil over medium heat. Put the kosher salt in a large bowl and slowly (and carefully!) pour the boiling water over the salt. Stir to blend.
• Add the molasses, honey, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sage, thyme and garlic to the salt and water mixture. Stir to blend. Add the remaining 3 quarts of cool water. Add the ice to a cooler or bucket large enough to hold the brine and the turkey. Pour the brine over the ice and use a large whisk to blend all of the ingredients.
• Submerge the turkey, breast side down, in the brine. Make sure the cavity of the bird fills with the liquid as you are submerging it. Cover the cooler and allow the bird to sit in the brine overnight or for about 12 hours.
• Remove the bird from the brine and dry it thoroughly with thick (absorbent) kitchen towels. Take care to wipe inside the cavity as well. Discard the brine. Whisk together the butter and the lemon zest. Gently lift the skin covering 1 breast of the turkey and spread half of the butter right on the meat under the skin. Repeat with the other breast. The butter will add extra moisture and richness as the bird roasts.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Arrange the turkey in a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Put on the lower rack of the oven and roast until the internal temperature of the turkey, taken from the thickest part of the thigh reads 170°F on an instant-red thermometer, about 3 1/2 hours. Remove the turkey from the oven to a cutting board or serving platter and tent with foil. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving and serving.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• In a medium pot, bring 3 quarts of the tap water to a boil over medium heat. Put the kosher salt in a large bowl and slowly (and carefully!) pour the boiling water over the salt. Stir to blend. Add the molasses, honey, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sage, thyme and garlic to the salt and water mixture. Stir to blend. Add the remaining 3 quarts of cool water. Add the ice to a cooler or bucket large enough to hold the brine and the turkey. Pour the brine over the ice and use a large whisk to blend all of the ingredients. Submerge the turkey, breast side down, in the brine. Make sure the cavity of the bird fills with the liquid as you are submerging it. Cover the cooler and allow the bird to sit in the brine overnight or for about 12 hours. Remove the bird from the brine and dry it thoroughly. Take care to wipe inside the cavity as well. Discard the brine. Whisk together the butter and the lemon zest. Spread half of the butter under the skin of the breast.