"turkey brining" news and stories

This Thanksgiving, whether you are roasting or smoking your holiday turkey, don't forget the most important step: brining.

Holiday magazines are filled with tips on how to prepare a perfect turkey, from wrapping the turkey in cheesecloth while cooking to rubbing the turkey with "dry brine."

I have experimented with almost every technique I have come across and in my opinion, the best method is good old-fashioned brining. Although you have to plan in advance, brining is an easy process that yields the most flavorful, juicy results.

The first year I brined my Thanksgiving turkey, it was something of a disaster. I didn't plan ahead well as to what I was going to brine my turkey in and so ended up using a tall, blue plastic garbage can that I had stashed away in my hall closet (I scrubbed it well before committing any edibles to it).

I started out by pouring my brining liquid into it and then plopping my turkey in. Of course there was too much liquid, so I had a flood of brine pour out all over my kitchen floor. I vividly remember standing there, bailing out the brine with a small sauce pot. Then, after I had cleared a space in my fridge for brining turkey, the weight was too much for my plastic fridge shelf, and I ended up cracking the bottom shelf. I ended up lining the shelf with a wooden cutting board which seemed to give it enough support and the refrigerator didn't fall apart overnight.

Thankfully, it was all worth it in the end, because I ended up with tasty, juicy bird that all my guests enjoyed. That taste has kept me brining and happily I've gotten better at it through trial and error. I've learned to use double layers of the large zip top bags (both Glad and Ziploc make them) that are designed for storing sweaters as the brining vessel. I've also gotten the brine recipe down to a science and you can find it after the jump.