brine– brīn/noun 1. water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt. verb 2. soak in or saturate with salty water.
You can enhance a turkey’s flavor with a salt and water brine…or you can knock your guests’ socks off with an amazing brine recipe and an understanding of the process. There is absolutely no reason to settle for anything less than the best turkey EVER. Let’s talk about why it is important to use a brine, a world class turkey brine recipe, and what kind of timeline you can expect when using a brine.
The most common complaint about turkey is that it is often served way too dry. Turkey is a very lean meat and will typically loose around 30% of its moisture during the cooking process. A well executed brine can cut that in half, rendering a much moister, juicier bird that will have the table choir singing. When a turkey is submerged in a brine, the water soaks into the turkey with the help of the salt, arming you with a more moist turkey to start with. You will still lose moisture when cooking but the end product is moistly memorable.
As previously mentioned, a basic brine is just salt and water. We don’t do basic, and you won’t either ever again once you taste the effect of the amazing brine we are about to make. A good rule of thumb for salt ratio is about 1 1/4 cup of sea salt per gallon of liquid (1 cup of iodized table salt). Lets make our brine.
Terminally Grill© Best Damn Brine Recipe
1 gallon water
3 trays or equivalent of ice
1 64 oz apple juice
2 cups sea salt (or 1 1/2 cups table salt)
1 32 oz container of low sodium vegetable broth
1 tbs ground cloves
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tbs onion powder
1 tbs allspice
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tbs ground red pepper (optional)
Add all ingredients except water to a large non- reactive stock pot and bring to a boil, occasionally stirring. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat, add ice, and let stand for one hour, or until room temperature. After brine has cooled to room temperature, place turkey in the stock pot. Make sure that you have removed any bags or extra parts from turkey cavity as we want the brine solution to have as much contact with the bird as possible. In the sink, place bird in solution and be cautious of overflow depending on the size of your stock pot. If your stock pot isn’t big enough for the bird, a five gallon food grade bucket available at your local hardware store will also work. Once the turkey is in the solution, you want to make sure it is fully submerged in the solution. If you need more liquid, top off with water. I like to take a small mixing bowl, opening up and place it on top of the turkey and put the lid of the stock pot against the top of the bowl. To hold it in place I tie the stock pot lid to the stock pot using the handles. This keeps the bird submerged and the lid on. Place stock pot in refrigerator for at least 18 hours prior to cooking, preferably, but not more than 24 hours.
After the turkey has soaked in the brine, remove turkey from solution and wash thoroughly. Everything you need from the brine is inside the fibers of the meat and you want to remove excess solution from the skin of the turkey.Your turkey is now ready to be cooked. Keep in mind that a brined turkey will cook 20-35 minutes faster than usual. Use a meat thermometer to determine when turkey is fully cooked. Serve your bird and prepare yourself to be flooded with raving reviews!
Terminally Grill© 