Aromatic Turkey Brine Recipes

ROASTED HERITAGE TURKEY WITH AROMATIC BRINE

Steps:

• Fill a large stockpot or food-grade bucket three-quarters full with warm water. Add brown sugar and 2 cups salt, stirring until dissolved. Add onions, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, coriander, peppercorns, and fennel seeds. Let cool to room temperature. Place turkey in brine. Add cool water, if necessary, to fully submerge turkey. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
• Remove turkey from brine. Rinse inside and out; pat dry with paper towels. Season cavity with salt and pepper. Rub room-temperature butter evenly over outside of turkey; season with salt and pepper. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Transfer to a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Let stand 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees with rack in lower third. Roast turkey 30 minutes. Baste with some of melted butter; lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue roasting, basting with butter every 30 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast near (but not touching) bone registers 165 degrees, 1 to 1 1/2 hours total, depending on size of bird.
• Transfer turkey to a serving platter. Reserve pan with drippings for gravy. Let turkey rest at least 45 minutes; carve and serve with gravy and garnishes.

AROMATIC TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• Combine water in a large pot with salt and sugar, over high heat until dissolved.
• Add Worcestershire, peppercorns & garlic, making sure Worcestershire is well combined.
• Cool back to room temperature.
• Wash the turkey inside and out with cold water.
• You will need 2 gallon turkey size oven roasting bags.
• Place one roasting bag inside the other, roll down the edges of the bags to help them stay open.
• Put bags in a heavy roasting pan that will hold turkey.
• Place turkey breast side down, with legs facing you in the inner bag.
• Pour the cooled brine into the cavity and over the turkey.
• Gather the inner bag as tightly as possible and secure with a twist tie.
• Secure outer bag with twist tie.
• Refrigerate in the roasting pan for 12-18 hours.
• Remove from bags, rinse very well, pat dry with paper towels.
• It's now ready for your favorite recipe.

TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
• When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in the ice water.
• Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator overnight.
• Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.
• Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.

GOOD EATS ROAST TURKEY

Steps:

• Two to three days before roasting: Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
• Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
• The night before or early on the day you'd like to eat: Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
• Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
• Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
• Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

ALTON BROWN'S BRINED TURKEY

Steps:

• 2 to 3 days before roasting:.
• Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
• Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
• The night before you'd like to eat:.
• Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
• Place the bird on rack of roasting pan and pat dry with paper towels.
• Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
• Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and cover the breast with a foil triangle. Then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

TURKEY BRINE

Steps:

• Fill a large container or stock pot with 1.5 litres cold water and set aside. The pot should be large enough to hold your turkey plus 3 litres water. Pour another 1.5 litres cold water into a large pan over a low-medium heat. Tip in the salt, sugar, bay, thyme, peppercorns, orange zest and coriander seeds, and whisk until the salt and sugar have completely dissolved. Remove from the heat, then pour into the container or stock pot and leave to cool completely.
• Weigh the turkey and carefully add it to the container, ensuring it's completely submerged in the brine. Leave to brine for roughly 1 hr per 500g to ensure succulent meat and a flavourful bird, then drain well (discarding the aromatics), pat dry and roast.