The Ultimate Thanksgiving Turkey Brine (pic)
 

I've tried many brine concoctions for my holiday birds, and I've settled on this one, at least for now. Give it a try and drop me a line to tell me what you think. This recipe works very well for both smoking or traditional roasting, and with Thanksgiving just days away, there's not really a better time to post it.

http://www.patiodaddiobbq.com/images...rkey_1_4_2.jpg

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 gal Ice water (lots of ice)
• 1/2 gal Hot tap water
• 2 cups Dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning (available in most grocery stores)
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice (Asian section of most grocery stores -- I like the Sun Luck brand)
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Juice of 2 oranges
• Extra ice as needed

Method

• Get a clean food-safe five-gallon bucket, wash it, then sanitized it with a gallon of water and a capful of bleach.
• Make the ice water in the bucket.
• Bring the tap water to a boil in a stock pot or large pan.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the salt, sugar, citrus juice and all of the seasonings.
• Let the seasoning mixture sit in the pan, stirring occasionally, until all of the salt and sugar are dissolved.
• Add the water and seasoning mixture to the ice water in the bucket.
• Gently submerge the turkey in the brine, breast-side-down. Oh, and make sure you've removed both pouches of innards.
• Note: It must be completely submerged, so add more ice and water if necessary. If the turkey tends to float, you can seal a rock in a zip-top bag and stuff it in the cavity.
• Set the bucket in the coldest place you can find (I put mine outside or in the garage), cover with foil, wrap with a sleeping bag or blankets, and let sit at least 12 and up to 24 hours.
• Caution: It's critical that the brine be kept at or under 40º throughout the entire brining process, so check the ice and add more as needed.
• An hour before you're ready to cook the turkey, lift it gently and slowly from the brine, allowing it to drain completely. I turn it over just to make sure.
• Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
• Rub the skin with canola oil and roast or smoke as desired.

Enjoy,
John

P.S. This recipe and many others can be found on my blog.

Thanks for the recipe.. Sounds like a winner!

I am getting ready to do one for our company Thanksgiving lunch next thursday. Thanks for the recipe. I have done one before but didn't have that many ingredients.

I will definitely have to try this one out...thanx!

assuming 2 gallons is the standard go to, this is my brine, take about a 1/4 gallon of water, boil it, dissolve 2 cups brown, 2 cups kosher. Let cool. Add concentrate to 1 1/2 gallons of water, a cup of Jack Daniel, half gallon of apple cider. Im not a fan of brining with citrus, fear of almost cooking the bird, but im gonna try and throw some old bay in there.

thanks John! might have to give that a try next week!

I might have to give this a try. I guess I could use my big-enough cooler for the container instead of a bucket - I would just need to clean and sanitize it at least twice before and after using.

It looks like a really good recipe.

^^^ get urself some of the 10 or 20 gallon ziploc storage bags, double them up, and pack it in ice, no sanitation needed

I understand your point about citrus, but in this case it is so diluted that it has no real effect. If anything, it helps denature the protein strands just a little more. The real purpose is to compliment the other spices and add a little brightness to the flavor.

John

Thanks! I'm going to give this one a try this weekend.

how would you change this for an enhanced bird? cut the salt to a half a cup?

Cut it in half (3/4 cup).

John

I'm putting that one in my book for future use! Thanks

thanks john, every year i get a turkey from work. And since I'm rarely in charge of cooking a turkey for our big family meal - I get a freebie to experiment with. Last year I smoked my freebie turkey w/o brine. This year, it's gettin your brine - thanks man.

joe

p.s. I'll try to document the process and give you props on the forum.

That sounds great, going to try it in in about a week!