Brining your Turkey this Christmas?

BailMeOut

We lived in the states for a few years where we noticed that brining your turkey before roasting was a very common practice so something we started doing while living there. Now back home when we ask friends and family nobody seems to have ever heard of the concept but we have converted many over the years when they have tasted our turkey!

It is such an easy thing to do and the result is dramatic as you get a really moist, tender and tasty bird and can guarantee that if you do it once you will be doing it for life. You can have a bit of fun with your brine too which really only needs salt and water but people add everything from chicken stock, whiskey, herbs, sugar, pepper, etc... all claiming to make a difference.

So are any of you planning on brining your bird this Christmas? Is so do you want to share your secret brine concoction? If you have never brined let's see if we can convince you to give it a try this Christmas.

Our brining process is

Get yourself a large clear plastic container with a lid that a whole turkey will fit into.
On Christmas Eve put your turkey in the container and fill with water until the turkey is completly covered.
Removed the turkey and mark the side of the container the water level
Discard this water, clean container and fill to the marked spot with fresh water
Add a cup of salt and half cup of brown sugar stir until dissolved.
Add a small fist full of whole black pepper corns, a sliced up lemon and the bare thyme sprigs left over from your stuffing
Add whole turkey breast side down
Put lid on container and place in fridge for 24 hours. This is usually the hardest part finding room in the fridge. A cooler with ice packs could be used too.
On Christmas morning remove from the brine, rinse inside and out in cold fresh running water
Dry, stuff and roast as normal

I have no idea if the pepper, lemon and thyme make any difference but the ritual on Christmas eve doing all this is fun.

PS: Google “turkey brine” to get an idea on how prevalent this is.

Thud

supposedly salting works as well if not better

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html?ref=search

Cheshire Cat

We normally have goose, but two years ago I roasted a turkey and brined it beforehand following a Nigella Lawson recipe.

The brine was made up as follows:
6 l of water
125 g table salt
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 bouquet garni
2 tablespoons white mustard seeds
200g caster sugar
1 x 6cm piece of ginger cut into slices
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
4 cloves
2 tablespoons allspice berries
4 star anise
1 orange quartered
4 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons runny honey
stalks from a nedium bunch if parsley

The turkey was very moist and delicious with a slight taste of christmas from the spices. Even my husband who claims that he doesn't like turkey really enjoyed it.

Honey-ec

Yeah, I always brine. Didn't think it was that rare, tbh.

the beer revolu

Thud wrote: »

supposedly salting works as well if not better

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html?ref=search

Having read that article I think I'll just stick to not overcooking the turkey!

I usually poach the turkey crown anyway which tends to keep it moist.

CJhaughey

I fry our turkey/s so it doesn't need brining, I have injected marinades into the breast, but if you use bronze turkeys they don't really need it.

The Sparrow

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

We normally have goose, but two years ago I roasted a turkey and brined it beforehand following a Nigella Lawson recipe.

We're gonna try that recipe this Christmas. Gonna try it out on a chicken this weekend as a test run.

BailMeOut

CJhaughey wrote: »

I fry our turkey/s so it doesn't need brining, I have injected marinades into the breast, but if you use bronze turkeys they don't really need it.

Tell us how you fry? Do you fry outside? Love fried turkey.

CJhaughey

BailMeOut wrote: »

Tell us how you fry? Do you fry outside? Love fried turkey.

I just use the kit I got in the states, being doing it for about 8 years now.
I usually fry outside but under cover, rain and turkey frying aren't friends.
The average turkey I fry is around 23 lb and it takes 3.5 mins per lb at 325ºF

BailMeOut

CJhaughey wrote: »

I just use the kit I got in the states, being doing it for about 8 years now.
I usually fry outside but under cover, rain and turkey frying aren't friends.
The average turkey I fry is around 23 lb and it takes 3.5 mins per lb at 325ºF

I have had it many times but never been courageous enough to do myself but have never seen anyone do one as big as 23lbs!

Swiper the fox

Thud wrote: »

supposedly salting works as well if not better

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html?ref=search

I've not done it myself but I've read recently that dry brining is a better all round method, a salt mixture of one's own preference can be rubbed liberally all over the bird, left overnight and simply washed off before cooking, I'll be trying it out this year, I'll be doing turkey for the first time in a few years.

CJhaughey

BailMeOut wrote: »

I have had it many times but never been courageous enough to do myself but have never seen anyone do one as big as 23lbs!

I have done bigger! I think the largest was 27lbs it just fitted in the pot, and there was about 2" of freeboard for the oil.
Needless to say the whole thing was carefully measured out beforehand.
I love fried turkey, it tastes so good for the length of time it takes.

catho_monster

We used the Nigella recipe last year on a free range bird and it was TO DIE FOR. All my family were skeptics, but true believers once they'd tucked in. It was so good I bought a cheap bird reduced the next week and brined it and did it all over again. Double Turkey Win. The non-free range was of course, no where near as nice as the free range, but the brine made a massive difference. Well defo be doing it again this year!

deandean

We've used the brine recipe by 'the tasty chef' (Nigella) last few years, there is lots of Cranberry juice in it. The winters have been so cold we could just put the lot in a bucket and leave it outdoors in a shed for two days. The soak makes a bit of a difference to the final taste, but you'll lose all the advantage if you overcook the bird. So DON'T OVERCOOK THE BIRD! Use a spike thermometer, etc.

BailMeOut

all set and in fridge brining away! Cup Salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, two oranges, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and a few garlic cloves

CHOPS01

Picked up my fresh turkey yesterdeay.Strong smell off it so i rang the butcher(who i know personally) and he said bring it back and he would change it.Did so and this one is the same.He guarantees me the turkey is 100% safe and that the smell is normal on slightly bigger birds(is about 18lbs)
Am nervous to be honest and trusting his gaurantee more than my instinct.
Anyone else have a funny smelling turkey?

Faith

CHOPS01 wrote: »

Picked up my fresh turkey yesterdeay.Strong smell off it so i rang the butcher(who i know personally) and he said bring it back and he would change it.Did so and this one is the same.He guarantees me the turkey is 100% safe and that the smell is normal on slightly bigger birds(is about 18lbs)
Am nervous to be honest and trusting his gaurantee more than my instinct.
Anyone else have a funny smelling turkey?

Please read the charter. We do not allow advice on food safety here.

Sparks

Always brine turkey or chicken myself, it's even good for simple chicken breasts (and you only have to brine those for 30 mins to an hour to get good results).

Deise Musashi

After this Christmas I will always brine Turkey! Gorgeous!

Made up a brine with salt/sugar/peppercorns and onion, bouquet garni and carrot. Similar boil for the ham with carrots, onions and bouquet garni, drained and glazed/baked.

Both meats were succulent and juicy, even with mistaking Alton Browns instruction to bake Turkey to 161 Degrees, I thought Celsius! My new thermometer worked like a star though.

Also, boiled carrots for puree, add a clementine chopped in eights and a whole bulb of garlic peeled. Spoon of cumin if you feel like it, I was dodge on it but went with the recipe (Jamie Oliver's)



When soft, scoop out the orange and drop in to the gravy fixin's, mash and make gravy as usual.

Mash and blitz the carrot/garlic mix flavoured with cumin, add butter/cream to loosen the mix. Very unusual flavour but very nice!
I put a couple of spoons of demerara sugar in as well as a cubed sweet potatoe and boiled it all up, was really unusual but tasty as well!

BailMeOut

looks like we got a few brining converts last year so just wanted to remind everyone that if you plan on brining your turkey the most important first step is getting a container big enough for it and not too big so it can fit in your fridge overnight. So something to add to your shopping list!

Sparks

Hey if we can cheekily bring turkey recipes back up, here's mine

Which herself indoors has now declared she doesn't like because turkey is meant to be dry and served with bisto.

I think she's mostly trying to get my head to explode, but there's the horrible possibility that she's serious because that's what turkey was like growing up, so be warned that this may happen to you if you serve the best turkey ever

Deise Musashi

Still have my cooler from last year!

C'Mon Turkey time!

Mrs Fox

Great revival of this thread, as I'm brining for the first time this year. Gonna use Nigella's recipe.
So looking forward to do this.

Deise Musashi

As was mentioned on another thread here, poaching the Turkey is another option for the moistness stakes.

I said this to my Brother in Law and he says his Mother (a Fantastic proper Mammy Cook) always poaches her chicken before grilling the skin for crispness.

I am still going to brine my Turkey, but I'm going to poach a chicken to see how that goes, never seen it done by any of the TV Chefs. It's something new anyway.

Mrs Fox

Just got turkey delivered. I can try and make room in the fridge for the 10lb bird but surely I can start brining it in the cooler box, can't I? will only be cooking it at noon Xmas day.
I'm a brine virgin so will be a bit nervous if I mess it up.

emaleth

It's so cold out I'd put it in the shed and save the fridge space. In the absence of a shed, an unheated spare room/utility room/hall/porch/under the stairs does nicely in my experience. You won't mess it up!

Sparks

I've brined turkeys outdoors like that before with no ill effect at all. Just remember to weigh down the lid so the cat can't get at it...

emaleth

Or, in one memorable episode, next door's Jack Russell, whose little legs can't get him out of the bucket....no chicken at our barbecue that evening. Was tempted to grill the Jack Russell....

BailMeOut

do you have the turkey in a container and the container in the cooler? If so you can add some ice or ice packs around it.

I'd tape the lid down on the cooler too just to be sure the lid is not opened.

Another good tip is initially heat the water in large saucepan on cooker while adding the salt so it becomes super saturated and all the salt gets dissolved. It takes very little heat for this to happen and then add some ice to cool down again.

Mrs Fox

I'm going to cook the concoction first then top it up with ice cold water, although recipe didn't state this but it's just one of those things that you know would be the sensible thing to do.

I was planning to just put the turkey straight into the cooler box. I'm not so sure of it will fit into another container before it goes into the cooler box. Look!




On second thought.....

Mrs Fox

Ok done anyway. I'll put ice packs in tomorrow to ensure it stays chilled.
It's a 4.3 bird to be exact, and I won't be stuffing them. Just glazed. I'm using Nigella's recipe which said it's between 2.5-3 hours in total for a 4-5kg bird. Gordon mentioned it's 30 min per kg including the initial high temp browning. Anyone can advice me on this?

Sparks

Yup, stick one of these in it, set the alarm for 160F and forget about all the is it okay-is it going to poison my family nonsense:

Mrs Fox

Can I borrow one of those please?
I only have a bog standard thermometer, like the one Gwyneth Paltrow used to stab the poor fella in the neck in Perfect Murder.

Sparks

Mine's buried in my turkey But they're cheap - I got mine for 30 euro on ebay (and the make doesn't matter so much, but that's a polder if you're curious). Just be sure it's one of the ones you leave in the meat in the oven, rather than the instant read variety. Makes everything so much easier when roasting anything.

Mrs Fox

And where do you stick them? The thickest part of the turkey they say, meaning the very deep end of the breasts? I'm in Dublin city centre tomorrow for lunch, wonder of I should nip in kitchen compliments and grab one?

Sparks

Kitchen compliments are a fabulous food porn store, but I wouldn't buy anything there, I think they're overpriced. In a pinch though...

But first, I'd walk 100 yards further up the road to TK Max and look in their kitchen section; then 20 yards from there to Argos. Then Dunnes. And then maybe KC or stock.

And yes, the thickest part of the breast. Basicly, where the heat will take the longest to get to, so you know everything reached minimum safe temperature

BailMeOut

Here is my bird in its salty brine!

Deise Musashi

I took off the legs and froze them, I'll bone and roll them at some stage for another roast Turkey dinner.
I also removed the wings and will roast them with the neck to add flavour to the gravy.
The bird is in the brine in a cooler box, no room in the fridge so I sterilised everything with dilute Domestos and rinsed with boiled water. I have two blue blocks and a bag of ice in with him to keep things cool.


I've the chicken stock made for the gravy as well. The bowls are in the fridge atm. hence no room for the Turkey! I think I'll skim off the fat then freeze one lot and use the other.

fussyonion

BailMeOut wrote: »

Here is my bird in its salty brine!

Heh it's like an aquarium for turkeys.

The Black Oil

I'm going to try it this year. Fridge space might be an issue, shed's not a bad idea. Or cooler. I'm actually a bit excited about it. :pac:

BailMeOut

any more new converts to brining this Christmas? I just realized my plastic container I use is cracked so need to make a trip to woodies to get a new one.

Faith

Yeah, I'm hoping to do it. It's my first time cooking a whole bird so I want to be sure it's not dry and horrible. I'm hoping to store it outside but it's pretty mild here at the moment (8 degrees right now) so it might not be ideal, even using ice packs.

Wyldwood

I'm going to try brining this year. I'm getting a turkey crown but am torn between a Ballymaloe water based brine and Nevin Maguire's buttermilk brine. Anyone tried the buttermilk brine before?

http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2013/1209/4131-buttermilk-brined-roast-crown-of-turkey/

Gloomtastic!

Wyldwood wrote: »

I'm going to try brining this year. I'm getting a turkey crown but am torn between a Ballymaloe water based brine and Nevin Maguire's buttermilk brine. Anyone tried the buttermilk brine before?

http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2013/1209/4131-buttermilk-brined-roast-crown-of-turkey/

I marinate chicken thighs
In buttermilk before baking them and they are always juicy so imagine turkey would be good too. Also, if space is an issue in your fridge, the buttermilk method may help.
Hmmm may try it myself now, thanks!

Planet X

I'm going to give a go. First time.
Have a 12 gallon container with lid, IKEA storage container, plenty big enough.

12 hours is enough it seems BUT BUT BUT this will not fit in the fridge so will put in the back garage overnight, with lid sealed of course.
Should be fine I reckon...........as cool as fridge. It's hardly going to go off or anything.
Game on.


Or should I, or can I, steep it for twelve hours, whip it out and stuff it Christmas Eve?
I always have it prepped and ready for the oven on Christmas Eve.
So, that would be brining it Christmas Eve early morning, stuffing it 8pm say?

Deenie123

Isn't it really poor food hygiene to go rinsing out raw poultry?

Faith

Someone suggested brining, then taking the bird out of the brine for 24 hours before cooking it. Is there any benefit to that?

Mrs Fox

Faith wrote: »

Someone suggested brining, then taking the bird out of the brine for 24 hours before cooking it. Is there any benefit to that?

Bird needs to be dry before going into the oven iirc.

BailMeOut

mine is soaking away now in fridge. Just used a cup of salt that I fully dissolved in hot water which I cooled down with a load of ice then added a fist full of whole black peppercorns, few bay leaves and a sliced lemon.

Will remove from fridge this time tomorrow morning so will be in there a full 24 hours.

Planet X

Planet X wrote: »

I'm going to give a go. First time.
Have a 12 gallon container with lid, IKEA storage container, plenty big enough.

12 hours is enough it seems BUT BUT BUT this will not fit in the fridge so will put in the back garage overnight, with lid sealed of course.
Should be fine I reckon...........as cool as fridge. It's hardly going to go off or anything.
Game on.


Or should I, or can I, steep it for twelve hours, whip it out and stuff it Christmas Eve?
I always have it prepped and ready for the oven on Christmas Eve.
So, that would be brining it Christmas Eve early morning, stuffing it 8pm say?

Yes. Significantly more moist.
No one died of food poisoning due to drying bird on tabletop.
Will do it again next year.

Mrs Fox

Planet X wrote: »

Yes. Significantly more moist.
No one died of food poisoning due to drying bird on tabletop.
Will do it again next year.

Some people dry the bird with a cold setting hairdryer. Effective I must say.