Brining and Roasting a Turkey

[kaci]

Brining and Roasting a Turkey


By Cameron Mitchell

What is brining, anyway?
Brining is simply the process of soaking a cut of meat in a solution of salt and water (and sometimes sugar) prior to roasting. Rather than make it especially salty, the salt in the
solution reacts with the proteins in meat to actually cause more moisture to flow INTO the meat, along with a little salt, which makes it juicier and tastier.

Try it out this festive season (or anytime you're roasting a bird). It's an excellent trick.


What you need:
A thawed turkey
1 bucket large enough to hold the bird
Coarse salt
Water
Antibacterial soap (for your hands)
.
Brining Turkey

Here's how:

Step 1: Find a clean bucket large enough to comfortably hold your bird and
brine:

Step 2: Put bird in bucket and add water to cover completely, keeping track
of the total volume of water.

Step 3: Remove the bird from the water, pat dry with paper towels and set
aside.

Step 4: Measure out coarse salt on a 1:16 ratio:

In other words, 1 cup of salt for every 16 cups (4 litres) of water.

Step 5: Rub the bird inside and out with some of the coarse salt. Add the
remaining salt to the water in the bucket. Mix to mostly dissolve.

Step 6: Return the bird to the brine solution.

Step 7: Let the bird soak overnight in the brine, refrigerated, for a total
of 12 hours.

Step 8: Remove the bird from the brine rinse with cool water. You're now
ready to stuff, truss, and roast.

Roasting Turkey

Here's how: Now you're ready to roast. It's pretty straightforward. Here's
what to do:

Step 1: Rinse bird thoroughly.

Step 2: Remove wings and reserve for stock.

Step 3: Stuff bird.

Step 4: Truss bird by wrapping twine under bird and cross over.

Step 5: Criss-cross and tuck twine under legs.

Step 6: Pull strings up around legs criss-cross again and pull back across
breasts.

Step 7: Flip bird over and pull twine back and criss-cross over wing stubs
and then under wing stubs.

Step 8: Tie the twine firmly into a knot below the neck opening.

Step 9: Prepare an herb butter.

Step 10: Slather butter over turkey and season with salt and freshly ground
pepper.

Step 11: Insert meat thermometer.

Step 12: Place bird in 400º F oven.

Step 13: After 30 minutes of roasting, drippings begin to pool. Place
cheesecloth over breast to hold drippings as you baste.

Step 14: Baste drippings on cheesecloth and rest of turkey periodically
throughout roasting time.

Step 15: Pull cheesecloth off of turkey for the last half hour of roasting.

Step 16: When turkey comes to temperature 15 degrees below doneness and is
browned remove from oven.

Step 17: Let turkey rest on counter for 30 minutes before carving.

Servings: 4

[Kitchen Witch]

I sure wouldn't use a bucket - I would use a stainless steel stock pot. I don't believe in brining or marinating in anything other than stainless steel or glass. And there is a lot of cleaning to do to a bird before you brine or roast it - there is a lot of bacteria inside a turkey. Large stock pots fit in most refrigerators.

Turkeys can be brined for up to 24 hours before roasting. Bringing works best for 12 to 16 pound turkeys.

If your turkey floats to the top it needs to be weighed down with a plate or other heavy object.

You can add herbs and spices, brown sugar, etc. to your brine for flavor enhancing.

To measure the water - place your bird in the brining pot and measure the water you are pouring over. As far as adding salt - it will depend on how long you are brining the bird before cooking.

For an overnight brine (12 to 14 hours), use ½ cup table salt for every gallon of water. For a quick brine (4 to 6 hours), use twice as much table salt, or 1 cup per gallon of water. As for the kosher-salt thing, you need more of it because kosher salt is less dense than table salt, and kosher densities vary by brand. If you have Diamond Crystal kosher salt, use 2 cups of salt per gallon of water. If you have Morton Kosher salt, use 1½ cups of salt per gallon of water. Double these amounts for a quick brine.

When the brine time is up, carefully pour out the brining liquid (try not to splash it all over your kitchen) and then rinse off the bird under cool running water. Pat the bird dry inside and out with paper towels (or clean dishtowels that you will wash promptly).

Whether or not you want to air dry your bird in the fridge on a roasting rack for 8 to 24 hours before roasting is up to you - you don't have to and it really doesn't make the skin any more crispy.

Remember to thoroughly sterilize your sink and counter tops after working with any turkey, chicken, etc.

For safety tips, more info on turkey, etc. go to our Cooking Tips thread and type the word turkey in the search - all the info will come up for you.

[lvdkeyes]

The problem is finding space in a fridge to brine a turkey overnight. My fridge is quite large, but it is always full.

[Kitchen Witch]

I'm lucky - I have 2 full sized fridges - but I kep them cleaned out all the time too so even with one I could do it. Some use coolers packed with ice, some opt for the outdoors up here in snow country - but I wouldn't do either.

[lvdkeyes]

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of space to put a second fridge since I am in a condo. In my house in the US I had an extra fridge and freezer in the garage.

[Kitchen Witch]

one of my friends has a couple pepsi coolers - those big uprights in the basement -
I'm trying to get one for myself