<p>It seems turkey brining has become the trendy way to prepare the Thanksgiving bird. There are brining kits for sale in all the stores, or so it seems, and lots of articles in the holiday-themed magazines. I’m wondering if anybody on this forum has become a believer in the trend. Is there a noticeable difference in the moistness? Please share~</p>
<p>I have brined poultry and pork before, generally to a very good response.</p>
<p>Yes, a brined turkey will be moister, but I don’t really like the way it tastes. I’ve never been particularly bothered by too dry turkey however. This month’s *Cook’s Illustrated *has a “No Fuss Roast Turkey - juicey meat without the brine” recipe. I haven’t tried it yet. Basically the approach is to cut up the turkey, cook it at a low temperature (275 degrees) with a lot of vegetables and broth under the turkey roasting rack. Breasts first skin side down for an hour, then another hour or so breast side up, cooking thighs longer. Then you take everything out of the oven. Turn up the heat to 500 degrees and put the turnkey back in the oven to crisp the skin for 15 min. Make the gravy using your roast vegetables, while the oven is heating.</p>
<p>I’ve heard you should brine if you are going to fry the turkey. I’m tempted to try, but I’m just afraid I might burn down my garage like others have done in the past. Not sure if it’s worth the try.</p>
<p>I have brined and have found it not worth the effort. I have also done the breast down bit - works ok but flipping it to brown is a trick. My regular turkey gets herbed butter under the skin and is never that dry. Besides, isn’t that what gravy and cranberry sauce are for?</p>
<p>I pay extra at the deli counter to get the sliced turkey sandwich meat that doesn’t have the brine added. I can’t imagine adding it on purpose.</p>
<p>I tried brining once and it was a lot of effort without a noticeably different result. I don’t know why - everyone says it’s terrific, but it didn’t work for me. </p>
<p>I do start the turkey with the breast down and then flip it over about two-thirds of the way through cooking. This requires loosening the bird from the rack using a spatula, then gripping the bird directly using two potholders, lifting it up, and turning it over. With a large turkey (24 pounds) filled with stuffing, this operation gets a little intense. But I’ve never dropped a turkey yet. Another way to help with moisture is to put one or two glasses of water in the bottom of the roasting pan when you first put the turkey in, and then a glass of white wine when you turn the turkey over.</p>
<p>Trader Joe’s sells all natural, brined turkeys. No muss, no fuss and delicious!</p>
<p>^Just going to direct you to TJ’s too. That made my decision easy! I used my bathtub last year!!</p>
<p>The post name pulled me in, as that IS the question (in my mind right now). I did read about the pre-brined turkey at Trader Joe’s. I’m feeding a huge group and the kids get testy if we can’t supply turkey sandwiches for a few days so I will have to see if the biggest bird there is cost-efficient.</p>
<p>But mostly this reminds me of a Thanksgiving memory. This was about 1995. I had a toddler and an infant. My darling husband offered up our house to his large extended family for “The Dinner”. Okay, I can do this, I thought. He took the kids out for the day and I set off cleaning the house and preparing the meal. I brined the turkey, as instructed, and then began roasting it, breast down for the first part.</p>
<p>I’m a force in action at that point. Cleaning windows, basting the turkey (spraying with “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter”), sweeping floors. Start the potatoes… you know the drill. Well, somewhere in the flurry between spraying the windows and basting the turkey I accidentally sprayed Windex instead of the basting spray on the turkey. Dang. I quickly washed down the turkey (which was still breast-down) and assessed the situation. I figured no one was going to eat the upside down part and I did a decent cleanup, so on with the meal I went.</p>
<p>The next week I had to confess to my husband who actually fell off his chair laughing. He said it was too good not to share so by Christmas everyone knew. The silver lining was that we didn’t host Thanksgiving for at least the next five years. It’s at our house this year, though… (cue ominous horror movie music).</p>
<p>You could just buy a kosher turkey instead, although I imagine they aren’t available everywhere. I love kosher chickens – much juicier and tastier (and saltier) than regular chickens.</p>
<p>I usually brine, and think its worth it, especially if you do it early enough to let the skin dry overnight so it will crisp. I’ve heard kosher is a good option, and will checkout TJ’s as well! </p>
<p>Love the Windex story!</p>
<p>Recent NY Times food article said the problem with brining is that you can’t make gravy with the drippings - too salty. I believe it said brining did ensure a moister turkey, but the recommendation was that you cut up the turkey and cook parts separately so each part is cooked optimally.</p>
<p>A couple of years ago I bought a jar of brining spices at Williams Sonoma, thinking it woud be fun to try, but once I read the instructions it seemed too complicated to find a container large enough to hold a turkey for the purpose. So the jar is still sitting in back of a cupboard. Last year based on something I had read in a cooking publication, I bought a frozen Butterball turkey instead of the usual fresh (and sometimes organic) one from one of our local supermarket. The Butterball was far tastier that our past turkeys and I’ve already bought a fresh Butterball for this year. to avoid the drawn-out thawing process. I have a feeling it might be fun to try brining sometime with a fancy Whole Foods turkey but it just does not seem worth the effort, and Whole food turkeys have not in past years seemed worth the expense, either (admittedly, but to me turkey has always been the least of the attractions of the Thanksgiving table–I prefer interesting stuffing, good sweet potatoes, and dessert).</p>
<p>Very timely thread as I have been thinking about this brining thing…If I’ve had fairly good success with my turkey in the past…For example, nobody moans about a dry turkey at my TG table!!..Is brining worth the effort to learn. Is the turkey that much better? I have also noticed all the ‘talk’ about brining, just not sure I want to make the change…Mattmom regarding finding a large enough container, I read a suggestion to brine in a large cooler–easy to wash out and store for those summer picnics.</p>
<p>I have brined my turkey a couple of times and will again next week ! You can make gravy, but it will be a lot of gravy…think freezer , or pies or adding to stock for soups.</p>
<p>mattmom, the Williams Sonoma mix isn’t difficult, you just need to get their brining bags. That is what I have used. The first time was at my sister’s and she didn’t rinse it well enough…really salty bird ( and gravy )</p>
<p>I tried brining once, but also think it was not worth the effort. (I can’t even remember what I found around the house that was large enough to keep the bird in, and certainly don’t remember how I kept it away from the dogs for a day or two.) My step-mom-in-law passed on her secret years ago–one of those roasting bags. Very easy-to-follow instructions (bit of flour in the bag, make some slits, throw in a bunch of veggies and the bird, tie up and pop in the oven). It also really cuts down on cooking time. Kind of a constantly self-basting thing. Really easy as pie.</p>
<p>One more quick TG story–hubby-to-be and I found ourselves with a leftover uncooked bird in his father’s fridge so decided to make a mini-TG the weekend after. We were in our early 20s. Stuffed it, cooked it, did a reasonable job on the sides and dessert. Nobody had told us about those bags of giblets way inside the bird, though. . .</p>
<p>Turkey is my least favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, so the year I brined the turkey, I really liked it. The turkey fans in the house not so much. The container was a problem. I finally found a deep bucket in the garage that we use when we wash the car. I scoured that out, then moved a bunch of shelves in the garage fridge so the bucket would fit overnight. Then, of course, there was the carrying of the bucket of brine + 20 lb turkey to the garage fridge and lifting it into the fridge. Overall, a lot of work.</p>
<p>ingerp, how long (per pound of turkey) do you cook using a roasting bag?? I always do roast beef in those bags, with good results but never thought of doing a turkey that way.</p>
<p>I used the bathtub for brining one year; it worked just fine. I generally use a big lobster pot.</p>
<p>My H uses a brine recipe from Patrick O’Connell, chef/owner of The Inn at Little Washington. There isn’t much salt in this brine, and it has lots of herbs and spruce. (Yeah. . . 6 or 7 small sprigs from a spruce tree.) It’s great for conversation and no arguments over politics for a while–everyone laughs about it. Here’s what goes in the brine: </p>
<p>½ cup kosher salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup honey
3 sprigs each parsley, dill, thyme, tarragon, sage
1 sprig rosemary
1 Tbs mustard seeds
1 Tbs fennel seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 large bay leaves
4 cloves
½ Tbs juniper berries
½ Tbs cardamom pods
1 Tbs black peppercorns
1 lemon, halved and squeezed lightly
3 star anise
½ Tbs whole allspice
5 or 6 springs of spruce</p>
<p>Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil; remove from heat, add all brine ingredients, stir. Cool to room temperature. Use a pot/container large enough to hold the turkey–put turkey in, cover, and refrigerate overnight. (I put it on my deck so that it doesn’t take up space in the fridge; I live in New England and the temperature outside is probably colder than my fridge.)</p>