<p>I’m addicted to the Food Network and although I don’t want to hassle with deep frying a turkey (although I hear its great), several of the Food Network shows (including Alton Brown, my favorite) advocate soaking the turkey in a brine for 24 hours. It seems easy enough. Have any of you done this in years past, and did it make a big difference?</p>
<p>We’ve never soaked a turkey in brine, but we usually fix two large turkeys, one traditionally roasted in the oven and one with this fabulous spicy/salty-ish marinade that would give it a brine-like taste, though stronger for all of the garlic and cracked black pepper. That one we usually smoke. I think that most commerically bought (frozen) turkeys have a brine-like substance already in them. I’ll be interested to see if anyone has tried soaking one.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Don’t bother brining if you use a Butterball, it’s already got salt solution in it from the preparation</p>
<p>Brining the last two years, using Alton’s recipe, has made a tremendous difference in moistness.</p>
<p>Alton’s recipe is great! My fiance used the brine last year (but not the stuffing part with the apple) and it seriously was the best turkey I’ve ever had. He’s using it fully this year, apple included.</p>
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The juiciest, most flavorful turkey you’ll ever taste. It’s really not a hassle at all if done correctly in a turkey fryer. Cooks in a fraction of the time of oven roasting, frees up oven space, and no all-day basting. Once we tried it, we’ll never go back!</p>
<p>I’ve been brining for about 5 years. I’ll never ever ever make a turkey any other way. </p>
<p>I use the Chez Panisse recipe published in the SF Chronicle a few years ago. AB’s recipe has a few more ingredients to it, but the results are similar. Soaking in salt/sugar/water is the key. All the other add-ins aren’t as important, imo. Although the CP recipe calls for an entire head of garlic, which you have to peel and we slightly crush each clove before dumping them in the brine.</p>
<p>Cooks illustrated which I use quite a bit advocates brining lots of cuts of meat- which I do-
poultry especially has very good results-
<a href=“http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/boilingwater/boiling_briningturkey.shtml[/url]”>http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/boilingwater/boiling_briningturkey.shtml</a></p>
<p>I am a devoted AB fan and I have used his methods for several years now. It does make for a tasty bird. Done right, no more dry white meat! The brine is important but also the first 30 at 500 part. This seals the outside of the bird and locks in all that liquid. </p>
<p>You can also try a similar brine with chicken and get excellent results too.</p>
<p>Brining really works, and I agree the flavorings don’t help as much. We’ve have fried a brined turkey as well - don’t use the injector with the brine - both methods are big improvements over just oven roasting.</p>
<p>Here’s the original article that I use for my brine recipe. I have found that juniper berries can be hard to find and I’ve done the recipe both with and without them. They don’t contribute a whole lot to the flavor. And I highly recommend fresh thyme and don’t sub bottled or powdered garlic. Only use real cloves!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/11/17/FD77530.DTL&type=food[/url]”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/11/17/FD77530.DTL&type=food</a></p>
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<p>post thanksgiving report. The brined bird was the best ever. I actually brined it around 24 hours this time, using AB’s recipe except for the candied ginger (out) and using a some sea salt/garlic/pepper along with the kosher salt. </p>
<p>After 30 mins at 500, the 20 lber cooked around 3 1/2 hours more (unstuffed) and it sat for 15 minutes before I started slicing. Just great moist meat, favorfull and tender. Even better all the sides, even the stuffin muffins (muffin sized crisp stuffing balls) came out nicely and on time. </p>
<p>I hope everyone else enjoyed their turkey day. cheers.</p>