Brining Your Thanksgiving Turkey Enhances Flavor and Tenderness

Does your Thanksgiving turkey always turn out dry and flavorless?  If so, then learning how to brine your turkey can offer you some significant benefits.  Brining your Thanksgiving Day bird will help it retain flavor, as well as tenderness.  Here’s how to go about it.

 

The first thing you need to do when you brine your Thanksgiving Day bird is find a container that will hold the turkey and the brine, yet fit in your refrigerator.  Ideally, you should submerge your entire bird in the brine.  However, if you use a roasting pan, turn the turkey periodically to ensure that all sides get brined.

 

Making brine is pretty easy.  The basic recipe to use for your Thanksgiving turkey is one pound of kosher salt per gallon of water.  You may need more water than this, but simply keep to this ratio no matter how much brine you need.  You will also find that you can add other ingredients, such as sugar or honey to the mix.  This helps to counteract the salt flavor, though they are optional and ‘to taste’.

 

To brine your Thanksgiving turkey, mix your salt and water, as well as sugar if you’ll be using it.  Use hot water, not boiling.  Take the neck and giblets out of your turkey.  Immerse your turkey in the brine for a minimum of eight hours.  However, do not leave it brining longer than twenty-four hours, or you risk health problems caused by the natural bacteria in the turkey.  Pour off the brine and rinse your Thanksgiving turkey when you’re ready to cook it.  Pat it dry with paper towels.

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