Brining Solution

Brine. Your. Turkey. (or your chicken, or your pork...) Period. Just trust me on this one.

What is brining? And why bother?

Brining is simply placing meat or poultry in a solution of salt water. By brining, you are providing a moisture cushion for the breast meat - all provided by the process of osmosis.  The water moves from the brine, the area of higher concentration, to the turkey, the area of lower concentration - so that moisture and flavor are trapped inside, giving you a bit of leeway with the cooking process.  If you happen to slightly overcook the meat (which we all tend to do), it will still stay tender and moist. (Thank you Alton for that knowledge tidbit.) Make sure that you do not leave the bird in the brining solution for longer than 12 hours and also, give it a quick rinse inside and outside, when it comes out of the brine, especially if you use table salt. Kosher salt is what I use and recommend.

And, I discovered another thing. If you use brown sugar, it adds to the flavor, and you don't need to cook the brine at all.  The salt and sugar will dissolve well with a few vigorous stirrings without warming the brine, so you don't have to wait for the brine to cool down before putting your bird in. I like anything that saves a little time!

Remove the neck and giblets from the bird, set aside to use later or discard. You can check the displacement of your intended container by putting the bird in it and then cover it with the required amount of water to see if it will take all of the water with your bird in it.  Nothin' worse than preparing a brine and then adding your bird only to have half of your brine spill out!

Now, remove the bird and mix the brine in the container.  Add the salt and sugar to the water. Stir until all of the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Add whatever other ingredients you are using in your brine, give it another stir, and slip the bird into the brine. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours. For larger turkeys you can probably take it up to 24 hours if needed.

When that time is up and/or you are ready to roast your bird, remove it from the brine and give it a rinse. If you have to postpone roasting, just remove the meat from the brine, dry off and store in the fridge. You can get away with just patting it off, if you're only doing a turkey breast or chicken parts, and not an entire whole bird. Then you can go ahead and get it ready for roasting.

This brine should do a turkey up to 16 pounds. By the way, brining also works fantastic for chicken that you plan to fry, other birds, and pork too!

Brining Solution
Posted at http://www.deepsouthdish.com/

1 gallon of filtered water
1 gallon of vegetable stock, homemade or packaged*
1 cup kosher salt
3/4 cup of light or dark brown sugar, well packed
A sprig of fresh sage, stripped, optional
Several sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped, optional
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
Hot pepper flakes, optional

Thaw the turkey in the fridge several days in advance. Combine the water, stock, salt, and sugar in a large stockpot and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.  Add the herbs, peppercorns, and pepper flakes.

Put the turkey in the brine ensuring that it is fully covered. Refrigerate overnight. If you don't have room in the fridge, use a large cooler or a large 5-gallon bucket with a lid and plenty of ice to keep the brine at 40 degrees. Check the temperature and refresh the ice periodically as needed. To avoid diluting your brine, use ice contained in tightly closed ziploc bags.

When ready to roast, remove the turkey, give it a rinse and pat dry. If you are doing a cut up chicken or a turkey breast, you can get away with just patting it off with some paper towels.  Proceed with preparing the bird by your intended method.

*If you don't happen to have vegetable stock on hand, just use 2 gallons of filtered water.

Brining Estimates:

Pork roast: 2 to 4 days
Pork tenderloin: 6 to 12 hours
1-inch thick Pork chops: 4 to 6 hours
Thicker Pork chops: 5 to 8 hours
Whole chicken: 3 to 12 hours
Cut up Chicken: 1-1/2 hours
Cornish Hens: 2 hours
Turkeys over 12 pounds: Up to 24 hours
Shrimp: 30 minutes

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