A few weeks ago, I saw my friend Ruthy post on Facebook that she was making a turkey that day. Hey, so was I! I tend to buy a bunch when they’re on sale during the holidays and roast them periodically through the rest of the winter. When I saw Ruth’s Facebook message, I posted back something about mine was soaking in the brine at that moment and great minds thinking alike. Uh, I think having her mind compared to mine might have scared her a little, but she’s a true friend and didn’t mention that. But she did ask me about blogging about brine. Since I have a new release and a two older books being released as eBooks, we decided on this rather Valentine-ish date, and she said, “Great...romanticize the blog, okay?”
Now, I think brining is fantastic. I brined my first turkey a couple years ago after watching Alton do one on Good Eats.
I love that show. And I’ll also confess that though I’m madly in love with my husband, I do have a bit of a crush on Alton. I mean, any man who can get so jazzed about brining a turkey and explaining the science of why it works deserves a bit of a crush. Right?Is that romanticized enough, Ruthy?? LOL
Okay, so here’s the truth of the romance of brining a turkey. In my opinion, it’s not so much the turkey or the brining that’s romantic...it’s the act of cooking. And it’s not so much about romance, it’s about love. You see, that turkey I was roasting was for a Sunday dinner. Most, but not all, Sundays are family dinners here. My kids are older, some have moved out. But on most Sundays I put out the call that I’m cooking and they’re welcome to come. And most, but not all, of the kids show up. We eat together. Laugh together. We share stories about our week. We sometimes squabble. We frequently joke. We laugh some more. And we eat.
Some of my meals are a huge success...brined turkey tends to be one of them. I’ve never had a turkey dry out using this method. They’re moist and the leftovers make dinner for the next few days, as well as a great stock that I freeze for soup at a later date. However, some of my meals are flawed. Like the time I made a meatloaf and neglected to find the tiny piece of pink paper that declared it was meatloaf mix. That piece of papered meatloaf ended up on my son-in-law’s plate. He has a sense of humor, but since then has always checked the meatloaf for paper. LOL
But good meal or bad, those Sunday dinners are my way of saying, I love you all. And I’m also saying, even though you’re older, your dad and I still love to hang out with you because we genuinely like you all.
There. That’s not quite romanticized, but it is about love, so I’m going with it, Ruthy.
Okay, so how to brine a turkey. I posted Alton’s link earlier. After his show, before I made my brine, I read his recipe and then I went online and found a couple other brine recipes, like Martha Stewart’s.
I decided that the important part of the brine was the salt and the water...and the turkey.
I should note, I use a 12 or 13 lb bird. Smaller is more tender, and it means I can brine the turkey in my big stock pot in the refrigerator. Plus, I don’t have to mess with a cooler and ice. I’m not sure I feel that I can maintain the consistent temperature that way.
I make the brine two days before I want to roast the turkey.
I’ve settled on:
1 ½ C of Kosher salt
½ stockpot of water
to that I add:
A couple onions
A few cloves of garlic
A few bay leaves
About a TB of peppercorns
A few shakes of sage, thyme, rosemary....
I toss everything into the stockpot, bring the liquid to a boil, make sure the salt is dissolved. I take it from the heat, and once it’s cooled, I leave the brine in my stockpot, cover it and put it in the fridge. The morning before I roast the bird I add...something sweet. I’ve used Martha’s Riesling idea. I once had some very sweet apple wine that was too sweet to drink, so I used that. And I tried a few cups of apple cider once. (If I didn’t have any of the above, I’d probably add the ½ cup of brown sugar Alton talked about when I was making the brine.)
After adding my ‘something sweet’ I submerge the bird in the brine (making sure it’s all covered with water...if it’s not, add a bit more cold water until it is) and let it sit in the brine in the fridge for about 24 hours.
The day of, I take the turkey out of the brine, then cook it using my regular directions. I’ve stuffed brined birds, but I’ve also roasted them unstuffed. (Note on stuffing...I do some in the bird, but then bake extra in a separate pan. When I’m done, I mix them together. It makes a great dressing that way.)
Yes, you can see this isn’t an exact recipe. If you’re someone more comfortable using an exact recipe, Alton and Martha’s are great ones....you won’t hurt my feelings, promise.
1 ½ C of Kosher salt
½ stockpot of water
to that I add:
A couple onions
A few cloves of garlic
A few bay leaves
About a TB of peppercorns
A few shakes of sage, thyme, rosemary....
I toss everything into the stockpot, bring the liquid to a boil, make sure the salt is dissolved. I take it from the heat, and once it’s cooled, I leave the brine in my stockpot, cover it and put it in the fridge. The morning before I roast the bird I add...something sweet. I’ve used Martha’s Riesling idea. I once had some very sweet apple wine that was too sweet to drink, so I used that. And I tried a few cups of apple cider once. (If I didn’t have any of the above, I’d probably add the ½ cup of brown sugar Alton talked about when I was making the brine.)
After adding my ‘something sweet’ I submerge the bird in the brine (making sure it’s all covered with water...if it’s not, add a bit more cold water until it is) and let it sit in the brine in the fridge for about 24 hours.
The day of, I take the turkey out of the brine, then cook it using my regular directions. I’ve stuffed brined birds, but I’ve also roasted them unstuffed. (Note on stuffing...I do some in the bird, but then bake extra in a separate pan. When I’m done, I mix them together. It makes a great dressing that way.)
Yes, you can see this isn’t an exact recipe. If you’re someone more comfortable using an exact recipe, Alton and Martha’s are great ones....you won’t hurt my feelings, promise.
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I’m a seat-of-the-pants cook and writer. My first bunch of books were written with no synopsis, no idea where the story was going until it got there. I’ve since learned to write a synopsis and stick to it...well, sort of stick to it. I mean, it gives me a road map (kind of like Alton and Martha’s recipes) and then I let it go its own way (like adding wine, cider, sugar to the brine) and in the end, I have a story that I love...just as much as my family loves brined turkeys. They’ve requested that I never make any other type.
And that, my friends, is my official Romanticized Brined Turkey Blog!
Holly
My February release, EVERYTHING BUT A MOTHER, is part of an ongoing series about one tiny Hungarian grandmother who cursed her family to bad weddings (Everything But a Groom, EBA Bride, EBA Wedding). After she broke the curse, she got bored and tried her hand at matchmaking (Everything But a Christmas Eve, EBA Mother, EBA Dog out this fall). Nana Vancy is quite the Hungarian cook, and does cook a bit in this new release, though she doesn’t brine a turkey!
Harlequin is also rereleasing two older books as eBooks in February...The 100-Year Itch & Confessions of a Party Crasher. I’m thrilled that both books are going to be readily available to readers again!
You can find more info about all these books at www.HollyJacobs.com
