Comments on: post off: do you brine your bird?

By: LM

LM — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:43:32 +0000

Where I live (Austin), you can buy a fresh, free-range turkey pre-brined. It’s just 10 cents extra per pound.

My turkeys have always turned out great — a whole ‘nother experience from a frozen bird.

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:00:26 +0000

I always brine. I use sugar, salt, some sort of citrus fruit (squeeze out the juice and throw the whole thing in the bag, and fresh herbs if I have them around. It’s really simple and the turkey comes out beautifully. I usually put the brining bag inside the vegetable drawer of my fridge so there’s no worries about spilling.

By: Mary T

Mary T — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:12:14 +0000

I have never heard of this in my LIFE but it sounds amazing!

(Scrappy girl: Define “Kind of a disaster.”)

By: Veronica

Veronica — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:09:32 +0000

Also a bit late . . . we brine in a bucket. The home improvement places sell empty plastic buckets for paint, etc and we just wash it out and fill with cold water and put a bag of ice on top to keep things chilly. It didn’t occur to me until now but I’ll line the bucket with a garbage bag to make clean up even easier. We leave the bucket on our enclosed back porch where it is nice and cold.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:26:54 +0000

Weighing in a little late here, but I cooked my first turkey this weekend in a pre-Thanksgiving celebration with friends, so I thought I’d share my findings. I had been intending to brine, but didn’t realize until after I bought my turkey that some people recommend not brining Butterballs because they’re pre-injected with a salt solution. After reading some conflicting internet research about brining Butterballs, I decided to follow Alton Brown’s brining recipe, but using half the salt so it woudln’t be too salty. It turned out really moist and juicy, so I’m deeming it a success. I would definitely brine again. We brined it in a cooler in our garage for about 8 hours, where it was cold enough out to keep it at a proper temperature. We were concerned about cooking it too long, and hence may have taken it out a little early, so some of the dark meat went back in the oven after we roasted it. Anyway, my friends seemed to like it, so I just thought I’d share my experience here. Good luck to those cooking turkeys this week!

By: Holly D

Holly D — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:34:43 +0000

As a stylist, I’ve worked in the Cooks Illustrated kitchen a few times and one day I walked into the test kitchen (same as on the now cancelled show “America’s test Kitchen”) and
witnessed them brining at least 20 turkeys in huge plastic containers of brine. They swear by it! I tried it once at home and kept it in too long which WAS overnight. I would go a max. of 3 hrs. The turkey when cooked could have bounced like a basketball. I am too afraid to ever try again.
However I do follow their direction to cook the bird breast down for most of the oven time in order to allow the juices to flow to that area.
Lastly, I have been buying kosher turkey breast (Aaron’s brand I think) in Trader Joes and they have been amazing.
Now I know why, as explained above that koshering is like brining.
Happy TG!!

By: Benita

Benita — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:15:35 +0000

Hmmph, It’s funny that you would ask to brine or not to brine…I never knew there was any other way to cook a turkey…LOL. And I could never figure out why so many people disliked turkey and called it dry. I think brining, whether you do it or its already been done to the turkey when you get it, is a necessary step for a moist delectable turkey.

By: AB

AB — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:57:41 +0000

If you buy a kosher turkey you don’t have to brine. It’s already done in the koshering process.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:27:22 +0000

I don’t brine, but I also don’t cook dinner that often. This year, I am making a champagne turkey….big roasting bag, one apple, one onion, and most of a bottle of champagne. It’s kind of brining, but more steaming. Supposed to produce a ridiculously tender bird.

Let’s hope it works and nothing explodes in my oven.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:50:38 +0000

I don’t brine. It’s another level of stress that I don’t need for Thanksgiving. If Thanksgiving is at my parents, the turkey is a) smoked or b) basted in wine and butter. Both produce very tasty birds, and both lend themselves well to 4+ cooks fussing over the bird.

If I’m doing Thanksgiving solo, I go for wine and butter.

This is the year I get to find out how my partner’s family does turkey. Should be fun :).