641.568 -- Turkey a la brine

When I think "brine" my mind skips to sea water and murkiness. So, no, brining a turkey did not initially seem like a tasty option. But even I can't argue with the bevy of 5-star reviews brining often seems to elicit. So brine we did.

My biggest fear was that it would be too salty, but it wasn't. It didn't taste salty at all! And it did turn out to be the moistest turkey I have ever had.

Here is both the recipe and my tips. Give it a go this Christmas. Amaze your family. Thrill your friends. A lot of this will be obvious to you more seasoned turkey roasters. For me, this being my first experience, much direction was needed, so I included it below.

Ingredients
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black pepper corns
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon coriander seeds

Directions

1. Dissolve brine in 2 quarts of boiling water. Ours did not dissolve completely, and it ended up looking a lot like sea water. It smelled great, though, so we stayed the course.
   
2. Once it is dissolved, add in 1-2 quarts more water (depending on the size of your bird).
   
3. While the brine is cooling, place your turkey in a large bag. We used two roasting bags doubled up, but that didn't work as well as we'd hoped, because the brine would not completely cover the bird. We ended up using one of our big blue coolers -- the kind that you see dispensing Gatorade on countless sports sidelines.
   
4. When the brine is completely cool, pour over bird. Add more water if necessary to cover the whole thing. We had to add another quart for our 20-pounder.
5. Let bird sit in brine for 12-24 hours. Use whatever means necessary to keep the brine and turkey under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We stuck several cold packs around the turkey and left the cooler in the garage overnight.
   
6. When you're ready to start preparing, remove the turkey from the brine, rinse, pat dry, and roast. Discard the brine, obviously.
   

TIP: After the first hour in the oven, we basted it every 30 minutes. If there aren't enough juices to baste the first couple of times, don't fret. Use either melted sage butter or olive oil to supplement.

TIP: For the last hour to two hours, we used tented foil to keep the skin from over-crisping.

TIP: Before roasting, I mixed up some sage butter and rubbed it under the skin of the turkey. This, along with the brining, was designed to keep the breast meat from drying out.