Today I am Brining a Turkey

Really this does seem a bit crazy or at least a out of season. We actually purchased a turkey breast during December last year to make in the spring for a just because. I actually got motivated to get it out of the freezer earlier this week and have made a brine to make on Saturday, hello leftovers.

After visiting a few blogs and getting some ideas I settled on using oven bags as they are food safe, some suggest a new bucket or trash bag, but these are not really intended for food. I also am lucky enough to have room in my fridge to put the bag in a stock pot and put the stock pot in the fridge

Basic recipe that I followed

12 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of salt
1 cup of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon each, thyme, rosemary and sage and pepper
4 cups of ice cubes

Bring to a boil 4 cups of water add sugar and water, once dissolved remove from heat add all other ingredients, pour into bag and tie. Place in fridge for 24-48 hours, flip halfway through so both sides are in the solution.

This goes hand in hand with painting the house, right who doesn't think we need to paint let's make a turkey. I figure it is relatively easy to make and we will have lots of good leftovers to eat for a couple of days while we are painting.

Since this has been in the freezer about 5 months this seemed like a perfect time to give brining a try. Brining is more or less soaking a meat, I think most often poultry in salt water mixture. The salt breaks down the proteins and makes the meat more juicy, also helps to season as well. I plan on using salt, sugar, tyme, rosemary and apple cider vinegar and will soak it over night probably just about 24 hours.

Brining is not for kosher turkey or self basting/pre seasoned turkeys. I will be roasting this and will report how it goes.