BillBeer247

Recipes 

how long do YOU usually brine for? the recipe i was looking at said the night before...but i was thinking of putting the turkey in the brine tomorrow until thanksgiving(4 days)

passedpawn

Recipes 

I brine my turkey overnight. I'd be interested to hear if longer is better. Mine has come out great in the past, but greater is better

__________________
Now there's some take delight in the carriages a rolling
and others take delight in the hurling and the bowling
but I take delight in the juice of the barley
and courting pretty fair maids in the morning bright and early

Yooper

Recipes 

Normally, 24 hours but last year it was a bit longer. This year, I'm going back to 24 hours, though, since I can (with my work schedule).

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

OG2620

Recipes 

I'm going to brine for 72 hours this year.

FastAndy

Recipes 

Slightly off topic......


Anyone care to share a brine recipe? I am just doing a single turkey breast this year.

jmcquesten

Recipes 

Can you share your brine mix? I tried brining a few years ago, but I wasn't fully committed (didn't trust it/afraid of extra salty turkey) and only soaked it 10-12 hrs. I want to do it right this time, and we are cooking 2 turkeys so we'll have a backup. The brined one will be fried, backup will be traditional slow roasted in oven. For some reason, I thought the brine time was supposed to be at least a day or two, but I've found several different recommendations online so I'm not sure. Any info/experience is appreciated.

bquirolo

Recipes 

Brining is a very powerful tool in a kitchen. I would not brine for four days depending on how much salt is added to the brine it can make the meat very salty.

The brine I used at Masa's in San Francisco was

1 gallon/ 4 liters water
1 cup/ 225g salt
1/2 cup/ 125g sugar

And the seasoning that would be used for the pork, bird or whatever other type of protein I maybe serving that day.

The time on a turkey depends largely on the size of the bird
10-15lb/ 4-7kg turkey will be 24hrs
15lb/ 7kg and over will be from 24hrs to 36hrs.

And if you like brined birds a 2lb chicken is 3hrs

If you have questions on suggested spice I would be more than happy to answer that one as well keep in mind a gallon of water is just enough to cover a 2lb chicken and not much more than that.


The basic spice blend for a one gallon batch of brine which I use at home and not in the restaurant is

25g thyme
25g parsley
2 ea bay leaves
1 head garlic halved
1 onion sliced
30g black pepper

1) I will bring half my water content to a boil with the spice, salt and sugar.
2) And pour over ice (1g=1ml for water) I will weight out my ice and chill the solution
3)when the solution is chilled all the way I will brine my protein for the proper amount of time.

passedpawn

Recipes 

I go with Alton Brown.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/honey-brined-smoked-turkey-recipe2/index.html

I've added peppercorns and some other spices (I think star anise and crushed coriander), but I think I'm just doing it simple this year.

__________________
Now there's some take delight in the carriages a rolling
and others take delight in the hurling and the bowling
but I take delight in the juice of the barley
and courting pretty fair maids in the morning bright and early

BillBeer247

Recipes 

i guess Alton has several recipes, i was going to go with this Altons brine:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

passedpawn

Recipes 

Thanks! That's the exact one I used last year. I was looking for that.

__________________
Now there's some take delight in the carriages a rolling
and others take delight in the hurling and the bowling
but I take delight in the juice of the barley
and courting pretty fair maids in the morning bright and early