Still Brining After All These Years
There are plenty of ways to prep a turkey, and even more wonderful ways to cook it. There’s nothing wrong with simply roasting the darned thing, given that take care with the cooking as nothing is worse than dry turkey except maybe … well, I can’t think of anything right now.
My personal favorite method of prep is to spatchcock the bird (cut out the backbone and flatten) and quickly cure by rubbing with kosher salt and spices and refrigerating for a day or two. The cure gives me flavor and the spatchcocking allows for fast cooking ergo reduced moisture loss. But this year, like so many years, I’m not only wet brining, I’m brine thawing.
Here’s the situation: Let’s say you wake up Monday or even Tuesday morning facing the reality of a frozen turkey, as in hard-as-Plymouth-rock. You need to have this critter on the table by noon Thursday. And even if you could somehow bend the rules of thermodynamics and thaw in the fridge in your less than ideal time frame, who wants to clear out room in there for a 20 pound hunk of ice. Not I! And even if I did, there would be no time remaining to augment the flavor other than to inject the bird with some kind of “self-basting” solution. (This is all assuming you haven’t purchased an augmented bird i.e. Butterball, which I hope you haven’t.)
The solution (see what I did there) is to thaw the bird by unwrapping it and submerging in a brine contained in a large bucket or cooler or other food safe vessel, covered and tucked away in a closet or garage or … wherever. I slap a probe thermometer in the brine with an alarm set to go off if the temperature of the solution rises above 40 degrees F. That said, I typically go with a 2 day soak and have never had an instance where that temperature has been reached. By the time the bird is thawed, the brine has done it’s job (two jobs actually) and I’m ready to roast.
Is the flavor as good as the dry cure method? It’s not quite as intense but on scale of 1-10 I’d still give it 8.7 and when it comes to leftovers (can you say “sandwich”) I don’t think a brined bird can be beat.
Happy Thanksgiving.
waoo, yummy so nice and good recipe. I like it.
Shall I dry it in the fridge after brining? If so, how long?
Help! It’s my 1st bird….ugh. planning to cook it 12/24. I was thinking to do water defrost to male sure it’s thawed and then brine for 6 hours. Too much ? If I brine and thaw, how long would it sit in cooler for a 20lb bird? Ty!
Kim… Read through the comment thread, lots of info your looking for. The episode has a world of info, too. Good luck!
Is it even worth brining when you only have 6 hours for it to soak?
Even brining for 6 hours will help.
I cheat. If u are desparate this works. Tuesday i put frozen turkey on counter. When softening and still mostly frozen, start covering with towel (s) to keep outside cold while inside is still frozen. Check w hand regularly, must stay cold on outside. Wednesday afternoon or night, put in brine; if it’s frozen inside then that keeps things cold, otherwise add ice to outside of bag in cooler. Thursday gotta get gizzard bag out, use running lukewarm water in cavity if you have to, if it’s still frozen. Done a version of this multiple times. P.s. ALWAYS COOK USING THERMOMETER, fyi dark meat takes longer than white, never overcook. Consider cooking upside down, works to baste white meat w fat from dark meat. I cut up before serving time so browned skin doesn’t matter, but if you care about browned skin then flip to upright for 1/2 to 1 hour before finished.
Hi, I need some help! This is my 1st time making a turkey
So I bought frozen turkey Monday noon
Came home and didn’t place it in the fridge
Thinking it was ok to thaw that way
I later realized that’s the wrong way
I prepared a brine at 9:30 pm Monday
Placed the turkey in brine inside a plastic bag and placed it inside the refrigerator
Is it safe to leave it there until Thursday morning?
Did you simply thaw the turkey on the countertop? If so, I would go get another turkey and start over. (This is just me, but the idea of causing the illness of family and friends is enough to send me back to the store and begin again – post haste. I’ve got a few folks joining us with compromised immune systems and spending Thanksgiving Night in an ER is too sad to ponder.)
I would re-think brining time, too. (Are you dry or wet brining?) Submerged in a wet brine – I try to keep it under 8-12 hours. I’ve not tried dry brine myself, so I can’t comment on that one. 🙁 AB’s “Romancing the Bird” and other turkey episodes might better answer your questions a million times better than I ever could.
I did, I just left it on the counter without anything and still In its original wrapper
I think it’s best not to cook it
So upset at myself for ruining it
I don’t like wasting food
I understand…. We live and learn. And while tossing out food seems wrong – being the person that caused every one toss up their food seems worse. Good luck on the restart!
Does it matter if you remove the skin when dry brining a turkey?
I have been following Alton’s turkey brining method for about 10 years now and I will never do it any other way. The perfect bird! Thanks Alton!
What is the salt to water ratio in the brine water?
One tip I found out the hard way: check the weight of the bird on the packaging before discarding it. You need this to determine the cooking time, and it’s surprisingly hard to weigh a big bird with what I have in the kitchen.
Use a bathroom scale and weigh it brine and all. Then remover the bird and weigh the brine. This would be more accurate than the package since the bird will have absorbed some of the brine and should be heavier than it was.
I used sous vide last year. Came out amazingly well. Very very moist and infused with great herby flavor. The trick is to do a pre and post sear.
So, it was really nice article about the turkey, and well explained the reason of author. Kindly post more contents.
Once the turkey is brined and thawed I can then remove the giblets, pat dry and roast correct?
Haven’t used the brine and thaw system at the same time before. Just checking I have all my ducks in a row.
Ashley, yep. Thaw in the brine; once thawed, remove from brine, remove giblets, rinse thoroughly, drain any liquid from the bird and pat dry. 🙂
Awesome! Thank you! We are in the process now! Fingers crossed for Christmas! 🙂
I love Alton Brown’s turkey brine recipe. Been using his recipe for three years now and turkey turns out moist and juicy every time even over cooked it last year. This time I would like to use the same brine recipe but on cornish hens – approx. 6 to 8 for party of 12. Can someone tells me how long I should cook these little birds and for how long on bake or convention?
Started frozen thaw with brine Tuesday 1:00am (my first time) bird is in my garage., that would mean I need to cook it , at 1:00am Thursday or can I wait until 7:00am.?
Started frozen thaw with brine Tuesday 1:00am (my first time) bird is in my garage., that would mean I need to cook it , at 1:00am Thursday or can I wait until 7:00am.?
I have been brining with your recipe for 10 years and will never stop.
I have always made your brine, but I am wanting to try your Honey Brined Turkey this year! However, I will be using an electric grill style smoker (Traeger to be exact). My question is, do I let it just smoke for a while, then turn up the temperature to the 350° or 400° F. and finish roasting to the right temp?? That honey brine sounds like it would make that turkey taste delicious! Oh! One other question, I love your original recipe, but would it be good to just substitute the brown sugar with honey instead? The honey brine just doesn’t sound like it has a whole lot to it, but I don’t want to go crazy and make it taste “off”. Thanks!!
I had similar questions and found this blog. I’m curious how your turkey turned out. I am going to try the Serious Eats method (butterfly, dry brine, smoke at 250), which seems like the way to go.
Gosh, I think I would just be estatic to have my husband offer to cook the Thanksgiving meal brine or no brine. If my husband ever offered to slave away over a hot stove in the kitchen on a holiday, I’d be in 7th heaven & you’d find me in the living room with my grown kids, having a blast!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love baking & cooking BUT I enjoy visiting with my family members even more & would much rather spend my holiday not missing a beat with my loved ones than being alienated in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun. Yes, we could cook in the kitchen as a family & make memories doing that activity together, however, I like to focus my attention on people when I’m with them. That being said, way to go that you take on & tackle the bird & the Thanksgiving meal!!!
Well, I am that kind of man. I cook pretty much the whole thing. I let my wife do the yams and I’ve taught my sons to do the pumpkin pie, but this year I’m cooking both turkeys and the Apple pies and all the trimmings. I am the benevolent thanksgiving despot of our home, and doing it myself means I can carry out my schemes.
I’m with you Jack. Stay out of my kitchen. Pour a glass of wine and go visit.