I have to confess that at first I was skeptical about brining our Thanksgiving turkey.  Soaking a large specimen of poultry overnight in a salt and sugar solution seemed like a nuisance, another set of steps to follow for an already too complicated meal.  Something else to keep track of—who needs that?  But then I had my first brined turkey: it was not the bird I was used to.  Instead of dry, chewy breast meat that needed a quart or two of gravy to make it swallow-able, we had juicy, tender turkey subtly infused with the herb and citrus flavors from the brine.  It was a revelation.  I figured out how to brine a turkey and have been doing it ever since.

It’s not actually very complicated or time consuming at all.  Brining makes meat and poultry juicier, more tender, and more flavorful.  The salt in the brine denatures protein molecules, causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water and whatever flavorings you’ve added to the brine.  Instead of seasoning just the surface of your turkey, brining allows you to season throughout the meat.

I make up a brine solution (which usually involves boiling to dissolve the salt and sugar in the brine and release the flavors of other ingredients) sometime on Tuesday, chill it overnight, immerse the turkey in the brine Wednesday morning, and stow it in the refrigerator.  When turkey day arrives on Thursday, the bird just needs to be patted dry and roasted in the usual way.

The main challenge for most people who want to brine their turkey is what to put it in.  I use a food-safe 5-gallon bucket with a lid.  A non-food-safe bucket works, too, if you line it with a plastic turkey bag.  You could also use a large stockpot, or just place the turkey in a double layer of turkey bags in your roasting pan, pour the brine over the turkey in the bags, and seal them up.  Just keep in mind that the turkey needs to be completely submerged in the brine (or surrounded by it in the case of the turkey-bag-in-the-roasting-pan arrangement), so if you have a container that’s much larger than the turkey, make extra brine.  And yes, the turkey must be refrigerated while it’s brining. This sometimes requires a little rearranging of the frig, but it’s worth it.

Now that I’ve done a few Thanksgivings’ worth of brining, I’ve started experimenting with different ingredients in my brine solution.  There are a number of great flavorings to try adding to brine: brown sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, fruit juices, beer, liquor, bay leaves, pickling spices, cloves, garlic, onion, leeks, celery, carrots, chilies, citrus fruits or rinds, apples, pears, peppercorns, and other dried or fresh herbs and spices.  The only thing that shouldn’t be changed is the type of salt and the proportion of salt to liquid; stick to the recipe on those points.

If you haven’t tried brining a turkey before, give it whirl.  Our recipe for Brad’s Citrus and Herb Brined Turkey is a great place to start.  If you’re an experienced briner and would like to try some new ideas, check out our Maple and Apple Cider Brine or our Savory Honey Herb Brine.  Let us know how you like the results!