Cooking the Perfect Turkey
The Kitchen Project | Cooking the perfect turkey | Thanksgiving | Brining | Roasting techniques

	Brining a Turkey
	INGREDIENTS; 1 gallon water 1 Cup Kosher or . Or ½ cup Table Salt or sea salt ½ Cup sugar You can multiply this however many times you need to cover the meat. For the 20 lb. Turkey that I used I needed 4 gallons of brine. For 2 gallons of brine, 1. Measure out 4 cups water in a microwave safe container , or in a pan on the stove. 2. Add salt and Sugar and heat until the water is very warm. ( about 5 minutes on high) 3. Stir till the salt and sugar are fully dissolved. If they don't dissolve totally, your water is saturated so add some another 2 cups of water. 4. Add to your container that you are going to brine in. 5. Add 6 quarts of cold water to the container making 2 gallons. (optional)I then cut 2 lemons and 2 oranges and added them to the brine. 6. This should be enough brine for a small turkey.(11 pounds) Double for a large turkey.(20 pounds) Add 8 cloves garlic smashed, 2 onions peeled and rough chopped. A handful of fresh Rosemary, a few tablespoons of crushed peppercorns, hot pepper flakes, thyme, bay leaf, mustard seed, coriander seed, juniper berries, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, or vanilla bean. KEEPING THE PROPER TEMPERATURE DURING BRINING If you can not refrigerate your turkey while brining it is important that you keep the brine below 40 degrees temperature. You can achieve this by adding some iced gel packs or ice cubes in plastic storage bags.   I then put the ice in a large plastic trash bag and add to the brine. I don't put the ice cubes directly in the brine as this would dilute my solution. Use a thermometer to make sure you are keeping under 40 degrees temperature. This will protect you from those harmful bacteria that like to grow between 40 and 140 degrees. HOW LONG TO BRINE A TURKEY Around 24 hours is a good rule of thumb for a Turkey. If its 23 or 22 or 25 it is not going to make that much difference. If you go too long , like 30 or 48 hours you risk having turning the turkey meat a bit mushy. If you want to speed up the process double the amount of salt and sugar and cut the time in half. The Kitchen Project | Cooking the perfect turkey | Thanksgiving | Brining | Roasting techniques     Search for more recipes at the Kitchen Project   Web www.kitchenproject.com

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The Kitchen Project | Cooking the perfect turkey | Thanksgiving | Brining | Roasting techniques