Alton Brown's brined turkey recipe

[ZabMom]

Has anyone made this? I am watching the episodes on you tube and I think I will do this. I am nervous because I have NEVER made a holiday meal. does anyone have any suggestions? The comments on the food network website are very favorable to it.

[buddysmom]

UGH!!!! I tried it a few years back...
All I really remember is trying to lift the big, wet , heavy, cold, slippery turkey out of the cooler filled with the brining liquid. Cooler was on the floor, I needed to lift Mr. Turkey up & into the roasting pan. It was a drippy, mess!
I re-watched one of his brining episodes the other nite & noticed that they didnt really show him getting it out of the cooler. LOL! I have since just stuck with my good ole Betty Crocker cookbook!

[puakinikini]

Hilarious - I had a similar experience with a 20 lb turkey a couple years ago - I will not be brining mine this year - too much hassle and did not taste different to me.

[dedeof4]

My son did this last Thanksgiving. It tasted ok but was messy - and was a little costly to buy all the stuff!

[katncaed]

This is the best way to cook a turkey hands down! We do this every year.

As for it being messy, I've never had that problem. We use a medium size igloo cooler. When I take it out of the cooler, I sit it in the sink, let it drain, and wash it off. Make sure your sink is clean of course.

As for the person that said it didn't taste any different, I'd have to say you didn't do it right, or didn't brine it long enough. A properly brined turkey is a huge improvement over a non-brined turkey, end of story.

Here are a couple of pointers:
1) Make sure the turkey is fully thawed, otherwise you are wasting your time.
2) If money is a concern, drop some of the stuff off the recipe. The main thing you need is the salt and the vegetable stock. The rest makes it better, but isn't necessary.
3) You need to brine it at least 12 hours. 24+ hours would be better. You can't over brine the meat, so don't worry about it being too long.
4) When you put the turkey in the oven at 500 degrees, expect smoke. Our smoke detector always goes off. I try not to open the oven until about 30 minutes after the oven temperature is dropped. This will keep the smoke to a minimal.
5) The best advice I can tell you is to follow the procedure exactly. Don't change anything.
6) Don't forget the turkey triangle.

[buddysmom]

Whats a turkey triangle???????

[derketchup]

I've brined before. Here is the recipe:

1 turkey (12-14 pounds gross weight)
2 cups kosher salt (or 1.5 cups diamond kosher salt) or 1.5 cups table salt

Thaw turkey in refrigerator. Then put turkey in a pot and cover with water. Add salt and let dissolve. Cover and set in a cool spot for 10 to 12 hours. Remove turkey from salt water and rinse cavity and skin under cool running water for several minutes until all traces of salt are gone.

[ohio70]

We have used his recipe for about 5 years. I agree it is the best way to cook a turkey. My husband uses a 5 galloon bucket for the turkey and just lifts by the legs.

[thickbluebug]

Yep, we do it every yr. Printed the recipe back in 02. We love it, I love the rosemary and ginger. Best turkey we ever had. We make several of these every year.
I only cook meat with with a thermometer now. I hate dried out meat especially turkey. LOL, we used to say we hated turkey until we found this recipe.
I also do the sweet corn casserole he made too. We use the casserole as stuffing/dressing. When the relatives come, we do the hazelsmith cornbread dressing off foodnetwork website. They like old style dressing/stuffing.
Awesome!
I agree on the smoke.

Whats a turkey triangle???????

The triangle tent is where you smoosh the foil over the breast and make an imprint of the top of the turkey.

[sharimomo5]

This is how I make our turkey every year. Evrybody loves it. The left overs are still juicy!