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Brining and Roasting a Turkey
By Cameron Mitchell
What is brining, anyway?
Brining is simply the process of soaking a cut of meat in a solution of salt and water (and sometimes sugar) prior to roasting. Rather than make it especially salty, the salt in the
solution reacts with the proteins in meat to actually cause more moisture to flow INTO the meat, along with a little salt, which makes it juicier and tastier.
Try it out this festive season (or anytime you're roasting a bird). It's an excellent trick.
What you need:
A thawed turkey
1 bucket large enough to hold the bird
Coarse salt
Water
Antibacterial soap (for your hands)
.
Brining Turkey
Here's how:
Step 1: Find a clean bucket large enough to comfortably hold your bird and
brine:
Step 2: Put bird in bucket and add water to cover completely, keeping track
of the total volume of water.
Step 3: Remove the bird from the water, pat dry with paper towels and set
aside.
Step 4: Measure out coarse salt on a 1:16 ratio:
In other words, 1 cup of salt for every 16 cups (4 litres) of water.
Step 5: Rub the bird inside and out with some of the coarse salt. Add the
remaining salt to the water in the bucket. Mix to mostly dissolve.
Step 6: Return the bird to the brine solution.
Step 7: Let the bird soak overnight in the brine, refrigerated, for a total
of 12 hours.
Step 8: Remove the bird from the brine rinse with cool water. You're now
ready to stuff, truss, and roast.
Roasting Turkey
Here's how: Now you're ready to roast. It's pretty straightforward. Here's
what to do:
Step 1: Rinse bird thoroughly.
Step 2: Remove wings and reserve for stock.
Step 3: Stuff bird.
Step 4: Truss bird by wrapping twine under bird and cross over.
Step 5: Criss-cross and tuck twine under legs.
Step 6: Pull strings up around legs criss-cross again and pull back across
breasts.
Step 7: Flip bird over and pull twine back and criss-cross over wing stubs
and then under wing stubs.
Step 8: Tie the twine firmly into a knot below the neck opening.
Step 9: Prepare an herb butter.
Step 10: Slather butter over turkey and season with salt and freshly ground
pepper.
Step 11: Insert meat thermometer.
Step 12: Place bird in 400º F oven.
Step 13: After 30 minutes of roasting, drippings begin to pool. Place
cheesecloth over breast to hold drippings as you baste.
Step 14: Baste drippings on cheesecloth and rest of turkey periodically
throughout roasting time.
Step 15: Pull cheesecloth off of turkey for the last half hour of roasting.
Step 16: When turkey comes to temperature 15 degrees below doneness and is
browned remove from oven.
Step 17: Let turkey rest on counter for 30 minutes before carving.
Servings: 4
By Cameron Mitchell
What is brining, anyway?
Brining is simply the process of soaking a cut of meat in a solution of salt and water (and sometimes sugar) prior to roasting. Rather than make it especially salty, the salt in the
solution reacts with the proteins in meat to actually cause more moisture to flow INTO the meat, along with a little salt, which makes it juicier and tastier.
Try it out this festive season (or anytime you're roasting a bird). It's an excellent trick.
What you need:
A thawed turkey
1 bucket large enough to hold the bird
Coarse salt
Water
Antibacterial soap (for your hands)
.
Brining Turkey
Here's how:
Step 1: Find a clean bucket large enough to comfortably hold your bird and
brine:
Step 2: Put bird in bucket and add water to cover completely, keeping track
of the total volume of water.
Step 3: Remove the bird from the water, pat dry with paper towels and set
aside.
Step 4: Measure out coarse salt on a 1:16 ratio:
In other words, 1 cup of salt for every 16 cups (4 litres) of water.
Step 5: Rub the bird inside and out with some of the coarse salt. Add the
remaining salt to the water in the bucket. Mix to mostly dissolve.
Step 6: Return the bird to the brine solution.
Step 7: Let the bird soak overnight in the brine, refrigerated, for a total
of 12 hours.
Step 8: Remove the bird from the brine rinse with cool water. You're now
ready to stuff, truss, and roast.
Roasting Turkey
Here's how: Now you're ready to roast. It's pretty straightforward. Here's
what to do:
Step 1: Rinse bird thoroughly.
Step 2: Remove wings and reserve for stock.
Step 3: Stuff bird.
Step 4: Truss bird by wrapping twine under bird and cross over.
Step 5: Criss-cross and tuck twine under legs.
Step 6: Pull strings up around legs criss-cross again and pull back across
breasts.
Step 7: Flip bird over and pull twine back and criss-cross over wing stubs
and then under wing stubs.
Step 8: Tie the twine firmly into a knot below the neck opening.
Step 9: Prepare an herb butter.
Step 10: Slather butter over turkey and season with salt and freshly ground
pepper.
Step 11: Insert meat thermometer.
Step 12: Place bird in 400º F oven.
Step 13: After 30 minutes of roasting, drippings begin to pool. Place
cheesecloth over breast to hold drippings as you baste.
Step 14: Baste drippings on cheesecloth and rest of turkey periodically
throughout roasting time.
Step 15: Pull cheesecloth off of turkey for the last half hour of roasting.
Step 16: When turkey comes to temperature 15 degrees below doneness and is
browned remove from oven.
Step 17: Let turkey rest on counter for 30 minutes before carving.
Servings: 4
