The Best Holiday Turkey Brine

If you like your poultry tender and succulent, then you need to add this Turkey Brine to your things to do list this holiday season.  A good brine will add so much moisture and flavor to your roasted bird, you’ll never again cook it with out one.  This recipe adds a light yet fruity bouquet to the pallet that really compliments the Turkey.  There’s a few other ingredients that might surprise you but overall, I really think you’ll be pleased with the results.

Does a Turkey Brine Really Help?

A Turkey Brine is more about the salt than anything.  All of the flavors help but the salt goes through and through, constantly repeating.  This helps the bird retain water and since water has memory, all of those ingredients that season the water also season the bird.  So, a brine absolutely makes all of the difference in the world.  Unless you don’t like a crispy skin, basting isn’t even necessary.  And don’t feel like you have to add all of these ingredients.  Technically, the salt is enough but feel free to play with it a bit and find your own ingredients and write your own recipe.  You can even refer to my Tin can Chicken Brine recipe if you’d like.

Turkey Brine Ingredients:

1 gal water
2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Table Salt
2 tbsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Clove
5 Garlic Cloves, crushed
5 Bay Leaves, dry or fresh
2 Sprigs Rosemary
Peel from 2 large Oranges
3 to 4 lbs Ice

1 Turkey

Be sure to follow the instructions in the Turkey Brine video tutorial and continue with the Roasted Turkey and Gravy recipe, coming up next.

UPDATE:

I have since used this recipe with some substitutions and one particular additive that yielded better results in both the flavor and juiciness of the bird. The Turkey I brined and roasted was barley over 19 lbs and, for some reason, cooked way faster than I expected.

I exchanged the orange peel for lemon, the salt for it’s weight in pickling salt and I added in approximately 1 dozen Allspice seeds. What a difference it made. I also crushed, ground and sprinkled allspice powder over the skin of the turkey, before roasting. I stuffed the bird with Parsley only and a full cube of butter, then baked with a lid at 275° F. To my surprise, the bird was fully cooked in under 3 hours. It should’ve taken twice that long; according to the experts. 20 to 25 minutes per lbs. The outside of the bird was perfectly cooked with an even golden brown tone. I didn’t roast at a higher temp before hand, rotate the turkey of baste either. One of the Best Turkey’s I have ever made.