Brining the Turkey

Here you have it—my brining technique—the easiest way to inject as much moisture and flavour into a turkey.

Brining sounds more anxiety-ridden than it really is. In essence what you are doing is immersing the bird in a salt-water bath with a few aromatics. The aromatics can be any combination of herbs and spices that you fancy—see the slideshow below for my curated selection.

My secret ingredient is buttermilk—the staple of a lot of southern fried chicken recipes. I use just a little water to steep the aromatics and dissolve the salt, then substitute the rest of the water with tangy buttermilk. The result is to be tasted to believed.

These are the important proportions to remember:
Salt: 1/4 cup Salt for every 5 lbs of turkey
Buttermilk: 9 oz. Buttermilk for every pound of turkey
Herbs: 1/4 cup of Assorted Herbs for every 5 lbs of turkey
Spices: 2 tbsp of assorted whole spices for every 5 lbs of turkey

If you have a pre-brined turkey, you can still use my recipe to impart maximum flavour. Just skip the salt all together.



[Click here to see the images in a larger size.]