Who's brining their Thanksgiving Turkey?

I’m not. I can’t remember my parents ever bringing the turkey. It’s always been either my grandparents or my uncle.

This year we’re bringing the mashed potatoes, which will be made of potatoes that I grew.

I’ll probably make a pumpkin pie or a pumpkin bread as well.

If you’re not going to brine it, I suggest the following:

350º for 15 minutes per pound un-stuffed.

The night before: Rinse the bird thoroughly with cool water, squeeze fresh lemon all over it, stuff the cavity with fresh sage, baby carrots, and onions (for flavor), pads of butter under the skin, place loosely covered in the bottom of the fridge.

In the morning: Remove from fridge, let stand until room temperature while the oven preheats. Roast 1/3 of the time upside down (breast side down) covered. Then, flip it over (breast side up), roast uncovered rest of the way. If the skin is browning too much, tent with foil (depends on how crispy you like the skin).

How to tell it’s done: Don’t rely on the pop up. Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast (165º is good) AND slice the leg away from the body slightly. Suck out some juice from that spot, if it’s clear (free of blood)...YOU’RE DONE.

Enjoy!

I’m going to try it for the first time this year, too (I’m a vegetarian, but I’m cooking for my staff that has to work on Thanksgiving).

If you ARE brineing make sure you DON’T get a SELF BASTING.

If you are going to brine it, here’s a good recipe:

Brine
1 cup apple cider
1 cup hot water
3 Tbs. salt
2 Tbs. honey

Mix together brine ingredients. Soak turkey overnight. Pat dry before roasting.

I brine, I LOVE it.

I have brined turkeys before, much like cprevites recipe up there. This year I am trying a buttermilk brine. I am excited to give it a try. I alway brine my fried chicken in seasoned buttermilk and it comes out really moist. Have fun simone54, it will be killer!

That’s sounds interesting. Let me know how that goes.

<raises hand>

Been brining for years. Always made my own brine, but this year i bought a brine from Williams-sonoma. My turkey cost me $7.50 ($0.38/lb!!!) and the brine was $18.00. Go figure.

My boyfriend always brines. He says it is amazing and wouldn’t be able to make the turkey without it. I didn’t brine last year and the turkey was great. I did, however, stuff it with carrot soup which was amazing.

I found out I was making the turkey Christmas Day when we were opening gifts. So I asked if we had any of the stuffing stuff and my mom delightfully said no. But! The soup I’d made the night before had pretty much all the basics, so obviously the solution was to slather the soup on the bird. It worked… much, much better than ever expected.

@ Sueanne Let me know how that brine mix is. I almost bought that, but decided to make somethin’ up because of the cost. That is where I got the buttermilk brine idea for this year. I am excited to try it.

I must tell you all, my brined turkey lived up to the hype.

Our brined turkey was delicious as well!