please, what is brining a turkey. I understand it has to do with cold salt water, more than that and I have no idea...
By zach
on Oct 19, 2004 12:49 PM
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Below is a link and explanation about brining a turkey from Bon Appetit Cooking Teacher Of The Year Alton Brown. Very useful information. Enjoy.
Link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...
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thanks
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The website below explains the basics of brining.
I'll just add that we brined our turkey for the first time 3 years ago and have done it each year since. It produces a very moist and flavorful turkey. Also, if you purchase a kosher turkey you don't need to brine it because it has already been done.
Link: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/bri...
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I have to agree with the other posters that brining is the way to go. I also first brined a turkey a couple of years ago and never looked back since then.
This has been my Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing recipe since I read it in Cook's Illustrated in 2001. It does brined turkey one better by butterflying so it cooks more evenly without the oven wrestling known as flipping the bird. High roasting it means it cooks in a fraction of the time (less than TWO hours) that an intact bird does. And last but not least, it's delicious.
The only bad part is finding the refrigerator space to store your brining bird, especially during Thanksgiving when fridge real estate is at a premium.
Link: http://www.turkeyhelp.com/high_roast_...
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You are right about fridge real estate...I think it was Alton Brown who suggested brining a large bird in a big Igloo cooler (thoroughly scrubbed first!) and keep it outside on the porch or balcony. Of course, this only works if the weather is in your favor. not recommended for the South or anywhere in summertime!
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Since the Kosher birds are already brined...what would be the advantage of buying and brining a non-Kosher bird???? Won't I get a similar result without the trouble if I buy the Empire Kosher turkey??? (Other than saving some money??)
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one negative to getting an Empire kosher turkey is that they don't pull out all parts of the feathers - you have to use pliers to get out the rest - it can be time consuming and annoying. not sure why their chickens don't have this problem.
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Another problem with Empire turkeys - they often don't include giblets. At least twice I've gotten a turkey with no giblets. The label says "some giblets missing" or words to that effect - it was really "all giblets missing". If you don't need the innards, it's a delicious turkey.
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good point! mine have never incl. giblets either in chickens or turkeys I've purchased from them.
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Hi, I wanted to brine a turkey this year and already bought a Butterball Fresh 'All Natural' Young Turkey. It says it contains up to 4% of solution of water,salt and seasonings. As an experienced briner, would you say this will turn out good or should I get a different brand of turkey that doesn't say that? Your help is apprecited, Thank you!!!
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Definition of Brining
In cooking, brining is a process similar to marination in which a food is soaked in a salt solution (the brine) before cooking. In many foods this has the effect of moisturizing the food through osmosis. The salt in the brine also helps meats retain moisture while cooking. In many foods the additional salt is also desirable as a preservative. Note that kosher meats are salted during the process of koshering so they should not be brined.
From wordiq.com.
Alton Brown has an excellent formula for a turkey brine on one of his Good Eats Thanksgiving shows. Might also be on foodtv.com.
Link: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Brining
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I've been a brine advocate for many years. I'm even more a crisp skin advocate and I learned this step a while back. After brining (for our typical bird, usually 24 hours) drain the bird and let it stand in the fridge on paper towels for 24 hours to dry, before roasting. The result is a much crisper skin because the skin has dried. This adds a day to your prep but IMO it's well worth it.
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This is an intriguing idea. I might try this for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
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