My Favorite Turkey Brine Recipes

Steps:

• Combine the water, cider, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic, orange strips, and rosemary leaves in a large pot. Stir until the salt and sugar dissolve. Bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat and cover. Allow to cool completely, and then place into the fridge to chill.
• Place an uncooked, fresh turke in the chilled brine solution, and then refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours. (You may add more cold water if you need more liquid for the size of turkey you have.).
• When you're ready to roast the turkey, remove the turkey from the brine. Submerge the turkey in a pot or sink of fresh, cold water. Allow to sit in the clean water for 15 to 20 minutes to remove excess salt from the outside. Discard the brine.
• Remove the turkey from the water, and then rinse again, pat dry and cook according to your normal roasting method.
• NOTES:.
• COOK'S NOTES: Only brine fresh turkeys. Brining a frozen turkey is never a good idea, because frozen turkeys are most typicaly injected with a sodium solution. There are some organic fresh turkeys that have a much lower concentration of the sodium solution. Generally speaking, though, you'll want to brine fresh, not frozen, turkeys.
• Making gravy from the drippings of a brined turkey can result in a really salty gravy if you're not careful. Don't add salt to your gravy without tasting first; it may not need it.

Steps:

• Combine 1-2 gallons water, salt, sugar, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, sage and bay leaves in large pot over medium heat.
• Stir to dissolve salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Take the brine off the stove and cool down to room temperature.
• Mix brine and ice water in a large stockpot or brining bag.
• Place rinsed and thawed turkey breast side down in brine and cover or tie up brining bag.
• Place inside of cooler and fill cooler with ice (can also be refrigerated) for 8-24 hours, turning the turkey once half way through.
• Be sure to drain and rinse well once removed from the brining liquid.
• Roast or smoke as you normally would.

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
• When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in the ice water.
• Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator overnight.
• Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.
• Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.