You’ve got yourself a turkey defrosting for the big day? Are you worried about serving up a dry bird to your friends and family? Have you considered brining it? That is the key to a juicy bird and raves from your guests. Even if you are planning to deep fry the bird, I would use Alton’s method over those guys in that AT&T commercial from a few years ago. You know the one where the hillbillies light themselves on fire?!
Alton Brown makes Frying a Turkey safe for all of us
he also has info about bringing, how to choose a good bird, as well as many important tidbits that you will wonder how you got along without until now. He is a wealth of information and has fun giving it to you…
That was the first part of the episode, click here for next segment and here for the last segment.
aren’t you glad you did that? Just think of the knowledge that you have absorbed. Now might be a good time to take that IQ test you’ve been contemplating.
Here are some awesome places to find out more about brining and roasting the perfect turkey:
- Serious Eats — Turkey Brining Basics
- Alton Brown — Good Eats Roast Turkey Recipe
- Cook’s Illustrated — Roasted Brined Turkey via Serious Eats
for cooking the bird in 45 minutes — yes, you can check out Mark Bittman’s video
For great sides to go with that huge bird, check out Simple Recipes Thanksgiving section
Here is my take on it
The bird — rinse
The Brine
I used Cook’s Illustrated’s formula then tricked it out with more spices and aromatics. I added a whole head of garlic, smash the cloves and toss them in. There is no need to peel them as you will be draining this away later. Also add a good siezed chunk of ginger, smashed with the back of your knife of course, some jalapeños or other chilies. As you can see there are some dried red ones that I broke into chunks and slices of the fresh jalapeños. You can add when you like, peppercorns and other spices and herbs would be delicious too. This is all added to the salty brine.
I choose to use a Styrofoam cooler that was big enough to hold the 10 pound bird. I filled it in the sink, as you can see, then moved it to a larger cooler and filled in with ice around it. Then the bird was added, covered and allowed to sit for about 24 hours according to the recipe here.
The Roast
Then roasted it following the directions here. I do not have a proper roasting pan so I made do with a crappy V rack and a baking dish. I filled the baking dish with carrots, onions, celery, garlic, lemons, fennel, etc.
Or, do what I do and skip the turkey, the sides are usually better provided marshmallows are kept to a minimum 
