My Big Fat Turkey
Gobble. Gobble.
My little sister inspired me to try this out. Since I couldn't decide on one recipe, as is usual with me, so I combined about four different ones and the results were fantastic. The measurements on this recipe were for a 16lb turkey. Besides the ingredients you'll need a big food grade bucket or a jumbo Ziploc bag. First off mix the ingredients below and bring to a boil:
12 Cups of chicken broth
1.25 Cups of kosher salt
3 Tbsp of Rosemary
3 Tbsp of Thyme
3 Tbsp of Garlic Pepper
2 Tsp of garlic powder
2 Tsp of onion powder
1/2 Cup of sugar
After this boils remove from heat and add:
12 Cups of very cold water (or the equivalent in ice)
1 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
3 Lemons quartered (squeeze a bit of the juice into the mix, and put a couple in the turkey)
After the mixture has cooled off to about room temperature clean your turkey and cram it in large bucket with your brine mixture. Find someplace cold for it, like the fridge, and let it sit for a minimum of 24 hours. Now take out the turkey and rinse it off. You're now ready to cook it per normal turkey instructions. I did read somewhere that brining speeds up the shortens the cooking time so you may want to check the internal temp an hour before usual. Now for the personal touches: I like to make a broth out of the giblets with some vegetables and butter thrown in. Then use that broth to inject into the turkey with a marinade injector. You can easily inject 2 cups of liquid tastiness into a 16lb turkey. This makes a huge difference in the jucieness of the meat. Lastly my family said this was the second best turkey I'd ever made. The first best was a Turducken and I'm not sure that counts. My favorite thing about this, besides how easy it was, was the faint hint of lemon and herbs that the brine gave the turkey. I've got say it was pretty fantastic and I'll be doing it again.