Here's this week's little vlog:
Turkey Brine Recipe
1 quart water (plus 3 quarts, added later)
1 c. kosher salt
1/2 c. sugar
A lemon wedge
Various seasonings: tarragon, sage, parsley, etc.
Bring 1 quart of water to a boil. Add salt, sugar and seasonings. Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
The brine needs to be cool before you add it to the bird. I cooled mine quickly by adding 1 quart of ice (topped with water), plus 2 quarts of very cold water, to the hot brine. You can also set the pot in a sink of ice cold water to cool it down.
Dump your fully thawed-out turkey into a clean 5-gallon bucket. Add brine. I needed three gallons (a triple recipe!) to cover our giant turkey. Put the lid on the bucket and leave it in a cold place for 24 hours. You are supposed to put it in your refrigerator. I put ours out on the porch, since it was so cold outside anyway.
After 24 hours, dump out the brine (don’t reuse it, since it contains impurities from the meat) and let the turkey set overnight to dry out a little. I left the turkey in the bucket and set it in the fridge.
The next morning, cook your turkey as usual. Since our turkey had been skinned, it didn’t have a lot of fat for self-basting. Instead of basting, I ran a stick of butter over the whole thing, every 45 minutes during cook time. It only took about 1/4 c. of butter to do this, and the meat turned out juicy and amazing!
I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! If you’re curious, I didn't do much Black Friday shopping. I bought some towels and clothes at Walmart, and a throw blanket at a discount store, but I feel like the urgency of Black Friday shopping is gone. Now stores have sales that are a whole weekend long, and discounts aren't all that great (30% on non-tech/appliance items). We went to Walmart again today (Sunday) and most, if not all, of the Black Friday doorbusters were still available at their discounted price.
That's all for now,
-Bethany