Last year, I tried something new: brining a turkey. It’s a simple process, where you let the bird soak for 24-48 hours in a bath of spices. It will leave your turkey so moist and tender, it may end up completely falling off the bone when you go to carve it. The breasts literally just lifted off the bird in complete pieces. We had a 15 pound turkey so putting it in a pot was not really an option; especially since it needed to go back into the fridge. But it turned out that our electric cooler was just the right size! We only had 24 hours to brine the turkey but it was plenty. Don’t be scared to play with the ingredients a bit either.

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The Best Brine Ever
Cuisine German
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine German
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large cooler, mix together the water, salt, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Ice it down (or plug in the cooler if you're using an electric one like we do) and soak turkey for 24-48 hours before smoking or roasting.
  2. Wash the turkey (with water, NO SOAP) and remove any pinfeathers. Remove any innards and cut off the neck.
  3. Place the turkey into the cooler and let it be.
  4. Put the neck and chopped up innards (liver, heart, etc) into a small pot and cover with water. Add spices (a couple bay leaves, pepper, garlic, etc) and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and simmer until tender and the meat falls off the neck. Use this water for broth in your gravy and/or stuffing.
  5. When you're ready to start cooking your turkey, there are several options. Some people like to stuff the bird with stuffing/dressing. I prefer that the dressing goes in a casserole dish in the oven where it can get a bit crispy.
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