Follow our recommendations, and your first Thanksgiving turkey can look like this!
Welcome to another Thanksgiving, and another BMF Thanksgiving clips post. We moved our 16 pound turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator on Saturday, expecting it to thaw by Wednesday so we can brine it and then put in the oven Thursday morning. (If this happens to be your first time Thanksgiving turkey, this post is filled with tips to maximize your success.)
Our brine follows the Chez Panisse formula: 2 ½ gallons cold water, 2 c Kosher salt, 1 c sugar. We also throw in a few bay leaves, a few cloves of garlic and a scoop of juniper berries. Mix all this up in your bucket with a big spoon like a witch uses. Then extract the packets of innards from the turkey (there might be more than one, and in more than one spot), drain any liquid inside the bird, and dunk it in the brine to leave overnight in a cool spot, and ideally 24 hours. Put it in neck first, then flip it halfway through. Pro tip: the turkey doesn’t have to be completely defrosted to start marinating, as long as you can reach your hand and get those bags of parts. In fact, a partially frozen bird will insure your brine stays at a food-safe temperature.
We’ve already made our bread machine stuffing and it is getting good and stale so it will be ready to mix up using this recipe (though we’ll cut back on the sage since it’s already baked into the bread).
Mom’s Chess Pie… mmm.
We’ll likely make cranberry sauce using the directions on the Ocean Spray package, which was a landslide winner in our cranberry sauce taste test, though we’ll also pick up a can for backup. For sides we might mix things up a bit, and make some Highland Park Squash Casserole but substitute a winter squash for the yellow squash. Recipe modification: we’ll cut the winter squash in half, scoop out the seeds and rub butter on the surface, then bake in a 350 degree oven until just tender, maybe 30 minutes. Then we’ll scoop out the flesh and follow the Highland Park recipe from that point. And we just might bake some Mom’s Chess Pie instead of pumpkin just because it’s so good.
On Friday we’ll be fixing sandwiches with the leftover turkey, leftover wilted lettuce salad, cranberry sauce and good old Durkee’s Famous Sauce replacing mayo. We laid in a supply of Durkee’s last year; if you can’t find locally (and you probably can’t) an order today, Monday, should get you a two pack or, why not, the economical 12 pack for Wednesday delivery before the holiday. This will be served with leftover stuffing and gravy at a neighborhood potluck.
Not a dry brine? Wet is so last decade. Cook overnight?
https://blog.williams-sonoma.com/how-to-cook-a-turkey-overnight/
We used to do this. If you look at the timing, it’s breakfast turkey.
Dangerous! We cooked on the edge!
I actually thought about dry brine but then decided, why mess with success? same with turkey cooking timing. I love the routine of doing other kitchen jobs in the middle of the day while the air is filled with delicious turkey aromas.
I seldom brined either way. The problem with the overnight method is that you smelled the “..delicious turkey aromas…” all night and morning. Then it was turkey brunch if not breakfast. “..why mess with success?… Yep!