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Seems like every year there’s a new Thanksgiving phenomenon about how to cook your turkey. From deep fried, to smoked, grilled, boiled, flambeed, and wokked out, it feels like we’ve heard it all.
Well this year it’s brined. Brined turkey this, brine soak your turkey that, but what the hell is brine anyways, and how do you brine a turkey?
Well, for starters, brine is basically
salt water, or water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. Brine has
historically been used to preserve vegetables, meats, fish, and cheese
through a process called brining.
Brining is like marinating in that you soak your (in this case) turkey
in the solution, but it’s benefit in addition to flavoring is that it’s
supposed to help cooked meat stay moist. The explanation for why has to
do with osmosis and denaturation…..boooring. Let’s just say as long as
it ain’t dry, who cares why.
A simple brine can be made easily with sugar, salt, water, ice, and flavorings like herbs and spices. So now that you know what brining is, and why it might be worth a try, here are some recipes you can use to brine your own turkey this Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, or whenever.
