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For you briners.....

Sea2SkiSea2Ski Posts: 19
in EggHead Forum
Made my second brine tonight. I could not remember what I did with my first one, so I winged it.  It tasted pretty good when cooled, I just hope it is good for the bird!
  • Just shy of a cup of kosher salt
  • a cup pf light brown sugar loosely packed
  • tablespoon of rosemary leaves
  • teaspoon of thyme
  • 7-8 garlic cloves quartered
  • 3/4 lemon squeezed then cut up and dumped in
  • 8-10 whole peppercorns
  • a carrot cut up
  • a stalk of celery
  • half a sweet onion
I had all that put in 1/2 gallon of water, then barely simmered for about 2 mins, then turned off the heat. Let sit covered for 15 mins, then dumped in a 1/2 gallon of ice water with as much ice as I could fit into the 1/2 container as possible. That made the perfect amount of brine for the 17.4 lb bird.

I hope that I put in the right amount of salt and since I am letting it sit for 24 hrs, for the right amount of time.

I am less interested in the individual ingredients, but rather the brine strength and length of soak. It is either a 12 hr soak or a 24 hr soak as I work 12 hour days.

Thoughts/opinions? Any and all are welcome!
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Comments

  • nolaeggheadnolaegghead Posts: 6,040
    Sounds right - I always use a scale to make brine, for the salt.  Depending on the granularity of the salt, you can be off in weight (which is what matters) by a lot. 
    New Orleans - best food on the planet. Large BGE
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  • BuckeyeBobBuckeyeBob Posts: 256
    Learned a good lesson on brining tonight. Make sure your brine bag doesn't have any weak spots. While moving the bag the bottom blew out and 13 pounds of turkey and a gallon and a half of turkey juice exploded in the kitchen. While I let loose with quite a few expletives, my daughter naturally jumped up and took some pics which immediately made it out on Facebook, twitter, etc. All was good though. Had a backup bag and turkey on its way.
    cazzyhenapple
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  • nolaeggheadnolaegghead Posts: 6,040
    That's hilarious.  Sorry about the schadenfreude.  :D
    New Orleans - best food on the planet. Large BGE
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  • cazzycazzy Posts: 1,803
    nolaegghead said:
    Sounds right - I always use a scale to make brine, for the salt.  Depending on the granularity of the salt, you can be off in weight (which is what matters) by a lot. 
    I've seen several recipes with 2 cups salt & sugar as the base ingredients.  Franklin's "Turkey Part " lists that too.  How does one determine exactly how much salt to use.  My bird was 19.5 #...how much salt should have been used?
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  • U_tardedU_tarded Posts: 722
    its more salt to water than salt to weight of object being brined.  i'm not all science nerdy with scales and stuff but most brines do 1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon liquid. and then use enough liquid to fully submerge your food.  thats the rule I have been using for about 5 years then I just adjust all the other ingredients accordingly.  also,  like nola said granularity varies, a cup of kosher salt is way less than a cup of standard table salt. 
    cazzy said:
    nolaegghead said:
    Sounds right - I always use a scale to make brine, for the salt.  Depending on the granularity of the salt, you can be off in weight (which is what matters) by a lot. 
    I've seen several recipes with 2 cups salt & sugar as the base ingredients.  Franklin's "Turkey Part " lists that too.  How does one determine exactly how much salt to use.  My bird was 19.5 #...how much salt should have been used?

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  • nolaeggheadnolaegghead Posts: 6,040
    Here's how I do it.  (how many times have ya heard that?)

    225 g pure salt (pickling salt, brine salt basically pure sodium chloride)
    125g sugar
    1 gallon water.


    New Orleans - best food on the planet. Large BGE
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  • Sea2SkiSea2Ski Posts: 19
    So it sounds like I might be a little light on the salt to water ratio. I suppose being light is better than too much. Perhaps with a 24 hr soak I am okay. At least that is what I am thinking at the moment.

    Leaving for work in 20 mins, so I am now committed to the 24 hr soak.

    Good luck all! Happy thanksgiving!
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