Brine Question

+1 what Rleeper said with these further tweaks. I have a favorite brine that works best when the brine goes at least 3 days, but 4 days is even better. Starting with an extra large food safe plastic bag I put my bird in it and then pour in the cold brine. Seal that bag tightly and then place it in my tall red Rubber Maid (Igoo like water cooler) and then fill cooler with cold water and ice. That way the bird is immersed in the brine and then suspended in water within a cold environment. To keep track of what temperature is doing inside the sealed cooler I tape the probe of a cable type thermometer to the inside water and place the brains outside. I also place all of this in my unheated garage for the 3 to 4 days. Been doing this with smashing success for years now!

DMW said:

@RRP care to share your brine recipe? Will be brining my first turkey this week.

As I said this is a favorite - it is a brine recipe from the renowed John Ash and was first shared on the original BGE forum back in 2000 by Cat. Here is the link. BTW if you are new to brining you might want to try something more simple to see if you even like brined turkey - but to me I even  brine the occasional bird or breast even when they have that horrible injected crap as I feel the home made brine compensates for the industrial crap! Do I have an opinion? LOL  -  sure do!

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=18831

 

RRP said:

+1 what Rleeper said with these further tweaks. I have a favorite brine that works best when the brine goes at least 3 days, but 4 days is even better. Starting with an extra large food safe plastic bag I put my bird in it and then pour in the cold brine. Seal that bag tightly and then place it in my tall red Rubber Maid (Igoo like water cooler) and then fill cooler with cold water and ice. That way the bird is immersed in the brine and then suspended in water within a cold environment. To keep track of what temperature is doing inside the sealed cooler I tape the probe of a cable type thermometer to the inside water and place the brains outside. I also place all of this in my unheated garage for the 3 to 4 days. Been doing this with smashing success for years now!

Just in case some may not know what these tall coolers look like - here is mine that I bought years ago at Wally World. BTW the spicit at the bottom comes in handy if and when you need to drain some warmer water to add more ice during the 3 or 4 days in at the garage.