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How to Thaw & Brine a Turkey
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How to Thaw & Brine a Turkey

How to Thaw & Brine a Turkey

Unless you buy a fresh turkey you'll need to thaw one - and in that case you'll have 2 choices. And once thawed, a turkey can stay in your fridge for up to 4 days before cooking. And if you're brining, you'll need a completely defrosted turkey 24 hours before cooking - so whatever you choose, don't wait till the last minute.

THAWING

Refrigerator - Keep the turkey in it’s wrapper (I like to put it in a large roasting etc in case it leaks) and thaw breast side up - it will take about 1 day of thawing for every 4 pounds of turkey

Cold Water - Keep the turkey in it’s wrapper and thaw in a bucket or cooler completely covered in cold water, but change the water every 45 minutes. This will take approximately 30 minutes for every pound of turkey

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BRINING

A brined turkey is a juicy, more flavorful turkey. Ideally you want to brine for 24 hours before cooking - but if you don’t have that much time try for at least an hour a pound. And like thawing, you also have 2 choices: wet & dry. Either do the job, but dry brining is infinitely easier and way less messy.

Ingredients

Dry Brine - for about every 4 pounds of turkey

  • 1.5 tablespoons kosher salt (not iodized table salt)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs, or 1 teaspoon dried

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Wet Brine

  • 1/2 gallon apple juice
  • 1 gallon water
  • 2 tablespoons each dried sage & rosemary
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1.5 cups Kosher salt
  • 1.5 cups brown sugar
  • 2 yellow onions, peeled & cut in quarters

Directions

Dry Brine

  1. Let me just say I’ve done both wet & dry brining, and dry is so much easier with almost no mess and the results are virtually the same.
  2. Unwrap turkey, remove bag of giblets, neck etc - and if spatchcocking, this is the time - then pat dry
  3. Combine salt & any seasonings, being sure to cover the entire outside (and inside if spatchcocked) then refrigerate uncovered 24 hours
  4. Remove from fridge about 2 hours before cooking, do not wipe off salt and cook as normal

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Wet Brine

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 15-20 minutes partly covered
  2. Allow brine to cool completely
  3. Seal bag or cover pot and refrigerate up to 24 hours
  4. Remove from fridge about 2 hours before cooking, rinse, pat dry and roast as usual

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