How to Brine a Turkey : The Simple Way

It's that time of year for that great Thanksgiving feast! And if you're like me you're going to want your turkey to be delicious and moist (no one wants to eat a dry turkey). So the best way to ensure the moistest turkey is to brine.

Keep in mind this is my way of brining and there are many different ways to do it and many different ingredients you can add to your brining solution.

Turkey Brine

 1 Thawing the Turkey: 24 hours for every 5 pounds of Turkey.

 2 Allow 24-48 hours for brining before roasting.

Ingredients

 1 1 turkey, any size

 2 1 gallon of cold water (16 cups)

 3       3/4 cup of salt

 4 fresh thyme (optional)

 5 fresh rosemary (optional)

 6       fresh sage (optional)

Directions

 1 Prepare the Brining Ingredients -  In a large pot add the water and salt then stir until salt is  dissolved. With kitchen scissors cut the desired amount of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage) into the pot.

 2 Cleaning the Turkey - Take the turkey out of the fridge. Remove any packaging and the bag of giblets (check in the body cavity and in the neck cavity). Place Turkey in a cleaned sink and thoroughly wash with cold running water. Be sure to rub the cold water around the entire turkey inside and out, lifting legs and wings to get underneath. Once the water going through the turkey is clear place into brining pot submerging turkey into water. Add more cold water if needed.

 3 Finishing the Brine - Place the pot in the fridge uncovered 24-48 hours before roasting. The day of roasting wash brine off turkey and discard brine. Prepare turkey as desired.