How to Make Perfect Alton Brown's Turkey Brine

Alton Brown's Turkey Brine. A salt water brine changes the cellular structure of the turkey and allows it to both hold in the moisture, as well as pull the seasonings deep into the meat. It's actually a very simple process that will yield beautiful and delicious results. My mom told me how good Alton's recipe was and that she was going to repeat it again this year.

Place the thawed turkey breast-side down in brine. Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large. Place cooler in a bathtub and cover turkey with cold water. You can have Alton Brown's Turkey Brine using 9 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Alton Brown's Turkey Brine

1. It's 1 cup of kosher salt.
2. You need 1/2 cup of light brown sugar.
3. Prepare 1 gallon of vegetable stock.
4. It's 1 tbsp of black peppercorns.
5. It's 1 1/2 tsp of allspice berries.
6. You need 1 1/2 tsp of chopped candied ginger.
7. You need 1 gallon of water, heavily iced.
8. Prepare 1 of 5 gallon bucket (like a paint bucket but very clean).
9. It's 1 of 14 to 16 lb frozen young turkey.

Stir in the vegetable broth and the honey. Place the turkey in the brine, breast side up, and cover with cooler lid. Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse, and pat dry.

Alton Brown's Turkey Brine step by step

1. Directions 2 to 3 days before roasting: Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F. Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate..
2. The night before you'd like to eat: Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once halfway through brining..
3. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine. Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels..
4. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil..
5. Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500°F for 30 minutes. Note that the skin will brown during this part. If it appears that it is browning too fast or is brown enough, loosely cover those parts with foil for the remander of the cooking time..
6. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Loosely cover the legs and breast with foil if you haven't already. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161°F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting..
7. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving..

Place the turkey (giblets and other innards removed) in the brine, breast side-down. The Alton Brown Turkey Brine Recipe You Shouldn't Miss. No Thanksgiving celebration is complete without a delicious turkey recipe. Luckily, we've found an amazing way to make sure your whole turkey is tasty and sensational. Thanks to Alton Brown, we've learned that brining is the best way to start our annual turkey dish.