Luci's Tasty Adventures

The Brine!

So for the turkey I decided to brine it for about 16 hours, and then bake it filled with aromatics.  The brine is so worth it, my turkey came out so juicy.  I highly recommend everyone trying this at least once.   

Brine:

½ gallon water
½ gallon low sodium chicken stock
1 cup kosher salt
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
1 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp whole pepper corns
1 bulb of garlic chopped in half
1 gallon of ice water

Method:

Combine ½ gallon water, chicken stock, kosher salt, brown sugar, honey, molasses, soy sauce, pepper corns, and garlic in a stock pot over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and then refrigerate brine.

After brine is cooled, combine it with the 1 gallon of ice water in a 5 gallon stock pot, or bucket.  Rinse turkey off and remove all the innards.  Make sure turkey is full covered in the brine, you might have to place a weight on top of it to keep it submerged.  Brine for 6-16 hours.

When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the brine, discard brine, and rinse turkey inside and out in sink.  Pat your turkey dry, and you are ready to prep turkey for the oven.