Pre -Thanksgiving 2012 time to brine

So how do we make a turkey in our house? Brinin and dinin!

In progress right now

Buying a turkey is easy, pick out a frozen one since they are cheaper and make sure you get the right size bird for your dinner. I judge mine based on the size of my brining bucket. Our turkey is 14 pounds.

BEFORE 

Brine in a bucket:

Ok, it's Wednesday.
Get a big bucket. Mine is 2.75 Gallons. which is just big enough to submerge a 14 lb turkey, no bigger.
I brine in the refrigerator. If you DONT live in LA county, you are probably in chilly temps. Back home in Philly, Mom brines in a big cooler on the back deck, where it stays really cool and she does not take up fridge space and she can brine a bigger bird. So these things should be considered before buying your bird.

Ingredients used:
3 cups of salt: I used a combo of coarse kosher salt and iodized regular salt because that is what I had on hand.
1 pack of poultry herbs: fresh springs of rosemary, thyme and sage
6 carrots
4-6 celery stalks
tbsps of chopped garlic
1 chopped onion
plus a couple pinches of dry herbs like rosemary
1-2 apples
and water

Add ingredients to water, mix, add some ingredients inside the turkey, fill to the top with water, submerge entire bird and then brine for 24 hours. Put bucket in cold area, or refrigerator. (Remove your crisper bins to make space.)

*My turkey came with a gravy bag, which I removed and combined all ingredients in the bucket and some up the turkey too. Brine for 24 hours!*