Alton Brown Shares Turkey Brining Secrets for Thanksgiving | Food Network

everybody knows the best way to introduce flavor to a turkey is by continual basting bad news Buffy McNeil basting is a one useless no yes way not only does it be nothing for the flavor or texture of the meat but repeated opening the oven door just slows down cooking whatever hey isn't that your pager right here going off of course you could and should add juiciness and flavor to your bird by giving it a pre roast soak in a brine not understand what a brine is and how it do its Voodoo returning to Shirley courrier a mad food scientist if ever there was one Shirley what's the score well a brine can be as simple as a salt solution salt and water or sugar and salt and water okay so how exactly does a brine work you're just in time for mystery food science they air where does she get all these wonderful toys take this turkey for instance excuse me Shirley houselights boy now let's put this turkey in a brine this turkey cells are capable of us mostess osmosis is when the cell walls allow moisture to move from an area of lower concentration to higher concentration so if the salt level is higher out in the brine the moisture inside the cells is gonna move out into the brine but won't that dry out the meat ah but we're not done yet okay what happens as soon as the water outside gets diluted by the water coming out then the liquid on the inside the outer about the same and the liquids flowing back and forth back and forth equilibrium yes yes and the liquid from the outside is carrying the salt and the seasonings into the bird and so this means that you've got all this moisture and seasoning trapped inside the muscle and it's not even gonna come out when you cook it go get the moisture stays in the meat yeah well how are the leftovers yeah don't you just love a happy ending now for a basic turkey Brian I like to start with about a gallon of vegetable broth and don't use the low sodium or no sodium kind because we need the salt content and we're even going to add some more a cup of kosher salt followed by about half a cup of light brown sugar you can use regular brown sugar it'll be okay and about a tablespoon of whole black peppercorns along with about a half tablespoon each of whole allspice berries and crystallized or candied ginger same thing now these last couple ingredients may sound a little odd to you but you can probably find them in your grocers of spice department if you can't go ahead and leave them out the brine will still make a huge difference to the turkey as soon as your Brian comes to a boil give it a couple of stirs just to make sure everything's dissolved and kill the heat let it cool down to room temperature then refrigerate it until it's completely chilled you can do this like two three days ahead of time just make sure you leave the lid on early the morning of the big day or late the night before add your brine to a large clean bucket not one that was recently home to roofing tar or latex wall paint please add a gallon of heavily iced water now to the turkey first make sure that the giblets the neck and anything else that used to be in the cavity isn't in there anymore since the breast has a tendency to dry out more than dark meat I like to start with the breast down in the brine first so just headfirst right in there I'll let this stay in for six to eight hours just Park it in a cool corner of your kitchen or if it's wintertime and your garage is cold just put it in a corner of your garage you won't really have to worry about bacteria because the ice is going to keep it cold and besides bacteria don't like salt which explains why salts been used for millennia to cure and preserve meats and don't worry as long as you turn this over once about halfway through the brining the meat will be perfectly seasoned

Channel: Food Network

Views: 1,509,541

Keywords: turkey, thanksgiving, recipe, kitchen, vegetable, fruit, food, cooking, recipes, funny, alton brown, good eats, holiday, turkey brine, how to brine a turkey, food network, turkey recipe, salt, peppercorns, brining

Id: KKr1rByVVCI

Length: 4min 43sec (283 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 05 2009

Reddit Comments

[u/Dawn_Bethea]

Mystery Science Theater reference….lmao a true nerd here

[u/nocturnalvisitor]

Mirror for UK?