Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving Week - 1

It's Monday of Thanksgiving week! Like other households, we are gearing up for a day of feasting and fellowship while giving thanks for the blessings that have been bestowed on us. On Thursday we will be having Grandma, two cousins from out-of-state, and six or seven international students eager for a taste of an American Thanksgiving experience.

Today was spent doing some regular work, and then in the afternoon I got a chance to do fun work in the kitchen...

In addition to baking two different kinds of breads, I put our 28lb. turkey in to brine for the next three days. Not strictly "sweet" - I decided to include the recipe we use for some people have expressed interest in learning how to brine a turkey. This will make your turkey refreshingly moist, even after roasting in your oven for five or more hours!


Recipe for Turkey Brine:


After rinsing out the turkey, remove giblets and other unnecessary parts included. (Fowl should be defrosted beforehand).

Place bird in large, heavy duty, trash bag inside a large cooler.

Add 1 cup of salt (regular table salt)

Add 1 cup of white sugar

Then pour in between 3-5 gallons of water, enough to entirely cover the turkey, which should be placed breast-side down.

Tie trash bag securely.

Let soak for 2-3 days in the bag, inside the cooler on your porch (that's what we do, since the cool temperatures allow us to have extra "refrigerator" space) - turning once a day to the opposite side.

Thursday (Thanksgiving morning)

Proceed to follow your normal roasting procedure.

Enjoy!

Recipes will be following shortly for the breads I made today!

2 comments:

  1. Eleanor - so glad to finally see your Oatmeal Bread recipe. I have saved it to my computer! I'm getting ready to brine our turkey this afternoon - once you brine you never go back. Mine includes cut-up oranges, lemons, brown sugar, salt, rosemary. It doesn't really impart a lot of flavor to the bird, but how moist and juicy it always is!
    Sending love to all your family,
    Aunt Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.S. My birthday was yesterday, and my mom gave me Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So excited!!

    ReplyDelete