It's that time again: Brining a Turkey

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

Couldn't tell you, but if you place the turkeys in your container
and cover with water, you'll know how much you need when you pull
them out.

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

nancy

In article <[email hidden]>,

Nancy Young said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

Couldn't tell you, but if you place the turkeys in your container
and cover with water, you'll know how much you need when you pull
them out.

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

nancy

I agree.
Garbage bags are iffy.
Coolers are better anyway as they will retain a temperature better while
brining. Even a pair of styrofoam coolers would work!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

Nancy Young said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

Couldn't tell you, but if you place the turkeys in your container
and cover with water, you'll know how much you need when you pull
them out.

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

nancy

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

My brain, after several unsuccessful attempts came up with a 50-gallon
fish aquarium on the porch. Would be a funny sight anyway. Take a picture
for the group?!!

Sorry,

Andy
I guess you had to be me to appreciate that brainquake.
😉

"Andy" <q> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

Quoted message said:

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

Heh, I read (skimmed, as usual) 2 or 3 turkeys ... sounds like a job
for a fishing cooler. Those big metal suckers. Or that garbage can,
sans bag, scrubbed clean.

Quoted message said:

My brain, after several unsuccessful attempts came up with a 50-gallon
fish aquarium on the porch. Would be a funny sight anyway. Take a picture
for the group?!!

Wet turkey, not a pretty sight. Wet turkey sandwiches, even an uglier
sight, found that the hard way on a rafting trip in PA.

nancy

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Nancy Young said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

Couldn't tell you, but if you place the turkeys in your container
and cover with water, you'll know how much you need when you pull
them out.

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

nancy

I agree.
Garbage bags are iffy.
Coolers are better anyway as they will retain a temperature better while
brining. Even a pair of styrofoam coolers would work!
--
Om.

I agree as well. Use a cooler. Shoots, my husband isn't here to ask, but I
know you don't necessarily want to double the brine recipe. Perhaps you
could post it and I may be able to help you a little more easily? My
husband is a brining fiend. We're brining a turkey tomorrow so it can sit
for 4 days, to be smoked on our WSM on Saturday. It's his practice run for
Thanksgiving. Don't know why he needs to practice, though.

kili

Nancy Young said:

"Andy" <q> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

Quoted message said:

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

Heh, I read (skimmed, as usual) 2 or 3 turkeys ... sounds like a job
for a fishing cooler. Those big metal suckers. Or that garbage can,
sans bag, scrubbed clean.

Bathtub! (also scrubbed clean, of course) You'd need a few bags of
ice, too.

Boron

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Andy" <q> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

Quoted message said:

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

Heh, I read (skimmed, as usual) 2 or 3 turkeys ... sounds like a job
for a fishing cooler. Those big metal suckers. Or that garbage can,
sans bag, scrubbed clean.

Quoted message said:

My brain, after several unsuccessful attempts came up with a 50-gallon
fish aquarium on the porch. Would be a funny sight anyway. Take a

picture

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for the group?!!

Wet turkey, not a pretty sight. Wet turkey sandwiches, even an uglier
sight, found that the hard way on a rafting trip in PA.

nancy

Yeah, I think they'd fit in one of those large, white, fishing coolers. The
problem will be how to keep the birds chilled during the brining process.
You don't want to dilute the brine with ice.

kili

Nancy Young said:

Wet turkey, not a pretty sight. Wet turkey sandwiches, even an uglier
sight, found that the hard way on a rafting trip in PA.

nancy

That's something I haven't done yet, dammit!

Andy

kilikini said:

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Andy" <q> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young wrote:

Quoted message said:

> "tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

> Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
> you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
> better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
> plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
> than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

Quoted message said:

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

Heh, I read (skimmed, as usual) 2 or 3 turkeys ... sounds like a job
for a fishing cooler. Those big metal suckers. Or that garbage can,
sans bag, scrubbed clean.

Quoted message said:

My brain, after several unsuccessful attempts came up with a 50-gallon
fish aquarium on the porch. Would be a funny sight anyway. Take a

picture

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for the group?!!

Wet turkey, not a pretty sight. Wet turkey sandwiches, even an uglier
sight, found that the hard way on a rafting trip in PA.

nancy

Yeah, I think they'd fit in one of those large, white, fishing coolers. The
problem will be how to keep the birds chilled during the brining process.
You don't want to dilute the brine with ice.

kili

You put the ice in baggies. You can put blue ice in baggies, too.

And the tub is a lot easier to clean before and after than a large
cooler, IMHO.

Boron

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the replies so far.

One 30 lb turkey barely fit in the largest cooler I had last year so
that's why I came up with the idea of the garbage can.

What can I use to clean the can with that will be safe to put in
contact with brine and turkey?

Or, where could I get food-safe bags large enough to hold two 30 lb
turkeys and brine? Or maybe separate bags would be more manageable.

-tmo

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the replies so far.

One 30 lb turkey barely fit in the largest cooler I had last year so
that's why I came up with the idea of the garbage can.

What can I use to clean the can with that will be safe to put in
contact with brine and turkey?

Or, where could I get food-safe bags large enough to hold two 30 lb
turkeys and brine? Or maybe separate bags would be more manageable.

-tmo

Cleaning the can is not a big deal... soap hot water etc, will get all of
the "germs" out... But I would be concerned with the chemistry of the can
and or bag. They*could* react with salts, or your other brine ingredients,
and at a minimum, inject a flavor you're not looking for.

Best be safe. I like the bathtub idea, as long as you don't need to take a
shower :-) Of course just a giant sized cooler (or two) would be best. Maybe
you can rent?

Larry T

Hi Kili,
Thanks for the reply.

I would probably base my brine on the one posted from an SF Chronicle
article a few years back to the NG, supposedly from Chef Panise:

Brine
1 cup sugar
2 cups kosher salt
2 1/2 gallons cold water
2 bay leaves, torn into pieces
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
5 whole allspice berries, crushed

Last year I think I used this as a starting point and improvised, but I
didn't really measure anything. I seem to remember throwing in some
Onions and some citrus fruit (I can't remember if it was just the zest
or the whole fruit). Now that we are doing both turkeys and this looks
to be _the_ method for preparing turkeys moving forward I should
probably be a little more diligent in preparing the brine so that we
can follow the same recipe year after year.

thanks,
tmo

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi Kili,
Thanks for the reply.

I would probably base my brine on the one posted from an SF Chronicle
article a few years back to the NG, supposedly from Chef Panise:

Brine
1 cup sugar
2 cups kosher salt
2 1/2 gallons cold water
2 bay leaves, torn into pieces
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
5 whole allspice berries, crushed

Last year I think I used this as a starting point and improvised, but I
didn't really measure anything. I seem to remember throwing in some
Onions and some citrus fruit (I can't remember if it was just the zest
or the whole fruit). Now that we are doing both turkeys and this looks
to be _the_ method for preparing turkeys moving forward I should
probably be a little more diligent in preparing the brine so that we
can follow the same recipe year after year.

thanks,
tmo

This works well I am sure but the herbs and spices are a waste. A brine is
kept cold and the flavors of these things will not be extracted. Even if
they were extracted they would not flavor the turkey in any meaningful way.
Save them for the cooking.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

The common sentiment in this thread seem to suggest not using trash
bags, but in the first thread I found in rec.food.cooking recommended
just that:

<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/browse_frm/thread/10770e1eac2653a7/f5f509641e237b30?q=brining+turkey&rnum=1#f5f509641e237b30>

"Double-bag two heavy-duty,
unscented, trash bags (not made of recycled materials), then put them
in
an ice chest that is large enough to hold the turkey. "

And this is a recipe that was printed in the SF Chronicle from Chez
Panise
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/19/FDG71316TG1.DTL>

I guess I would just be forever wary of my cold drink that I had
chilled in a cooler I had brined raw meat in.

-tmo

tmguchi said:

Hi Everyone,
For reasons I won't go into, my family usually receives 2, 30 lb
turkeys as gifts for Thanksgiving. Last year I brined one turkey and my
aunt didn't. The consensus was that we (I) would Brine both turkeys
this year.

I've read the posts about brining turkey but my question is this: when
preparing enough brine for ~60 lbs worth of turkey, are there any
adjustments I need to make to the Brine, or will mutliplying all the
ingredients by the same factor work?

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

TIA,
tmo

Well, I would just increase the ingredients accordingly.

Here's a brine recipe from, Alton Brown that sounds good..

http://tinyurl.com/qtko

But I liked his brined and smoked turkey from the All Star Thanksgiving show.

Here's the link for that one:

http://tinyurl.com/3rawz

Take pictures, whatever you do.

--
Rick R
[email hidden]
replace default with com to email

Nancy Young said:

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

nancy

I agree, but be sure to secure the top of the cooler if there are any
canines afoot. Lat year's bird looked like roadkill after the
dachshund had her fill chez modom.

I didn't kill her.

modom

Peter Aitken said:

This works well I am sure but the herbs and spices are a waste. A brine is
kept cold and the flavors of these things will not be extracted. Even if
they were extracted they would not flavor the turkey in any meaningful way.
Save them for the cooking.

Alton Brown did an interesting bit the other day where he heated part
of the water to boiling and infused the herbs, then cooled it and used
it as part of the liquid for the brine solution. That's what I think
I'm going to try this year; usually we just use a salt and sugar
brine.

Regards,
Tracy R.

kilikini said:

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Andy" <q> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young wrote:

Quoted message said:

>"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

>Garbage bags are not likely to be food grade plastic. Any chance
>you have a couple of turkey size coolers around? That would be
>better. I might be more inclined to use the cleaned garbage can
>plain over the bags, but I use a cooler, I have a 16 qt, if I had more
>than one turkey I would use my larger cooler.

Quoted message said:

I don't know the first thing about brining but the OP is talking two 30
pound birds. Where are you gonna chill two of those??

Heh, I read (skimmed, as usual) 2 or 3 turkeys ... sounds like a job
for a fishing cooler. Those big metal suckers. Or that garbage can,
sans bag, scrubbed clean.

Quoted message said:

My brain, after several unsuccessful attempts came up with a 50-gallon
fish aquarium on the porch. Would be a funny sight anyway. Take a

picture

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for the group?!!

Wet turkey, not a pretty sight. Wet turkey sandwiches, even an uglier
sight, found that the hard way on a rafting trip in PA.

nancy

Yeah, I think they'd fit in one of those large, white, fishing coolers. The
problem will be how to keep the birds chilled during the brining process.
You don't want to dilute the brine with ice.

kili

Actually that's not much of an issue.

Toss the cold birds in the cooler, pour on the brine, top off with some
ice and keep it below 40 degrees.

As the ice melts, drain off some water and put in more ice. (you only
have to do this once a day)

It's best to do it in the fridge, but it's fine to drain water and add
ice in the cooler method.

TFM® (I brine my birds *way* longer than anyone else anyway)

"tmguchi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi Everyone,
For reasons I won't go into, my family usually receives 2, 30 lb
turkeys as gifts for Thanksgiving. Last year I brined one turkey and my
aunt didn't. The consensus was that we (I) would Brine both turkeys
this year.

I've read the posts about brining turkey but my question is this: when
preparing enough brine for ~60 lbs worth of turkey, are there any
adjustments I need to make to the Brine, or will mutliplying all the
ingredients by the same factor work?

Should be ok, yes. Alton Brown's brine solution (he uses 1/2 recipe for a
16 pounder) So double this for 2 30 pounders.

2 cups kosher salt
1 cup light brown sugar
2 gallons vegetable stock
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 tablespoon candied ginger
2 gallons iced water

Quoted message said:

Follow up question: Anyone know from experience how many gallons of
brine this is going to take?

A 30 pound turkey will displace 30 pounds of water so that would be about
3.75 gallons of freshwater. You'll need at least a 6 gallon bucket for each
turkey. Brand new paint buckets are acceptable. A better option would be a
54 quart Coleman cooler. You'd need 2 of them of course. 54 quarts is 13.5
gallons so it should be ample for a big turkey. Plus the cooler will keep
the brine colder. And then you'll have a couple of coolers use at another
time. They're cheap, usually around 20 bucks at Tarjay.

Quoted message said:

I've bought a large plastic garbage can and plan to use 40-gallon
contractor-grade (3 mil, the thickest I could find) bags. Any glaring
problems in this plan?

Off flavors. I don't think they were made for food.

Paul