Thanksgiving: The Main Event

Of course, Thanksgiving involved turkey. I got a fresh turkey because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of thawing it.

Turns out, I should have also thought about the hassle of brining. I believe some of you know the story of my first brining attempt with my dad. He had spent hours the day before making the brine (it has to be cold before you put the turkey in it, so you have to do it in advance), but when we tried to move the bag with gallons of liquid and a 25 pound turkey out of the sink it was too heavy and we spilled all the brine everywhere.

Well, there was no way I was going to let that happen to me. I knew I had to add the brine to the turkey while it was in the fridge because it would be too hard to move it after the fact. That did solve one problem, but it meant I had to add the brine one glass at a time. Things were going well until the end when the bag started to get full. I couldn’t fill the glass and hold up all the sides of the bag. Despite my best efforts, I still spilled brine everywhere. It was in the vegetable drawer. It was all over the floor. And even a week later, the light in my refrigerator still delays in coming on because the button is sticky from residual brine I can’t seem to get off. It was a disgusting mess, but fortunately I didn’t waste too much and the turkey turned out quite delicious.

Also, You see how that bag says “gourmet made simple.” That is a lie. Brine bags, which are glorified ziplock bags, are anything but simple.




Oh, do you actually want the recipe? Hmm. My dad did most of the work, so what follows is my best guess.

The brine recipe came from here. My dad rinced off the brine and cooked the bird. Basically, he patted the brine off, and seasoned it with a bunch of spices and some butter. He cooked it breast side down for an hour, then flipped it for the remaining time, covering the top with foil so it wouldn't burn. He stuffed it with vegetables, which we then ate.