GREENSBORO, NC -- Nothing ruins a holiday meal more than dry turkey. One way to avoid it is brining. Our expert, Chef and G-T-C-C instructor Keith Gardiner, shares his brining secrets with you.
"So here I have some boiling water. One cup of salt per gallon. I've got half a cup of sugar per gallon of water. I like brown sugar just because I want that to help my turkey caramelize nice."
The next step: Just mix it all together.
Keith says, "So this is the basic brine. But I don't do nothing basic. I like a little citrus like a little orange in there. I have a couple bay leaves I put in there and then from the garden I've got some fresh rosemary and some nice thyme. Onion powder garlic powder works really good. Some granulated garlic and, of course, some pepper."
Keith says once all the ingredients are mixed together, the next steps is to cool it down because you never put turkey in hot brine.
"So I take half of my liquid that's boiling water and then I'll pour this into my bucket of ice water."
Next, remove some of the brine so you can add the turkey and carefully place it down in the mixture. Keith likes to put plates on top of the turkey to weigh it down and make sure it stays down in the brine.
If you brine your turkey in a bucket, leave it for two days - which means if you like this idea - you need to do it tonight. If you want something a little faster, inject the turkey with brine and let it sit for one day.
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