Best Aromatic Turkey Brine Recipes

ROASTED HERITAGE TURKEY WITH AROMATIC BRINE

Roasted Heritage Turkey with Aromatic Brine image

The wet brine for this turkey is made with a combination of garlic, thyme, bay leaves, coriander, peppercorns, and fennel seeds. Adapted from Anne Quatrano's "Summerland: Recipes for Celebrating with Southern Hospitality" (Rizzoli).

Provided by Martha Stewart

Categories Food & Cooking Ingredients Meat & Poultry Turkey Recipes

Time P1DT4h5m

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

1 cup light-brown sugar
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium onions, quartered
2 inner stalks celery with leaves, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
6 cloves garlic, smashed
4 sprigs thyme
6 fresh bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 heritage turkey (9 to 11 pounds), giblets reserved for gravy
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus 1 stick, melted, for basting
Turkey Gravy for Butter-Basted Roast Turkey, for serving
Nuts in shells, sage sprigs, and crab-apple branches, for garnish (optional)

Steps:

Fill a large stockpot or food-grade bucket three-quarters full with warm water. Add brown sugar and 2 cups salt, stirring until dissolved. Add onions, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, coriander, peppercorns, and fennel seeds. Let cool to room temperature. Place turkey in brine. Add cool water, if necessary, to fully submerge turkey. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
Remove turkey from brine. Rinse inside and out; pat dry with paper towels. Season cavity with salt and pepper. Rub room-temperature butter evenly over outside of turkey; season with salt and pepper. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Transfer to a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Let stand 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees with rack in lower third. Roast turkey 30 minutes. Baste with some of melted butter; lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue roasting, basting with butter every 30 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast near (but not touching) bone registers 165 degrees, 1 to 1 1/2 hours total, depending on size of bird.
Transfer turkey to a serving platter. Reserve pan with drippings for gravy. Let turkey rest at least 45 minutes; carve and serve with gravy and garnishes.

AROMATIC TURKEY BRINE

Aromatic Turkey Brine image

Make and share this Aromatic Turkey Brine recipe from Food.com.

Provided by Gagoo

Categories Very Low Carbs

Time P1DT20m

Yield 1 Turkey

Number Of Ingredients 7

Ingredients

32 cups warm water (2 gallons)
1 cup kosher salt (must use kosher salt ONLY)
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar (well-packed)
2 tablespoons black peppercorns (can use 1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper)
3 -4 tablespoons garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 whole turkey (up to 20 pounds)

Steps:

Combine water in a large pot with salt and sugar, over high heat until dissolved.
Add Worcestershire, peppercorns & garlic, making sure Worcestershire is well combined.
Cool back to room temperature.
Wash the turkey inside and out with cold water.
You will need 2 gallon turkey size oven roasting bags.
Place one roasting bag inside the other, roll down the edges of the bags to help them stay open.
Put bags in a heavy roasting pan that will hold turkey.
Place turkey breast side down, with legs facing you in the inner bag.
Pour the cooled brine into the cavity and over the turkey.
Gather the inner bag as tightly as possible and secure with a twist tie.
Secure outer bag with twist tie.
Refrigerate in the roasting pan for 12-18 hours.
Remove from bags, rinse very well, pat dry with paper towels.
It's now ready for your favorite recipe.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 9543, Fat 412.1, SaturatedFat 116.2, Cholesterol 3488.4, Sodium 116835.5, Carbohydrate 343.1, Fiber 4.9, Sugar 320.5, Protein 1051.3