Turkey Brine 2025

Two days to go to Thanksgiving and my preparations are underway.

I have the pot full of my brine mixture on the burner heading toward a boil.

I was consulting this blog from when I barbecued a turkey last year and I found I had left some information out. Specifically, I had questions about the brining that I had not made note of last year.

Let’s start with the basics. Into the pot goes two gallons of water, three cups of apple cider, the peel of three large oranges, a cup and a half of kosher salt, two cups of brown sugar, 5 bay leaves, 4 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, 5 minced garlic cloves, and three tablespoons of peppercorns.

Susan bought fresh rosemary but I used the stuff in the spice rack. Oops! For garlic, we have a little jar of minced garlic and I put in a couple of spoons full. I used the apple cider I made the other day for the apple juice.

I’m boiling up the brine in the pot I use to brew beer. Once it boils, I am to let it cool completely before sticking the turkey in it. The turkey is to soak for 16 to 24 hours. My plan is the soak the bird in the brew pot. I hope it fits.

It took about 45 minutes to come to a boil. I let it go another 5 minutes just to ensure it was a brisk boil.

It is now cooling. I’m going to set the pot out on the deck to hasten the cooling process. It’s about 30 degrees out there.

In the meantime, I’m going to sit back, read the morning paper and enjoy a nice hot cup of homemade cider. It’s really good.

1:00PM: