Happy Thanksgiving Food Fun To You!

Thanksgiving is a favorite food Holiday for me.  I love to cook, I know… surprise!  And, Thanksgiving dinner for me involves several days of preparation.
Care and love day by day until it all finally comes together on Thanksgiving afternoon surrounded with family sharing in the fun.
So, as my preparations continue through the week so will my posts, to become the complete menu.
The key ingredients, well, Turkey and Cranberry Sauce, so they are Part 1.

For many years I never brined my Turkey, the first time I did it I realized how good it was, and there was no going back.  I have done a 3 day brine and an overnight brine.  I prefer the overnight brine.  I didn’t really notice much of a difference in the longer brine, except for worrying about keeping it cold enough, and ice all around it for 3 days.  Many of you may be able to fit your turkey and brine in a pot in the refrigerator which of course is the best way to go.  Although, if you have a large 19+ pound turkey like we always get there just isn’t enough room in the refrigerator.  The home for our turkey and brine night before Thanksgiving is 5 gallon bucket, inside a large cooler, surrounded by ice in the cold garage.
As usual my brine is a combination of recipes with my own additions.
Brined and Roasted Turkey, Emeril Lagasse
Thanksgiving Turkey Brine, Alex Guarnachelli

Renee's Turkey Brine

 

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I had never thought much about brining a turkey so one year I decided to try it. I was truly amazed at the difference it made and have been brining ever since.

Author: Renee

Recipe type: Brine

Ingredients

• 8 Cups apple stock (or a combination of unsweetened apple juice and water to cover the turkey)
• 2 Cups Kosher Salt
• 1 Cup Molasses
• 1 Cup Honey
• ½ Cup Soy Sauce
• ½ Cup Bragg Liquid Aminos (if you don't have Bragg's you can use a full cup of soy sauce, or if you have enough Bragg's omit the soy sauce and use a full cup of Bragg's)
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2-3 Lemons Quartered
• 2-3 Apples Quartered
• 1-2 Onions Quartered
• 2-3 Bay Leaves
• 1 stick Cinnamon (or 2 tsp ground cinnamon)
• 1 inch Ginger roughly chopped (or 2 tsp powdered ginger or 1 Tbsp minced ginger)
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves (or 1 tsp clove powder)
• 6 cloves garlic (smash a little to open up) (or 2 Tbsp minced garlic)
• For the following use fresh herbs, they can be found in the produce department of many grocery stores.
• ½ oz Thyme
• ½ oz Sage
• ½ oz Rosemary

Instructions

1. Dissolve and mix all ingredients together, let cool, this can even be done the day before you plan to brine the turkey, store overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Rinse the turkey, take out the neck and giblets, place in a large container.
3. Pour brine over the turkey, be sure the turkey is completely covered with the brine. You may need to weigh it down, a good tool is a couple rocks in a ziplock bag. Odd, although it works.
4. Cover, keep cold in refrigerator overnight.
5. When you are ready to cook, take the turkey out of the brine, and discard the brine.

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Cranberry Sauce-
Again a few changes, and yes, cans involved.  I can’t help that and don’t want to.  I don’t now what it is with the can ridge lines in the jellied sauce I just can’t be with out it.  Cranberry Sauce recipe courtesy Norm Jean Harden is my base.  My changes are instead of orange, I use lemon zest with the juice of about half a lemon.  I add fresh grated ginger, maybe 1/2 teaspoon, add more or less depending on how much ginger kick you like.  I prefer to make this the day or two before so it will chill nice, and the seasoning’s can mix well.

Do you brine or no?  If you brine do you have anything else that would be good to add?  Let me know in the comments.

Enjoy the Fun of Food!

On the way, casseroles and pies.