Ooooh - isn't that arty?
I call it "Forest in the Winter".
No, actually I call it "Salt and Stuff in a Bucket To Brine a Turkey".
We decided to brine our turkey for Thanksgiving last month, and we also decided it at the last minute, which sent us scrambling to find a recipe to use, and a bucket to brine in. With no thanks to the employees at the local sporting goods store for their complete lack of help, we found one and whipped up a brine from Nigella Christmas for her Spiced and Superjuicy Turkey.
Confession - I've only cooked maybe 3 turkeys in my life, so I was quite nervous about the whole thing. Would I be able to clean up the mess from washing and brining the turkey so I wouldn't sicken my entire family? Would the turkey stay cold enough in the garage so I wouldn't sicken my entire family? Would I cook the turkey long enough so I wouldn't sicken my entire family?
Yes, there was a theme.
I've always been afraid that I will undercook turkey and make people sick. I have no idea why as to my knowledge none of my cooking has ever made anyone sick, but there it is, and it's a real fear.
Anyhoo, as you can guess, the kitchen cleaned up nicely, the turkey stayed cold enough in the garage, and I cooked it to an acceptable temperature. We all lived!
Another quick confession - I am not a huge fan of turkey - it's usually dry and tasteless and you need to add too much butter and gravy and salt to make it taste good.
This bird was juicy - very juicy - but I still didn't think it had any flavor, which was disappointing. What's the point of adding onions and oranges and ginger and spices to a brine if you're not going to taste them even a little?
I would definitely try brining again, another recipe next, to see if we can improve the flavor.
Here's Nigellas - Spiced and superjuicy roast turkey
