The centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner has always been the trickiest aspect to the meal, as well it should be. Side dishes may dot the tablescape like punctuation, but it is the bird that is, and always has been, the word. Taming the turkey doesn't have to be an exercise in frustration, as a little preparation can go a long way.
Brine that bird. Aside from actually placing the turkey into the oven, the most important step also happens to be the first one: brining. In its simplest form, brining is little more than a saltwater bath. What makes it truly special, however, is what happens next. The saltwater solution denatures proteins as it travels into the bird, and carries flavor imparted from herbs and spices along with it. There are plenty of brining recipes out there, but no matter what you choose, you're going to need a vessel of some kind to hold it.
Turkeys, being the odd shape that they are, don't naturally fit into too many tight spaces. That's where brining bags come in. Finding just the perfectly-sized (food-safe) container to hold a turkey for 12 hours or so can be somewhat of a challenge, but when the bird is safely ensconced within a bag, finding the right vessel becomes a whole lot easier. Just stick the bird in the bag and the bag in a big enough pan (perhaps the roasting pan itself or a small cooler) and then the whole contraption goes into the fridge. Just don't forget to add those spices to allow the saltwater bath to do its magic science.… Read more
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