That thar turkey crown ain't gonna be defrosted for brining, is it?..

[Miljah]

😊 Timing is all. You'd think I knew what I was doing by now! So a careful judgement of 'fridge/ out of fridge' required. Like the last 6 Christmas'es.

🙄😂

Are you having Christmas Dinner with Hagrid?

You get the best Mumsnet posts at this time of year at random o'clock. I'm awake now because I slunk off to bed at about 10pm hammered after a day of drinking with my family. Woke up with a start and a very dry mouth, now can't get back to sleep. OP will be asleep now. Fretting about the turkey at 1am 3 days before Christmas 😂

Brine it in hot/ boiling brine, cook it until it is so damn done, it'll be fine.

Kill two birds with one stone and defrost in briny water. If you ever need to defrost something quickly, place it in cold water. Really speeds up the defrosting process. I'm sure there is a physics or chemistry explanation for why this is the case that I don't know. But it's brilliant tip.

I need to know what brining is. I have never, in all my years of turkey cooking, heard of brining and now, this year, I keep hearing about it. What is it? Have I been doing it wrong?

Nigella does it; basically involves chucking your turkey 🦃 in a clean bucket with flavoured brine for 24 or more hours- DS1 and I did it today!

Ah ok. Does it make a difference?

Certainly does! Turkey is actually nice! Not dry, but moist and flavoursome. Been doing it every Xmas for about 4 or 5 years, now, and wouldn't look back!

I was a sceptic at first, worried about the turkey being out of the fridge for 24-36 hours but it's in brine, which is a preservative.

It was lush, for the record! Nigella, take a bow.