Brined turkey

[AndWhatNext]

How many hours?

Can I do it in a large metal pot? Or does the metal pot do some chemical reaction with the metal pot?

Should I Bain Marie it with a pot of ice water in case it gets too warm? (I'm in London and plan to leave in my shed).

Nigella's or someone else?

TIA

I use a plastic tub with a lid. I would Google re using a metal container as it may react. Mine usually sits in the brine for around 18 hours - I’m in Scotland so garage is usually cold enough. You could stick some ice cubes in if you’re worried. I use Nigella’s but don’t follow to the letter - I honestly don’t think adding orange juice, maple syrup etc make any difference to the taste of the turkey.

I've done Nigellas recipe.

I put it in a large plastic box with a lid and put it in the garage overnight - so about 12 hours in all.

I wouldn't use a metal pot but outside in this temperature should be fine.

It worked in that the bird was moist but it also just made me realise that dry/moist I really just don't like turkey (so 5 years ago I ditched it and this year it will be a huge beef rib joint).

To those who have brined and cooked a turkey - were you able to use the juices that came from the meat to make your gravy? Or was it too salty?

Ugh no I wouldn’t use the water for gravy.

And we all absolutely detested the finished product (Nigella’s recipe), everybody agreed that it was vile, in terms of flavour and the texture of the meat. So proceed with caution! But some people do seem to think it’s great.

Oh hah sorry I thought you meant the water!

If I recall (it was some years ago now) we made the gravy in the usual way using the meat juices.

Yes you can use the meat juices - they are not too salty but obviously check seasoning before adding more salt to the gravy. As I recall I needed some but not as much as usual.

Thanks for the help. I’m still not sure if brining is for me. I’ll give it some thought.

Stock I'll not deny it's a lot more effort to brine it and tbh though it works, I didn't think it was that much better than when I cooked it "normally".

The best results I had was removing, de-boning and stuffing the legs (into like a stuffed roll) then wrapping the crown in muslin with a ridiculous amount of butter and basting copiously (removing the muslin to brown at the end).

I cooked the legs ahead and reheated them.

Made life a lot easier as the crown cooked much more quickly and stayed moist and both were really easy to carve/serve and ensured guests could have nice slices of white/dark meat as per their preference.

It was more work than normal, but less that wrestling a big turkey in out of its brine bath plus it was easier to store on the fridge than a whole turkey - but still as spectacular to serve.