Brine That Bird: Give your turkey a nice salt soak

Note: Some readers who tried this recipe said their bird was too salty to eat. But in about eight cases reported, no single factor could be identified. "I have wracked my brains trying to figure out what went wrong," says chef Greg Atkinson, who has used the recipe at home many times and tested it again before publication. "I called Shirley Corriher, the food scientist quoted in the article, and she said the proportions cited were indeed correct," he says. "Some turkeys seem to absorb more salt than others."

Our best advice is to make sure of these factors: Use only a bird that has not been pre-basted or brined. (Many birds are treated with mineral salts in processing, so check labels and ask your vendors.) Be sure your kosher salt is not heavier than standard table salt. Do not brine longer than the recipe suggests. As an extra precaution, you could rinse the bird thoroughly before roasting as some recipes suggest.

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The ice chest was at the bottom of the basement stairs and an innocent visitor would never have guessed what was inside. But I knew, and my wife Betsy knew, that under the reinforced plastic lid of that innocuous-looking Coleman cooler, a body was bobbing around in salt water. Granted, the body was actually a turkey, but that was weird enough.

"It's like a scene from a Hitchcock movie," said Betsy. "I just can't stop thinking about it." And when a friend came by to deliver one of our children from a play date at her house, we wanted to shout, "Do you realize there's a body in that cooler?"

"We're brining our turkey," we said. "Do you want to see it?" And when we lifted the lid of the cooler, you could almost hear the soundtrack from "Psycho."

"Oh my God!" said our friend. "It's so weird."

The weird factor alone would motivate me to brine a turkey again, but what initially put me on the salty road to soaking a bird in seasoned water was the possibility of getting more moisture and flavor out of the biggest meal of the year. Call it the latest trend or the oldest trick in the book, but the ancient art of brining is all the rage these days. Every major food magazine and about half the cookbooks published last year seem to say something about brining.

In the November 2002 issue of Fine Cooking magazine, Shirley O. Corriher gives a good summary of what brining is all about: "Roasted turkey breasts, sautéed pork chops and stir-fried shrimp all tend to suffer a common fate if they're cooked even a few minutes longer than necessary. They get dry and tough. Soaking these meats in a brine — a solution of salt and water — will help insure moister, juicier results."

It would seem that salt might actually dry meat out, but, because of a phenomenon known as Brownian Motion, a salt-water bath actually renders meat moister. English botanist Robert Brown noticed in 1827 that particles suspended in liquid tend to move about willy-nilly in every direction, even if the water is still. Chemists later determined that this random motion results in a more or less even distribution of particles. For the soaking turkey, that means an exchange of particles is taking place between it and the bath water. The bird soaks up some salt water and actually gains a little water weight, so the resulting roast is indeed juicier. The brine is later discarded, so don't worry about all the salt in the recipe.

A big challenge for the home cook is finding room to allow this exchange to happen. Even in the best of times, the average home refrigerator barely has room for a turkey, let alone a turkey in a tub. My fridge, for example, is almost always full of condiments and provides hardly any room for real food. Hence the ice chest. It gets the bird out of the fridge altogether and allows more room for things like chutney and extra cranberry sauce, so essential for making good sandwiches once the turkey is rendered into leftovers.

It's very important that the turkey stay cold during the brining process. Otherwise, bacteria will have an opportunity to spoil the meat. Make sure the brine is cold when it goes on the turkey and use gel ice packs to keep it below 40 degrees while the bird soaks.

To make a brine, you'll need about half a cup of kosher salt to every quart of water; that's 2 cups per gallon. (If you use table salt, you'll only need about half as much — the smaller grains weigh more — but additive-free kosher salt is better.) For a 16-pound turkey, you'll need two gallons of water and four cups of kosher salt. If you're roasting a larger bird, or a small bird, figure on two cups of water for every pound of turkey. I add flavor to the brine with brown sugar, bay leaves and black peppercorns.

Moist and Tender Turkey with Pan Gravy

Serves 12 with leftovers
1 16-pound naturally-raised turkey
4 cups kosher salt
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1 gallon boiling water
8 pounds of ice cubes
2 tablespoons cornstarch, for the gravy

1. The night before you plan to serve the turkey, wash out a cooler just large enough to hold the bird. Unwrap the turkey and put it in the clean cooler. Remove the giblets from the turkey and refrigerate them until the turkey goes in the oven. Make the brine: Stir the kosher salt, brown sugar, peppercorns and bay leaves into the boiling water, remove from heat and let the mixture steep for 20 minutes. Stir in enough ice to bring the level of the liquid up to 2 gallons. Pour the icy brine over the turkey and cover the cooler. Allow the turkey to soak in the cold brine for 12 to 24 hours. Use gel packs if necessary to keep the brine below 40 degrees. (Adding more ice would dilute the brine.)

2. Preheat the oven to 350. Transfer the turkey from the cooler to a roasting pan and discard the brining solution. Roast the turkey for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until the thigh meat registers 180 degrees. Loosely cover the bird with foil during the last hour to prevent over-browning. Meanwhile, simmer the giblets in a saucepan with 4 cups of water for 3 1/2 hours; add more water as needed to keep the giblets covered.

3. Transfer the turkey from the roasting pan to a platter and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving. While the turkey is resting, make the gravy. Strain the broth made from the giblets into the roasting pan and stir it around to pick up any bits. Strain the liquid back into the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of water and whisk it into the boiling broth. Serve the turkey hot with the pan gravy.

Greg Atkinson is chef at IslandWood. He is also author of "The Northwest Essentials Cookbook" (Sasquatch Books, 1999).