Unorthodox use of medical tape # 152: decreasing the potential space of your turkey brining bag to increase the brine coverage of your turkey.
As is most of my cooking, the brine was concocted with approximate guidelines and inspired by stuff available in the cupboard:
- kosher salt, about 1 cup
- honey, about 1 cup
- sugar, about 1cup
- 1 head of garlic, peeled, crushed and minced
- juice of 1 lemon
- some bay leaves
- varying quantities of clove, nutmeg, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme — I honestly don’t know if these come through with everything else going on
- balsamic vinegar to taste
All of the above were dissolved in 3 qts boiling water and reduced to a simmer for about 10 minutes. I let the brine cool for about 20 minutes, then added about 2 qts warm water to help cool it down more. When mixture felt comfortably warm (not hot enough to cook the bird) we poured it over an 18+lb turkey in the brining bag. It’s now sitting in the fridge in its roasting pan, taped up as shown above.
We shall find on Thursday whether the brine was a good idea or not. Update: turkey was ah. may. zing. And the turkey stew we made from it was the best we’ve had.