To brine, or not to brine...

Right about now you are starting to feel the pressure.  America's culinary "Superbowl" is only days away. 

You are responsible for the spread, the house is a mess, family needs to be picked up at the airport...AND you're supposed to present an elaborate buffet whose excess would make Squanto blush.

At this moment, I would implore you to think like a chef.  Delegate the cleaning and the execution of livery services to the kids, friends, neighbors...focus on what is really stressful: cooking for 20-plus people.

I remember my Grandma cooking on Thanksgiving, everything made from scratch, and all made on Thanksgiving except for the pies...

Then I started working in professional kitchens and was blown. Away.  There was no last minute struggle to produce the meal for several hundred people!  I love my Grandma, loved her cooking (an immeasurable influence on me as a chef), but, boy, oh, boy was she going about it the hard way!

Now, decades later, when I teach cooking classes or am asked about Thanksgiving dinner, I give the wry "think like a chef" answer as the key to success.  So...just what does that mean?  It means planning ahead.  Write your menu down, determine what you can do ahead of time that can be frozen, (desserts), or days ahead and refrigerated, (cranberry sauce, vegetables prepped for cooking).  As a chef I live and die by my daily preplists which include the big projects like "peel potatoes for mashed potatoes" to the minute, "chiffonade sage for gravy."  The more of the advance work you can do before Thursday, the easier/more relaxing/successful your Thursday will be.  (And, foods like stuffing are WAY more delicious if you make it days ahead and let the flavors develop in fridge...and then all you have to do is re-therm the stuffing on Thanksgiving).

Now, one of the big bones of contention amongst professionals is do you brine your turkey?  Some will say that if you do this, that, and the other thing you don't need to brine your turkey.  I am a full-on convert to the brining of turkey!  I like to break a turkey down and remove the breasts and legs from the carcass.  (This method provides myriad advantages: you can now use the carcass to make stock for gravy, stuffing, soup..., the breasts and legs cook at separate rates so you can control cooking better, a broken down turkey will take up less space in the refrigerator and oven, it is much easier to handle on Thanksgiving, AND it will take far less time to cook than a bone-in bird.)  Brining produces a flavorful, and moist turkey, (even if you cook it a wee bit longer than you should).

Of course, if you break the turkey down you loose that Norman Rockwellian photo opp with Dad carving the turkey at the table.  And yes, it is the Chef's Mantra that if the meat is attached to the bone, cook it on the bone for maximum flavor.  I will take an edible turkey over a photo opp any day.  And, when you brine your turkey you more than compensate for taking it off of the bone.

I hear the grumbling that it is all well and good in a restaurant kitchen, but at home it such a pain, too messy, blah, blahbitty, blah...there are plastic bags available at the supermarket that made specifically for brining turkeys, people will place the turkey, brine, and ice in a cooler...there was one year when the temperature stayed below 40 F and I put the turkey and brine in a 5-gallon bucket and kept it in my car overnight!  Where there is a will...

What about the actual brine?  Here is where I encourage you to experiment with flavors, with one exception: the amount of salt.  There is a scientific ratio, by weight, (scales are for cooks, measuring cups are for building sand castles), for salt:liquid which is:

1:20; 1-part salt to 20-parts water, or approximately 1-1/4 ounces of salt (by weight) to 1 gallon of water.

You can replace some of the water with wine, brown sugar instead of white sugar...just make sure you taste it before you put your turkey in the brine to make sure it is delicious.  I will usually add the salt, water, whole peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, some crushed red chili flakes, sugar/honey, and soy sauce (just enough for some umami) to a pot and bring up to a boil.  This helps dissolve the salt, and sugar while extracting flavor out of the spices.  After the salt has dissolved I will strain the brine into a clean container and put in the fridge to cool; you can substitute ice for some of the initial liquid to chill it faster (like you did when setting gelatin when you were in a hurry).  After the brine is cool, add your turkey parts; I would recommend brining the turkey for 12-24 hours.  (If you brine the turkey for any longer than that, you are going to move from "brining" to "curing" and the texture of the turkey will change dramatically (almost to the point of deli counter turkey).)

Cooking you brined bird is easy-peasy: remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry with paper towels.  (In a professional kitchen we will do this on Wednesday morning, and place the dried turkey on roasting racks- the ones sold as "cooling racks" in kitchen supply stores- and store them uncovered overnight to really help the skin dry).  You want to dry the skin because moisture is the enemy of crispy.  We will then roast the turkey at 275 F until an instant read thermometer reads 155 F (usually less than 1 hour); remove the turkey from the oven and cover with foil.  (SCIENCE ALERT: This is resting the meat to allow the juices to redistribute back into the turkey; it will allow the turkey to "carry over" cook to the government recommended 165 F; it will allow the proteins to relax making your slices nice and pretty).

So plan ahead.  Prepare ahead.  And go through Thursday like Martha Stewart has a thing or two to learn from you!  And, regardless of whether you brine your turkey whole, break it down and roast the pieces un-brined, or order take-out from from your local restaurant, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.