To Brine or Not?

Usually we celebrate both the Thanksgiving holiday and the Christmas holiday out of town as both sets of parents live in other parts of the country.  As such, we usually miss out on having a true holiday meal of our own at our own home.  This year, however, is going to be a bit different.  We will be spending Thanksgiving in Chicago with Tara’s parents and family but we decided to do our own little Thanksgiving dinner this weekend with some friends.  As such, I’ll post some things that I thought worked and some things that may have missed the mark.

The first step however is the turkey.  I pick ours up tomorrow from John’s meat market (they are great…ask for Nick).  They get their turkeys fresh from the farm and can get them next day if you call ahead (though given it’s Thanksgiving they might need a bit more notice).  Anyhow, back to the turkey.  I go through this internal debate all the time with poultry:  to brine or not to brine!  I almost always fall on the side of not brining the bird as I think it’s an extra, unnecessary step.  I think I may be the only trained chef on the planet that feels that way (or so it seems) as everyone recommends brining the turkey or a roasted chicken for that matter.

So, I had almost given in and started looking at traditional brining recipes and options and I came across this one on thekitchn.com, which involves a dry brine.  I’d never really heard of that but after reading a bit about it, I’m intrigued, so that’s what I’m going to do with ours.  I’ll make the rub using dried herbs, salt, and assorted other spices that I haven’t decided upon quite yet and will set up the dry brine once I get the turkey back home.  It will brine for two days and I’ll roast it on Saturday.  I’ll post some pictures, etc. once it’s finished.

How are you preparing your turkey this year?  If you are so inclined, why not try the dry brine method?  It seems pretty easy and I’m sure it’s delicious as the kitchn does not mess around with stuff that’s not pretty great.  Anyway, if you try it, let me know how it went for you.

I’ll also post some of the sides and assorted extras that I’m going to serve along with the turkey for Saturday.  So, stay tuned for that.