Turkey Brine with French Country Pate Spice
This easy-to-prepare turkey brine will make your holiday turkey moist and flavorful. You can use it to brine any poultry any time of year.
Calories per serving: 46kcal
Ingredients
~~ Pate Spice ~~
-- For the Brine --
- 1 cup (292 g) Kosher Salt
- 1 cup (220 g) Brown sugar
- ½ cup (119.5 g) Cider Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Herbs de Provence
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) ginger, fresh grated
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Black pepper, whole
- 8 cups (1.89 kg) Water
- 1 quart (0.95 l) Ice cubes
- 1 quart (0.95 l) Water
Instructions
- Mise en place
- To make the pate spice, put all the pate spice ingredients in a small food processor, spice grinder, and grind them until they are a relatively fine powder. Yes, you can do it by hand with a mortar and pestle or a molcajete - if you want strong arms. Put the finished spice in a jar. Store it in a cool, dark place.
- Remove any wrapping from the turkey. If there is a bag of giblets, remove that, too. You can give that to the cat.
- Crush the peppercorns with a heavy pot to break them up a bit. They do not have to be ground, just crushed a little bit.
To make the brine
- Combine all ingredients EXCEPT ice and the last quart of water in a very large bowl that will hold a gallon of liquid.
- Stir well.
- Transfer to a 4-quart saucepan and bring just to a rolling boil.
- Immediately turn off the heat.
- Return to the original bowl and add ice and remaining water.
- Stir to chill thoroughly.
- Place cleaned turkey in a large clean garbage bag. Carefully add brine to the bag, seal, and put in the refrigerator. After 6 hours, turn the bird over and continue to refrigerate until ready to cook.
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