Brining a Turkey

[Anonymous]

I bought a brining bag, and an herb brine from Giant, and want to brine my 15 lb turkey but am wondering how far in advance I can do this. I'll be cooking the bird on Thursday morning at around 9am (since we need it ready by 2-3pm), and while it would probably make most sense to brine it/prep on Wed night, we're going to a hockey game that afternoon and only expect to get home late at night. Would it be ok if I brined today, Tuesday night?

[Anonymous]

Can you do it when you get home from the game wed? I never did a brine bath for that long before - but I don't think it could hurt.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I guess we could brine after the game, but since we're getting home at around 11pm, and have to wake up early the next day, I was hoping to get it out of the way before. Perhaps we should do it on Wed. afternoon before we head out for the game?

[Anonymous]

I am using a brine recipe that says to brine for 24-36 hours (the Williams Sonoma recipe mentioned in another thread - I am not the same poster). Thus, I am putting it in the brine this evening around 9 p.m. to be put in the oven around 10 a.m. on TG.

[Anonymous]

14:19--Thanks for this info. I think we'll go ahead and brine tonight so on Thursday I just have to stick it in the oven.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm no expert but have been reading on this subject. What I've been able to find is this -- about 2 gallons water to 2 cups salt is a standard brine. That's for about 8 to 12 hours of brining. If you are going to go for 26 to 48 hours of brining, you need to reduce the amount of salt to more like 1 C to 2 gallons of water. If you keep the salt the same, but bring for twice as long, you will end up with a mushy turkey. They say if you brine for 2 days, the flavor is delicious, but you do need to use less salt. THat's just what I've been gleaning from reading a bunch of different sites!