Honey Brined Turkey

I’ve been using this brine exclu­sive­ly for sev­er­al years. It makes the turkey so moist and ten­der it almost falls apart like a good brisket.

  • Ingre­di­ents:
  • 3 gal­lons dis­tilled water (use 2 of them and reserve the third for later).
  • TIP: It pays to get dis­tilled water. Tap water in a lot of areas has min­er­al salts or oth­er stuff in it that you don’t want to taste in your turkey (lookin’ at you, Flint!).
  • 1 lb. kosher salt
  • 1 lb. honey
  • 1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 quarts veg­etable stock
  • 1 tbsp. black peppercorns
  • 1 1⁄2 tsp. all­spice berries
  • 1 1⁄2 tsp. chopped can­died ginger

Pour 2 gal­lons of water in a large stockpot (save the third for later).

Heat to a boil, stir­ring occasionally.

Let the brine cool for a cou­ple hours, then put it in the fridge overnight.

Getch­er turkey thawed at 24 hours ahead of time., Put the thawed turkey in some­thing large enough to sub­merge it: stockpot, brin­ing bag, cool­er, etc.

Pour in your brine, top­ping it off with water from the third gal­lon if needed.

Keep every­thing nice and cold for 12 to 24 hours. I have a big Igloo water cool­er I use for this; I line it with the brine bag, sub­merge the turkey, seal the brin­ing bag, and dump some ice on top.

Final­ly, sched­ule your­self a nap once you’ve gorged on the turkey!