How to brine turkey and other poultry

Brining is a process that uses a salt solution to tenderize poultry, whether it's turkey, chicken, or Cornish hen. It helps break down connective tissue to make the bird more tender, and adds flavor, moisture and great taste.

These instructions are for a 12- to 14-pound bird. If your bird is larger or smaller, adjust the quantities appropriately.

Gather your ingredients and supplies:

• 16-18 quart container
• 2 gallons of water
• 4 cups of salt
• 4 cups of sugar
• 2 ounces of bourbon (more if you like)
• 3 cups of ice

1. Add two gallons of water to any container that is large enough to allow the entire turkey to be immersed. (You'll need a container whose capacity is approximately 16 to 18 quarts.) As long as the container is clean, you can use anything that accommodates the size of your bird.
2. Add 4 cups of salt to the water
3. Add 4 cups of sugar to the water. The sugar helps sweeten the turkey, counteracting the acidity of the salt.
4. Add 2 ounces of bourbon. (Bourbon is also an acid that will help break down the connective tissue of the meat. You can use as much as you like.)
5. Whisk the brine solution until all ingredients are dissolved and mixed.
6. Add 3 cups of ice. Ice is a very critical ingredient because it is important to ensure the temperature of the water stays below 40 degrees to avoid bacteria growth.
7. Clean the bird, both inside and out, and then pat with a paper towel to dry completely.
8. Add the washed and dried bird to the solution. Make sure that the turkey is completely immersed in the water with the salt, sugar and bourbon.
9. Place container and turkey into the refrigerator, and leave it sit for six to eight hours.
10. After six to eight hours, remove the container from the refrigerator and then remove the turkey from the container. Rinse it off and pat it dry, making sure that all the water is removed from the cavity.

1 16-18 quart bucket

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Hi, I'm Scott Catanio. I'm here for Howdini. Today I'm going to be brining a turkey. Brining is such an important critical step whether it's turkey, chicken, or Cornish hen. It's a salt solution that we add to pre-treat our bird, to actually break down the connective tissue and add flavor, which adds moisture, as well as great taste.

Here we have sugar, salt, ice, and a little bourbon. So, for a 12 to 14 pound bird, I've already preloaded my bucket with two gallons of water. As long as the container is clean, you could use anything that accommodates the size of your bird. We have our water, we're going to add our sugar, our salt. The sugar helps sweeten the bird, because the salt will actually penetrate into the meat, so we want to counteract some of that acidity with the sugar.

We're going to add some bourbon, and bourbon is also an acid that'll help break down the connective tissue of the meat as well. You can use as much as you like. So here we're going to whisk that and then we're going to add our ice. Ice is a very critical step because we want to ensure that the temperature of the water stays below 40 degrees where bacteria could grow. We add our ice.

We've already washed and pre-treated our bird, cleaned it, dried it, now we're going to add this to our bucket. Make sure that the turkey is completely immersed in the water with the salt, sugar, and bourbon. We're going to put it into the refrigerator and we're going to check back six to eight hours from now.

It's been eight hours, we've had our turkey in our brine, now it's time to remove it, dry it, and prepare it for roasting. We want to rinse it off and pat it dry. Make sure all the water is removed from the cavity. We'll put it into our roasting pan. We pat it dry.

The brining is finished. It's tender, flavorful, and ready for roasting. I'm Scott Catanio for Howdini.