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How I Dry-Brine a Turkey

BY Kevin Lee Jacobs | November 21, 2018 2 Comments

Ever calculated the number of turkeys you’ve roasted in your lifetime? I’ve done one for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas every year since 1981. That’s 72 turkeys! Thus I decided  Thanksgiving 2018 would include no turkey at all. For our annual dinner party, I imagined serving Parmesan Crusted Salmon for the main course. Well, well, well. Mr. Fox was not pleased with my fishy idea. “I want leftover turkey for sandwiches,” he cried. So turkey number 73 will appear on our table this week, lovingly rubbed with fresh herbs and dry-brined with kosher salt:

On Thanksgiving Day, I’ll roast this turkey with apples and onions. Not only do the apples and onions add tremendous flavor to the gravy, but they thicken it, too, without a speck of flour or cornstarch. You can do the same for your roasted bird. Just follow this recipe: Roast Turkey with Braeburn Apple Gravy.

And that’s all for today, folks. I’ll film the roasting of the herb-rubbed, dry-brined bird on Thanksgiving Day. Well, that’s the plan, anyway!

xKevin

Here’s the recipe for the herb rub and dry brine:

Print
Herb-Rubbed, Dry-Brined Turkey

Prep Time: 10 minutes

A simple and delicious way to flavor and brine a turkey.

Ingredients

    For the herb rub:
  • Fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme -- about 2 tablespoons of leaves from each
  • Olive oil -- about 1 tablespoon
  • For the dry-brine:
  • Kosher salt -- a 1/4 cup or slightly more or less for a 13-16 lb turkey

Instructions

  1. Put the herbs and oil in the bowl of a food processor, and process until a paste develops -- about 20 seconds. Loosen the turkey skin with your hands, and then rub the paste between the turkey flesh and skin.
  2. Rub the salt into the turkey cavity and all over the skin. Then seal the turkey in a brining (or oven-roasting) bag. Outfit a roasting pan with a V-shaped "turkey" rack, put the turkey on the rack breast-side-up. Refrigerate for 3-4 days, flipping the bird once each day.
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https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/how-i-dry-brine-a-turkey/
Copyright 2015 by Kevin Lee Jacobs

Garden Greens and Supermarket Flowers
My Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Comments

  1. 1

    Anne says

    November 21, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    The visual I got of flipping the turkey – like a cowboy bulldoging a calf – cracked me up. Not that I approve of bulldoging, I don’t, but still……

  2. 2

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    November 21, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    Hi Anne – “Flipping the bird” can conjure up all kinds of interesting images, some of them obscene! Here’s wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving!

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