Yesterday, a couple of co workers and Hall started talking about frying chicken, and Hall, of course, brings up brines. So I thought I would post our recipe brine today. You might see it again come Thanksgiving time, since it is a must for turkey. Anyways, this recipe is basically taken from Alton Brown’s, though we have added a few of our spices, plus if you like heat, you must check out the spicy version.
Turkey Brine
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tbsp black peppercorns
½ tbsp allspice berries
½ tbsp candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
10-14 lb Turkey, washed
In a large pot, heat up everything but the iced water. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, then take it off the heat, and let it cool down some. Add the iced water to bring the temperature down closer to room temp if not a little bit colder.
Once it is cool, pour it into a large bucket or cooler, and add the turkey or chicken (that has been washed and giblets taken out). Make sure the cavity gets the brine down in it. Put a lid on it, and place is somewhere cool spare bathroom tub, etc…just not a
place where it will freeze. Brine for at least 4 hours, if possible up to 12.
Rinse and cook. (*note: depending on how far up the brine goes on the turkey or chicken – you might need to rotate just so that it gets even coverage).
Chicken Brine
Reduce the ingredients by half. If you need more liquid, add a bit more water or vegetable stock. If you add a lot, make sure you add more of the salt to it as well, as to help keep the ratio balanced.
Spicy Brine
Reduce the kosher salt amount, and add Morton’s Hot Salt to make up the remaining portion. Also add Tabasco, cayenne, old bay spice, etc., other ingredients that you would like to taste, in small amounts, into the brine while it is heating.
Citrus
Reduce the vegetable stock by a small amount and add orange juice to replace what you left out.
Cooking
Don’t forget that how you cook it will also affect the taste. With turkey and chicken, you can add herbs and spices under the skin and in the cavity before cooking, which will help further enhance the flavor. For citrus, add thinly sliced rounds of lemon or orange under the skin, or lemon and orange halves in the cavity. For savory, add rosemary, sage and apple.
Tag-Archive for » Alton Brown «
Figured I would start the recipes off with one that is great for springtime.
Earl Grey Sugar Cookies (based off of Sugar Cookie Recipe by Alton Brown)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tablespoon milk
1/2 tablespoon Lemon extract
3-4 Teabags worth of Earl Grey Tea leaves (make sure it is the finely ground type)
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and Earl Grey. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg, milk, and Lemon extract and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, roll into logs and wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time. Cut the logs into 1/2 inch slices. Place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and slighty press down on the dough to make it a bit flatter. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.
Lemon Icing
Powder sugar
Lemon juice
water
Mix powder sugar, lemon juice and water till you reach a smooth consistency. Drizzle or spread on the cookies.