Poultry Brine

This is a brine from chef John Folse in La. He uses it for a roast turkey recipe. I used it with(I think)great success yesterday for smoking 2 ducks. I will note my changes where applicable.

I reduced the recipe to a per gallon of water measurement because I used a dfferent amount than he had.

For 1 gal of brine
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 bay leaves,crushed
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp dried sage (I only used 1/2 tsp as I am not that crazy about sage)
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp black pepper

I added
1/2 tbsp marjoram (I like this herb. It looks like oregano and tastes almost the same)
1/2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

The biggest problem was keeping the herbs from settling to the bottom of my plastic bucket. I will grind the mix a lot finer next time.

I am planning on frying 2 turkeys New Years Day for a party. I am going to use this basic recipe for injecting one of them.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pat Barnes:

1/2 tbsp marjoram (I like this herb. It looks like oregano and tastes almost the same)
1/2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

The biggest problem was keeping the herbs from settling to the bottom of my plastic bucket. I will grind the mix a lot finer next time.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Pat: 2 questions?

Regarding the marjoram: Curious why you wouldn't just use oregano? I believe it's usually a lot less expnesive.

Regarding keeping your herbs from settling to the bottom. Have you thought about placing them in some cheese cloth then tieing the ends of the cheese cloth tight ? (a bouquet garni) Would that work?

Happy New year.

I have always been under the impression that, if you want the flavorings in the brine to get into the meat, they need to be in solution, rather than just in suspension. And it is for that reason that you boil the brine, not only to dissolve the salt & sugar, but to get the flavors of the herbs, spices, and aromatics into solution as well. Of course, this requires the extra step of cooling and chilling the brine, but it is easily achieved by cutting the water in half, cooling it after boiling by setting the entire boiling pot in a sink of cool running water, and, finally, cutting it with an equal amount of ice or ice water.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doug D:
Of course, this requires the extra step of cooling and chilling the brine, but it is easily achieved by cutting the water in half, cooling it after boiling by setting the entire boiling pot in a sink of cool running water, and, finally, cutting it with an equal amount of ice or ice water. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Makes sense to me Doug. Of course this PM I found a novel way to cool the brine. One of my chickens hadn't sufficiently thawed so after about 30 minutes of cooling the brine in went the chicken!!!

To cool quickly, I will displace the same measure of water with ice cubes. It works with the Apple Brine, but in this case, you would have to leave out some water, then add that same amount with ice, say a half gallon.