-New Urban YUM!- Fool-Proof Thanksgiving Turkey Your Family Will LOVE!

Do you want to introduce a traditional American Thanksgiving to your German friends and loved ones, but you find the idea of tackling the task of turkey a daunting one? Or, as much as you love carrying on the tradition outside of America,  maybe you're tired of ending each Thanksgiving feast with fowl that tastes like dry cardboard on a carcass ?   Perhaps you're longing for moist, flavorful and tender turkey that actually taste like it looks in recipe books, and is worthy of a king's celebration?  The NUY 40+ answer to your culinary dilemma? Throw out your traditional marinade and brine your bird instead! How to get started? Well, brine is essentially an overnight saltwater bath which breaks down the proteins in meat, and causing the meat tissues to absorb the flavorful bath water it sits in.   The technique prevents moisture loss while roasting, and produces an extra säftig and flavorful bird, making brining a fail-proof way to ensure you'll never have to eat dry, flavorless, turkey  (or any other fowl) ever again. 

Here's our simplest, most adaptable brining recipe that will keep any bird super juicy and give it a terrific flavor foundation on which to build with herbs or alternative liquid additives. We like to add a sweetening agent like apple juice, apfelschorle or other fruit juices to balance against the salt flavor.  The recipe amount below should be adequate to submerge a small turkey (up to 6 kilos). Double the recipe for birds up to 9 kilos.  Please note that it is absolutely crucial to let the bird sit covered in the brining solution for a minimum of 8 hours, so it's best to prepare and sit your turkey in the brine the night before Thanksgiving, or at the crack of dawn on Thanksgiving morning to have have your bird prepared at a reasonable time for dinner. Sound good? Okay, let's get to brining!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar
• 1 bottle Apfelschorle  (1- 1.5 liters)
• Healthy handful of aromatics (sliced garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, whole peppercorns, bay leaves, lemon or orange zest removed in strips)

METHOD: 

Combine salt, sugar, aromatics and 8 cups of water in a large pot and place over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Stir in 1 liter of Apfelschorle (or apple juice) and cool completely.

Pour brine into a large bucket, container or plastic bag just large enough to hold turkey comfortably. Add turkey; add a little more apfelschorle, apple juice to submerge it if necessary. Turn bird a few times and then leave breast-side down in the water; place a heavy plate over the poultry if it floats in the bucket or container. Chill 8 hours or preferably overnight. Remove bird from brine, discard brine and roast as package instructions from your turkey directs. If your bird has been marinating in the brine for the required time.  please note that the turkey will need NO ADDITIONAL SALT (!), as it will have absorbed the salt from its' water bath - adding more will only over salt it. 

Feel free to top your turkey or other fowl with chopped herbs  and cracked black pepper for roasting, baste it in its'  own oven juices, then brush the bird all over with a bit of melted butter during the last 15 minutes of roasting to achieve an even, golden brown color. 

Serve as you would with your favorite side dishes to rave reviews!

Three Variations for Your Basic Turkey Brine:

Smoky Brine

Use smoked smoked salt (rauchsalz) in place of the kosher salt & omit the garlic powder in the original recipe.

Beer Brine

Instead of using apple juice or Schorle in the original recipe, replace it with beer.

Spicey Cider Brine

Add zest of 1 orange removed in strips with a vegetable peeler, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, and 3/4 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes with the aromatics.

Now plate and serve with your favorite side dishes, and enjoy the ensuing Turkey Coma that follows. Happy Cooking, Everyone!