This is a recipe for a liquid to soak your turkey in overnight (or longer) before cooking to add a wonderful flavor. We let our turkey soak 48 hours this year. We adapted the recipe to ingredients we had on hand from Gordon's recipe offered on the 700 Club.
Turkey Brine
2 gallons hot water
1 tbsp ground ginger
3 tbsp pepper
12 bay leaves
1 cup salt
24 ounces honey
24 ounces maple syrup (we used pancake syrup)
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
We mixed everything except the last two ingredients in hot water to help dissolve the salt. Heat if necessary to dissolve salt. We placed the frozen turkey inside of a clean, large, white trash bag that lined a clean cooler and poured the solution on top of the turkey. We let it soak as it thawed making sure the temperature never rose above 49 degrees to keep bacteria from growing. Use ice if necessary to keep turkey cool.
Remove turkey from brine and cook as usual.
You can not cook stuffing in a brined turkey. The turkey will release so many juices that it will leave the stuffing soggy.
Check to make sure the juices are not overfilling your roasting pan.
Enjoy!
