COOK: Brown Sugar & Spice Turkey Brine

• Brown Sugar Brine Ingredients
• Kitchen Equipment Needed
• How to Make Brown Sugar Poultry Brine
• Storage & Make-Ahead Tips
• Brown Sugar & Spice Turkey Brine

This brown sugar and spice-infused brine is the secret to a tender, juicy holiday turkey. It’s also a versatile brine that’s also great with chicken, other poultry, and pork chops or roasts, so don’t relegate this to a twice-a-year recipe!

Brining your turkey before roasting it is an extra step, but it’s not terribly hard, and ensures that your bird will never be dry or bland. The only downside is that everyone will be fighting over the leftovers, if there even are any!

Sure, you can use a plain sugar and salt brine, but infusing your meat or poultry brine with a flavorful combination of spices and herbs will make this the best Thanksgiving turkey ever, and doesn’t add a whole lot of extra time to your preparation. So, let’s get down to it!

Brown Sugar Brine Ingredients

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Brown Sugar:

You can use light or dark brown sugar, or a combination of the two. Dark brown sugar has more molasses, and will give your brine a deeper and stronger flavor. Great for goose, but may overwhelm milder poultry or pork.

Kosher Salt:

Quantities given are for flaky kosher salt. You can use other salts but may need to adjust the quantities (table salt is finer and so denser, so you’d want to use less).

Garlic:

Fresh, whole garlic cloves. No need to peel them as long as they’re clean.

Herbs:

You can use fresh or dried thyme, bay leaves, sage, and rosemary. For bay, if you can get fresh leaves, use the same quantities as dried.

Spices:

Use whole spices if possible, freshly toasted in a heavy skillet just until they’re fragrant. Do not burn the spices.

Kitchen Equipment Needed

Large stockpot:

You can make this in a big pot and use the same pot for brining, or make a concentrate in a smaller pot and then dilute the mixture.

Wire strainer or colander:

You’ll probably want to strain most or all of the solid spices & herbs out before brining your meat, or you’ll have to rinse or pick off the bits from your meat before cooking.

Cooler, food-safe bucket, Cambro, or large pot:

You’ll need a container that will fit in your fridge (unless it’s cold enough for you to use the “porch is a freezer” trick… some years we can do this but I wouldn’t count on it this year for Thanksgiving unless you’re in the far north, and make sure you have a contingency plan if the weather doesn’t cooperate for your holiday meal plans).

If you don’t have a large stainless or enameled pot (or one to spare) you can use a food-grade plastic bucket (a 3 gallon bucket is a good size to fit in most fridges without taking the shelves out) or an 18-22 quart Cambro container.

If you are using a cooler, place your bird and brine in an oversized ziploc or turkey brining bag so that you can add ice around the meat if needed without overly diluting the brine.

It needs to be large enough for your turkey or whatever you’re brining, plus room for the brine. You may want to use a glazed ceramic plate or stainless pan to weight down the meat under the brine, or make sure to turn it a few times so that it is evenly brined.

How to Make Brown Sugar Poultry Brine

prep ingredients:

• Measure out your, brown sugar, and honey, and add them to your large pot.
• Toast the whole spices in a cast iron or other heavy pan, shaking or stirring the pan frequently and removing the pan from the heat when the spices are fragrant.
• If you leave the spices in the pan, they’re likely to burn, since the pan is still hot. Add them to your large pot as soon as they’re toasted.
• Halve the garlic heads so that the individual cloves are split. You can cut the whole head with a large sharp knive, or the individual cloves if that’s easier. Discard the woody root & stem from the base & center of the garlic heads, but you don’t need to peel the cloves.

heat & infuse brine:

• Add 2-3 quarts of water to the pot, along with the rest of the ingredients (except the ice water).
• Stir the pot over a medium-high heat, bringing it up to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let cool for 30 minutes.

chill & strain:

• Add the ice water to the pot, stir until well mixed and any ice is melted.
• Strain the brine if you like (you can leave the whole spices in but you will have to pick the spices off after brining, so it’s easiest to strain all or most of the solids from the brine). Use a colander or wire strainer.
• Chill the brine completely in the fridge before using it to brine your turkey, chicken, or meat.

brine poultry or meat:

• The larger your bird or cut of meat is, the longer you’ll want to brine it.
• At the restaurant, we’d leave our deboned chickens in a bin of brine in the walk-in cooler until we cooked them to order, but they were a popular menu item and were never in the brine for more than a few days. We made a fresh batch of brine at least weekly, and always used fresh brine for a new batch of raw chicken. Don’t leave your meat or poultry in the brine for longer than 2-3 days, or they’ll be too salty and possibly mushy.
• Small 8-12 lb turkeys should be brined for about 8-12 hours or overnight. Give larger birds at least 12 hours and up to two days. Make sure your turkey is thawed before brining, or you’ll need to add additional time, since the brine will not penetrate until the bird is thawed.
• Remove giblet bag from the inside of your turkey before brining (this is another reason you’ll want to make sure it is thawed first).
• Refrigerate your turkey or meat while it is being brined, or use a thermometer to make sure that your brine and meat are 40F or below for the entire time (if you are using ice and a cooler in a garage or porch).

Storage & Make-Ahead Tips

You can pre-measure all of the dry ingredients for this brine weeks in advance, if you’re trying to get ahead on holiday meal preparations. The spices are most flavorful if they’re freshly toasted but otherwise, there’s no harm in bagging everything but the honey, garlic, & fresh herbs.

Once the brine is prepared, you can keep it in the fridge for up to a week before using it. Discard any leftover brine after using it. Do not reuse your brine, as the concentrations of sugar and salt may not be correct. More importantly, it could transfer harmful bacteria.