Adventures in Brining (November 2009)

This Thanksgiving we ordered a scrumptious turkey from spinellis, Red Bird, not frozen...the question was to brine or not. I was a little skeptical and afraid....where does one put a 18lb turkey soaking in a salty mess to keep cold. The weather gods smiled and gave us a night time high of 35 so Tom turkey sat in his saline and cider bath out in the garage. I fished him out early the next morning and buttered him up and popped him in the oven. OOOOhhhh he browned beautifully...ooohhhh he smelled outrageously good. He came out and rested for a good 45 minutes and as I began to carve, he simply gave way, the meat falling of the bones (in a good succulent way, not dry nasty way..) Rather than carve, it became a pull apart mission as I arranged the meat on the platter. The first bite was subline. Turkey taste, moist and succulent meat that literally melted in your mouth.