Posted By Kimberly Turner on Dec 1, 2015 in Christmas, Cooking How-To Videos, Cooking Shows, Cooking with Kimberly, Easter, Featured, Holidays & Events, How To Cook, Main Dishes, Poultry & Fowl, Thanksgiving, Wine Country Kitchens with Kimberly | 0 comments

Napa Jack’s Holiday Poultry Brine is a great idea for most any poultry, at any time of the year!

Brining will do wonders to kick up the flavors, especially of your Holiday turkey, using this poultry brine recipe and directions.

Until you try this method of preparing poultry for roasting, you won’t fully appreciate the fantastic results as your birds are more moist, more tender and have much more flavor, as the delicious poultry spices penetrate right into the flesh.

Another plus on the side of brining, is that your poultry will take less time to roast.

Napa Jack’s Holiday Poultry Brine:

For this recipe, I will add Napa Jack’s Poultry Rub for Chicken & Fish to the brining liquid, which will add some additional holiday flavors and spices.

This fabulous spice rub contains garlic, salt, onion, orange peel, spices, sugar, parsley, green bell pepper & cilantro.

Check out our Review!

Napa Jack’s carries a wide variety of spice rubs, BBQ Sauces & mustards to flavor your foods. WineCountryKitchens.com is where you’ll find Napa Jack’s products online.

Brine Tips:

For this particular 10.5 lb turkey that I am preparing today, the brining pot has to be large enough to hold a bird this size. Also, the turkey I am using is partially defrosted.

Once the brining liquid has been seasoned with the spices, sugar and herbs, use a heavy plate upside-down, to weigh the bird down, keeping the bird immersed in the brine. Cover brine with a lid, and set aside, either in the refrigerator, or if your garage is cold, like ours tend to be here in Ontario, make use of it! After the first of October, the garage is a handy place for your brining pot, so you don’t crowd your refrigerator.

If the temperature outside is cold enough, the car trunk can also be a good place for storing your brining bird. If you have a large enough cooler to hold the brining pot, that will also suffice to maintain a cold temperature.

For best results, allow the bird to sit in the poultry brine overnight – 12 to 48 hrs, keeping the brine cold & covered, and the bird immersed at all times, adding more ice cubes as needed. It is a good idea to turn the bird after about 24 hrs, then re-cover, and allow to continue brining in a cold location.

After brining period is over, remove the bird from brining pot, and rinse well inside & outside, to remove residual salt. If you don’t rinse if off, your bird might be excessively salty.

Also, remove the gizzard bag and neck, and rinse. I like to cook the neck and gizzards in a medium sized pot, simmering them for about 1 1/2 hrs, and then, use the neck meat, simmering liquid & gizzards in my gravy (except for the liver – Mom likes the liver, and my dogs love it for a little treat too). Too much liver in the gravy or in the stuffing, makes it bitter, so I use only about 1 tsp of the chopped liver in them.

Cooking Show: How to Boil Gizzards

Type: Brine Recipe

Yield: enough brine to cover a 10.5 lb bird
Prep Time: approximately 10 min

The ingredients & instructions are listed below the video for measurements & directions. Please enjoy this webisode of Cooking with Kimberly:

Ingredients:

enough cold water to to cover 10.5 lb bird
2 trays of ice cubes
2 heaping tbsp Napa Jack’s Poultry Rub
1 PG Tips orange pekoe tea bag
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large bay leaf
1 tbsp peppercorns
1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
1-1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp red chili flakes
2 or 3 whole cloves

Optional Ingredients:

Instructions:

Have ready an extra large pot, large enough to hold a 10 1/2 – 11 lb bird.

Place ice cubes into brining pot, followed by the bird. Place bird into the pot, breast side down.
Add in 1 tea bag, kosher salt, brown sugar, bay leaf, peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, red chili flakes, whole cloves & Napa Jack’s Poultry Rub.
Add enough water to cover bird, and stir ingredients into the water, making sure the sugar dissolves and that spices are distributed evenly.
Place upside down plate to weigh down the bird, and keep it immersed.
Cover with a lid & place brining bird pot into refrigerator, a cold garage, a large cooler, or any other clean, cold location. Add more ice cubes from time to time to make sure liquid remains cold enough.
Allow bird to remain in the brining liquid overnight (12 – 48 hrs). After 24 hrs, turn the bird over, cover and continue to keep it in a cold location.
After brining period, remove bird from brining pot and rinse it inside and out to remove residual salt.
- Remove gizzard bag and neck, and rinse too.
- Cook neck & gizzards on a simmer, for about 1 1/2 hrs, if you plan on using the neck meat, simmering liquid, and gizzards in your stuffing or gravy.
Pat bird dry, fill with stuffing and roast, as desired.

How to Roast Napa Jack's Holiday Turkey - cookingwithkimberly.com The roasting time is reduced for your bird now, and will vary between different types of bird, and size.

Now what? Check out my recipe for How to Roast Napa Jack’s Holiday Turkey, and enjoy your brined, succulent, beautifully browned, tender & moist turkey with delicious, crispy skin.