Turkey season is fast approaching and since many people cook one a year you really need to get it right the first time. Most people will tell you that brining a turkey is the best way to go no matter how you cook that bird. I know that a lot of you have many experience with turkey and with brining so I thought I would ask how important you think brining is. Do you find it vital to a good bird, or does it ruin a good turkey? So please click your answer to:

POLL: How important do you think brining poultry is?
1) Vital to a good bird
2) Really helps out
3) Makes it a little better
4) Really doesn't make a difference
5) Actually makes it worse
6) Ruins a perfectly good bird

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Whether or not you are using a bag to hold the turkey and brine, it is a good idea to put something heavy onto of the turkey to hold it down in the brine. What I recommend is a bag full of ice. Not only will this help keep the turkey in the brine, but it will help keep the brine solution cool. By putting the ice on the top, any heat rising in the container will be met with an icepack.

Now it is time to get your container packed away. Your best bet is to put the whole thing in the refrigerator. Of course, if cooking a turkey, you are probably cooking other things as well and refrigerator space may be hard to find. A cold cooler will work just fine. Remember to keep the brine cold, but don't let it freeze. If the outside temperature is low enough you can just put the whole thing someplace safe outside until you are ready to cook your turkey.

A turkey should brine for at least 1 hour per pound but no more than a total of 24 hours (for safety sake). If you are brining a 20 pound turkey it should brine for at least 20 hours, so plan accordingly.

And remember the most important step is the last one, so don't skip out yet.

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I'm using nearly 2 gallons of water, 4 cups of kosher salt and 2 cups of sugar. This is a lot to mix. While it is very important to keep the turkey cold, I'm going to bring 4 cups of water to a near boil. I'm adding about one cup to the sugar, which dissolves easily and the rest of the hot water to the salt. Now water can only hold so much salt, but these three cups of hot water are going to get the process started and allow me to get that salt moving. It is vitally important to get the salt as completely dissolved into the water as possible. Any crystals leftover are going to float to the bottom of the container and just sit there.

Alternatively, you can combine all the ingredients for your brine in a large pot and bring the whole mixture to a near boil. However, you will need to cool the brine before placing the turkey in it. The brine needs to be cold, very cold to prevent the turkey from spoiling in the brine.

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