If you can even believe it, this was my first year ever roasting a turkey. I know, crazy, right? And even crazier was that I wanted to roast a turkey and prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself, in my little kitchen without a garbage disposal or dishwasher, for my all friends the week before Thanksgiving.
Us food bloggers are a crazy crew, Ill tell you what!
When I was in culinary school, we learned all about the merits of a proper brine and so after much research and debate, I decided to go with a brown sugar cayenne brine on my first ever Thanksgiving bird.
A brine is really just a salt water bath you give your turkey to make it supremely tender, moist and delicious. I added the brown sugar and cayenne pepper because it seemed like the right thing to do. What isnt made better by those two things?
So, after an extra long (cold!) bath and a quick little truss, my turkey was ready to go.
It turned out delicious and got rave reviews from all my friends. A delicious crispy golden skin and moist, juicy meat; the only other thing this turkey needed to be complete was a boat full of gravy and homemade cranberry sauce!
Brown Sugar and Cayenne Brined Turkey
With so many options for turkey brines, Jenna Weber of Eat, Live, Run recommends this brown sugar and cayenne pepper blend for extra flavor. Jenna shares the story of behind her turkey in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.
Ingredients
Directions
Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.