Thanksgiving Feast 2019

I had Thanksgiving Dinner last week (exactly 4 weeks early) since my sister and her husband were visiting and we could be together with my brother. I made everything traditionally (my traditions) with one exception – I changed the brining method for my 17 pound turkey. I have been doing the wet brine for years but decided I wanted to try something different. I did some research on dry brining and thought I’d give it a try. It worked out pretty good but I will go back to wet brining next year.

The dry brining method seemed attractive to me because it doesn’t take up as much room in the refrigerator as the wet brining. Remember with wet brining that big turkey has to be immersed in a watery brine so a ton a space is is needed in the frig. With a dry brine you rub the turkey with Kosher salt and the optional herb or two and let it sit in the refrigerator for 72 hours, the amount of time needed for dry brining. I read so many different articles on dry brining and they all were pretty much the same. 1 Tablespoon of salt for every 5 pounds of turkey. The method was super easy, took no extra space in the frig and it produced a pretty good product. What I did not like was that the turkey did seem a bit salty: I never have had that problem with the wet brine. The turkey was moist and flavorful, but with the wet brine I feel that the turkey is much more moist and way more flavorful. So I am going to suggest you do the wet brine if you can spare the space in your refrigerator. With that said here is the menu I prepared for our Early Thanksgiving Feast.