Turkey Time

After the preparation for, and the return from a two week trip to my Father's house in North Carolina, we are back home and planning our Thanksgiving meal just like everyone else. Truth be told, on Thursday we will be having our second Thanksgiving dinner this month.

Driving through St. Louis is nerve wracking enough, but quadruple the amount of cars going over the river and
through the woods for the holiday...well...let's just say I didn't want to be in the middle of that.  So we celebrated Thanksgiving a couple weeks early at my Dad's along with my sister Cindy.

For many years I have submerged our holiday bird in a wet brine for up to 24 hours to help insure a moist and tender turkey.  This year I am trying Russ Parsons' Dry Brine method.  Nearly seven years ago Russ, the L.A. Times Food Editor and author of How To Read A French Fry, was inspired by Chef Judy Rogers who had learned this technique when cooking in Southwestern France.

Our refrigerated 17 lb fresh, organic turkey is in time out for three days smeared with a simple dry brine mixture of salt, rosemary and lemon zest.  As much as I love cooking our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I really look forward to having all the wonderful leftovers.  Hopefully I will have words of praise for this dry brine method after our holiday meal.