Tea brined turkey!

T-48 hours to Thanksgiving and my first attempt at roasting a whole turkey!  See video below link below.  I am using the smokey tea-brined turkey recipe from Erin French at The Lost Kitchen, a great restaurant in Freedom, Maine.  You can find her recipe in the "Today Loves Food" cookbook or on her restaurant website and newsletter (which is free).

I'm using a beautiful 16 lb organic, pasture raised turkey from Carbon Farm in Dufur, OR, which is a regenerative farm.  I put a deposit on this beautiful bird in September and picked it up this past weekend in the most Pacific Northwest moment of my life: organic turkey, at a farmers market, picked up from cooler in the back of a sprinter van, and most of us in line were wearing some sort of light puffer:)

Tips and tricks:

1. Use a bigger pot than I did to make the brine

2. The steeping smokey tea becomes an overwhelming smell, but know that it will mellow out when more water is added in the resting process

3. Check your fridge and brine vessel beforehand to make sure they can hold the total bird+brine weight.  I also just heard about brine bags, so may try that next year instead.

FYI:

1.  What's a brine?  A bare minimum brine is simply salt and water which seeps into a food item and preserves (if left long enough) and flavors it.  Add extras for more interesting flavors (sugar, tea, bay leaves, etc)

2. What's a regenerative farm?  They focus on soil health, crop health, biodiversity.  It's a sustainable form of farming that can help mitigate climate change and makes what we eat, as well as the world around us, healthier.  A good thing:)

See you tomorrow for Step 2 of this brine and cook process!