The best way to get flavorful poultry, regardless of how it is prepared, is to start with a brine. Brining adds moisture and flavor to poultry and helps to keep it from drying out.  Brining requires planning ahead and a bit of extra work, but it is well worth it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

A container large enough to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it.  Both Reynolds (Oven Roasting Bag for Turkeys) and Ziploc (XL Storage Bag) make very large food safe sealable bags that are great for brining.  You can use a 5 gallon bucket, it must be food safe though.

Water-Enough to cover the turkey completely.  I’m gonna start with 3 gallons and make more if I have to.

Salt-1 cup per 1 gallon of water

Sugar-1/2 cup per 1 gallon.

Herbs and spices.  1 Tablespoon of each herb per Gallon of water is a good rule.  I’ll use about 3 Tablespoons of dried rosemary and the stems from the rosemary.

Here’s how:

In a large stockpot add 1 gallon of the water and all of the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Make sure the salt and sugar are  completely dissolved.  Add the rest of the water.  You want this water to cool the brine so make sure you are adding cold water.  Add ice until the brine is cool to the touch.  Transfer the brine to your brining container which should already contain the turkey.  Place in the fridge for  1 hour per pound of turkey.  Don’t have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler.

After brining, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.

Its ready to roast normally.