This year we bought a fresh cage free turkey for American Thanksgiving. I chose to brine it and roast it wrapped in cheese cloth. It ended up being a ridiculously good bird - very moist and flavourful. It was so darn good, I thought I would write up the recipe I put together from several other recipes.

The Brine

The first step was to make a brine the morning before the day you plan on roasting the turkey. Brining a turkey is one of the best ways to produce and extraordinarily juicy and succulent meal.

2 cups of kosher salt 2 cups of sugar 1 1/2 gallons of water 1/2 gallon of orange juice 4 bay leaves 1 whole bulb of garlic various herbs and spices 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1 whole lemon