Turkey Brine Seasoning

A whole-spice brine blend for a 12 to 14 pound turkey. Brining holds moisture in the bird: an unbrined turkey loses around 30% of its weight in cooking, mostly water, and a brined one can hold that to about 15%.

Ingredients: Hand blended from coarse sea salt, brown sugar, white peppercorns, orange peel, garlic flakes, black peppercorns, toasted minced onion, rosemary, pink peppercorns, allspice berries, juniper berries, green peppercorns, thyme, basil, oregano, sage, and bay leaves.

Directions: Add the full pound to two gallons of water, or one gallon water and one gallon vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Cool the brine completely before the turkey goes in. Brine a fully thawed bird 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator, 12 hours being about right. Using a cooler, bag the turkey and brine and surround the bag with ice water. Discard the brine, rinse the turkey, pat it dry, and roast as usual.