Turkey Brine

4 years ago, right before Thanksgiving, I was shopping at Whole Foods and I found a Thanksgiving booklet. Inside it had a recipe for a Turkey Brine. I had never heard of it but went home and told Pete about it. We tried it and loved it! For the last 4 years, I have used a brine on my turkey. I lost the booklet before the next Thanksgiving so I had to find another but I remembered some of the ingredients from the first one and decided to make my own brine recipe. Brining a turkey helps produce a moist, flavorful, turkey. The brine works to infuse the meat with flavor, and helps the bird retain moisture. You can brine for a few hours or overnight, we have always done it overnight. We buy a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot to use and put it outside on our deck so it doesn't take up so much room in the fridge.  We then take the turkey out of the brine and onto the roasting pan an hour before we put it in the oven. Make sure to remove the giblets out of the bird before you brine.
One of my loyal followers remembered the picture above from last year's Thanksgiving post and asked me to post the recipe. Here it is :)

Turkey Brine Recipe

2 gallons water
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
6 -8 peppercorns
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme