I was reading the NY Times food section, and there was an article about Turkey brining by a Mr. Harold McGee (not a very culinary name is it? He sounds like the local librarian to me). More specifically, the article was about the enternal Thanksgiving question: to brine or not to brine? Personally I think this is a ridiculous question, of COURSE you should brine don't be silly. Ok, so it takes a few hours or overnight to do, and it looks kinda funny after you take it out of the brining solution (imagine that pale pimply kid from Junior High School), but it's sooo worth it for a tender, juicy, and plump turkey -- and we all know that there is nothing more disapointg than a dry turkey on Thanksgiving (except maybe canned cranberry sauce, thank you 1950's).
However, if you read the article, after the "pro" section, there is a "con" section. The main issue under con's... no pan drippings for gravy. This is ridiculous! My mother, the Grand Duchess and I, have been brining our turkey's for years, and for years there has been amazing gravy. We accomplish this but using an excellent recipe by Pam Anderson that I've linked here (if you have a larger Turkey, or would like her gravy recipe, click on the link below to find Pam Anderson's book list). The librarion goes on to say that he tried many different techniques and temperatures with no success. Really, an educated librarian such as Mr. McGee should be better equiped at doing his research, if he had he would have found out that he's an idiot. All fooling aside, try Anderson's recipe, you won't be disapointed and you'll have plenty of gravy, thank you very much Mr. McGee.
(By the way, Pam Anderson has a wonderful collection of books that I highly highly reccomend for anyone! Check them out here.)
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