vacuum-sealing machine like the FoodSaver. If you don’t
have either of those options, wrap your meat tightly in a
double or triple layer of plastic wrap, followed by a tight
layer of aluminum foil (which isn’t breathable). In any case,
poultry can’t be stored much longer than 2 months in the
freezer before toughening becomes noticeable.
WHAT ABOUT BRINING?
Let me start this off by saying I don’t brine my turkey. Ever.
Not for Thanksgiving, not for my Sunday supper, and
certainly not for a quick weeknight meal. It’s a personal
decision, and you may well choose to do the opposite. Let
me lay out both sides of the case.
It seems to me that as little as fifteen years ago, dry turkey
was a given. The yearly Thanksgiving ritual at my family’s
table did not include any ill-mannered offspring crying out
“DAAAAaaaad, Mom ruined the turkey again”—turkey
wasn’t something that could be ruined. It was always dry,
tough, and stringy, and that was a fact of life. Then, about a
decade ago, brining entered the scene.* Thanks to an
overnight soak in a saltwater solution, gone were the days of
dry breast meat, salvaged with extra servings of gravy. I, for
one, welcomed our new moist-breasted overlords. Even my
mother could throw a turkey in the oven and pull out
something edible a few hours later. It was positively
magical!
These days, everybody and their grandmother (better
known as the typical Thanksgiving gathering) has heard of
brining, and more and more folks are doing it before Turkey