| Brineage

It absolutely rocked. But in all seriousness I think one of the biggest flavor-enhancers was swapping out a gallon of water for apple juice. I do another gallon of brine using vegetable stock, allspice, rosemary, thyme, garlic, peppercorns, ginger, and bay leaf. I let that boil / reduce down for about 15-20 mins on a low boil.

This year's bird was unbelievable. Best I've ever done. Even when I was seemingly past the point of eating another bite for fear of barfing, I kept going back to pick at it some more. lol

I don't even bother using the drippings. I just make my own stock now using the turkey giblets. Throw that in a stock pot with a gang of chopped up carrots, onion, celery. I also put in some mushrooms for flavor and a few quarters of an apple. I start it off with 2 quarts of broth, 1 quarts of stock. I add in another quart or so of water. As I take stock out for mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, I replace with more broth or water. It simmers for like 8 hours all day long and at the end of the night I usually have about 4 quarts of LIQUID GOLD to save for use in the next week or so.