THANKSGIVING PREP: The VodkaWife™ uses her own personal variation on Alton Brown’s deservedly famous turkey brine:

1 cup kosher salt
½ cup light brown sugar
½ gallon vegetable stock
½ gallon low-sodium chicken stock
1 tablespoon (or more!) black peppercorns
1-½ teaspoons allspice berries
3 tablespoons (ish) fresh chopped ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

The turkey and the brine go in a heavy-grade trash bag which goes into one of those big Home Depot barrels which goes in the garage for at least 24 hours.

It isn’t quite leg-of-lamb delicious, but if you’re doing turkey it’s hard to do better than this.

Also: Forget adding butter when you’re mashing the potatoes, and use duck fat instead.