There are a couple of ways to defrost a bird and have it ready for your guests on Thanksgiving Day.

You can thaw it in the refrigerator, but that takes a long time – figure 24 hours for every five pounds of bird – and requires a lot of valuable fridge real estate.

My preferred method is to thaw it in water. I have a laundry sink that I use but if you don’t have one of those you can use a large ice chest or cooler.

Fill it with water and immerse the frozen and still-wrapped bird. You can it will take about 3 hours per pound. Change the water every 30 minutes or so until the bird is thawed completely.

You will note that leaving the bird on the counter overnight to thaw was not included in these instructions. Don’t do that.

Thawing, however, is only one step to the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.

Brining became “a thing” a few years ago when somebody discovered that soaking a turkey in a mixture of salt, sugar and spices yielded a much juicier and flavorful bird.

In reality, the process of brining has been around for a long, long time. Like most things, what’s old is new again.

I won’t bore you with how it works but just suffice to say that there is science (and some math) involved.

A traditional brine is a simple combination of salt and water and maybe some sugar. But there is an endless combination of spices, herbs, aromatics and other flavoring agents that can really juice up (pardon the pun) your turkey.

There are also a number of commercial brines on the market that have everything you need — except for the water –in one package.

But if you want to make your own, and I recommend you give it a try, here is a good and easy recipe from the fount of all turkey wisdom – Butterball Turkey.