Birds and Brine - A German Thing?

Makes me wonder, because a good friend of mine, Pete Ballerstedt
(can you GET any more German than that? *waves to Brian Siegfried* Yeah, yeah you too!) was telling me that he just brined his turkey for this recent Thanksgiving dinner, and also, Blue Max has posted up his most favorite Fowl Brine recipe at his site.

So, you looked at his recipe, right, and now you're back?
Good.

Ok, so I will progress, mainly in repsonse to the recipe details (lacking) in Mr. Max's recipe:

I started by following the directions.
(That is how these things ALWAYS start, don't they?)

Ok, I got everything he said up until the putting the chicken in the marinade part.
I was planning to cover the top with Saran Wrap and place the whole thing in the fridge, but the chicken kept pecking holes through the plastic.
I tried to wrap it again and again more quickly and replace the thing back into the fridge, and before I could, the stupid chicken got a leg free, which tangled in the wire condiment shelf above, and pulled that out, spilling the condiments out onto the floor.
I slipped in a puddle of Apple Butter and ended up sprawled on the floor with the chicken starting to really get loose at this point.

I reached behind me with one hand to flip open the cupboard door and grabbed a mettle lid to smash down over the top of the pan, but it wouldn't stay on because the chicken kept trying to jump up, no matter how hard, or how many times I slammed the lid back down!
So, I wrapped the chicken under one arm tightly, and I got hold of the wooden meat-mallet from the third drawer, and started to beat the bird into submission, but - and do you know how hard it is to beat a chicken while it's kicking and pecking and you only have one arm to hold it with? Well I hit myself in the face a couple of times just because some blows glanced off the chicken and back at me. I also got my arm a few good times I'll tell ya, too - but anyway, I finally got the thing to sit still for a minute, and I put the lid back on the pan, and it seems to be staying on now, but I will say that, in the future, Mr. Max should put a mention in this recipe about the length of the prep time as well as the clean up time.

Hey, and the laundry too!