Thanksgiving Turkey Thread

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I don't have the burner necessary to fry it. The speidel braumeister is not a turkey-friendly RIMS. European turkeys (there are no native turkeys, it's the same north american ones) are tiny, I will be slow cooking two (~3.5 kg each) in a standard weber (with a lower-sitting grill), or if I cant squeeze them in i'll butterfly one in the oven. Brining- absolutely, you're nuts if you don't.
Go worm town! Big up turtle boy, shrewsbury street diners, west tatnuck, forest grove, and the greater salisbury forest area. F- you tanyon sturtze. Thank you.
 
Roasting in the oven with her grandma's stuffing recipe. I'll pot barbecue a smaller one we have in the freezer for Christmas. Garlic butter under the breast skin. Try to collect the resulting juicy goodness from inside the bird for gravy before rolling it over.
 
We're doing breasts only this year. I am brining two using BBQ Pit Boys recipe and injecting one with Creole butter. The injection bird will be fried. The two brined birds will be smoked. One of the smoked birds will then be fried.

We're also smoking a ham with Bourbon glaze.


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I'll be deep frying two birds on Thanksgiving. One we will eat; the other I will carve up, the carcass will get boiled for turkey stock, and the meat and stock will be sent home with daughter #2. Both turkeys will be injected with "creole butter" marinade.

glenn514:mug:
 
No idea how I will cook it this year, but I get a free bird tomorrow, so I will be cooking it! And I always brine, since the first time I tried it!
 
Probably roasted in a plastic bag in the electric roaster. Same as every year. I can't complain, it turns out nice.

I had a deep fried turkey one year at my wife's uncles house. It was really good, but undercooked in the center. I'd do it again, but roasting the turkey is kind of my wife's thing now. I am not sure she would acquiesce.
 
My Aunt is cooking the bird this year. I have already cooked one two weeks ago on the grill, have another in the freezer, and will purchase a few more for later on.
 
I'm not cooking the turkey this year (my sister in law is a chef and makes a killer bird), but I am buying two turkeys to throw in the chest freezer so I can do a smoked turkey and a fried turkey throughout the year.

Incidentally, my wife's family always cooks their Thanksgiving turkeys in a brown paper bag coated in butter (the bag & bird). Anybody ever hear of that? I thought it was strange, but it makes for a nice and moist bird, but the skin is not crisp.
 
DGibb said:
Incidentally, my wife's family always cooks their Thanksgiving turkeys in a brown paper bag coated in butter (the bag & bird). Anybody ever hear of that? I thought it was strange, but it makes for a nice and moist bird, but the skin is not crisp.
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I hadn't heard of that but after searching it seems to be a thing. I wonder if you can use the bag to keep it moist while roasting and then finish without the bag for the crisp skin.
 
With any kind of roast in a bag, you have to take it outta the bag to brown up. & you can just make seasoned butter to rub under the breast skin after you gently work your hand under it to loosen it. No bag needed, unless you want to use that to replace the usual foil tent?
 
I was amazed how fast fresh turkeys cook compared to frozen when we were younger. Falling off the bones in 2:45, a while before my parents got down to our apartment in Cinci.
 
Wife doesn't want to do a big meal (even tho' I cook it) or go anywhere this year -- that's fine with me, maybe I'll finally get a chance to brew. :ban:

But if I were cooking a turkey, I would take it out of the freezer Wednesday night, put it in the electric roaster (still mostly frozen) early Thursday morning, and it'll still be ready before 14:00.

Electric roasters are awesome. Just don't try cooking a stuffed still-frozen turkey unless you're a big fan of ptomaine.
 
I'm going to brine and roast. Stuffing is a necessity (I'll call it "dressing" so my inlaws know what Im talking about) and I think I am on gravy duty. SWMBO's parents have half of the sides down (F-i-l will bring wine as well I am thinking). My mother-in-law makes a broccoli cheese casserole that is to die for and I'm betting she shows up with a trunk full of dishes that need to be heated gently in the oven. My father has the other half of the sides down ("James, I was thinking about bringing olive salad, one of the other salads and the rolled antipasto salad.. how's that?", that will be lovely quite frankly, but I know you... you are going to spend money you dont have on a bazillion absolutely gorgeous sides) and the friends (Lucas and Kitten from those who has seen the mead videos) will be bringing a pie, and if I know Lucas he will bring beer. The family cocker spaniel will be in her glory, scoring little bits of this and that that the humans dont eat. For her part, she will bring absolutely nothing.

This will be the first Thanksgiving ever at La Casa de Creamy. It will also be the very first holiday that SessionableGoodness sees, and the very first holiday neither of my grandparents are alive for. That just hit me this minute. Please look to this particular sentence as where I would go on and on and get all manner of sentimental. Kind of a placeholder... please praise my restraint.
 
We brine using alton browns recipe, cook in a roaster, then brown up the skin under the broiler. Damn juiciest turkey a guy could ask for
 
Some one mentioned the brown paper bag method.
My mother always did that.
I have smoked my birds on the grill for the last x years.
I have an electric roaster tried that one time. Turkey fell apart. Tasted great but a pain to not carve.
Got a 22lbs bird at WallyMart for $13. gonna smoke that on my Komodo.
Usually they give us a turkey at jerk(work) I make it anyway since I live alone(kids grown and wives are ex's) Not holding my breath but will smoke that one too if we get it.
I have always brined my birds the night before. My former Outlaws never liked turkey till they had mine. Now the ex FIL makes turkey on his Big egg
 
sloanfamilydsm said:
We brine using alton browns recipe, cook in a roaster, then brown up the skin under the broiler. Damn juiciest turkey a guy could ask for
Click to expand...

I brine using Alton Brown's recipe as well - I like to throw a bit of a tea though in it for the water portion (some water boiled with thyme/rosemary/sage). I use the salt and brown sugar. Just flavoring the water a bit I guess.

It always comes out good, but I am looking for new unique brines.
 
I use a blend of veggie and chicken broth instead of water. Also, I only use half the salt called for in the recipe, otherwise, the gravy that I make from the drippings is way too salty.
 
I've never brined a turkey, so I gotta ask this. Are you brining a frozen turkey or fresh killed? (I know you'd have to thaw it, duh)

The reason I'm asking is all the frozen turkeys I have bought lately have been pre-injected with chicken broth and sodium phosphates (I think that's what they use) They are almost too salty already. Seems like it would be inedible if you brined it.
 
Our turkey is still walking... He will be until Monday. Tuesday we bring him home, then begin the brine!

They don't recommend brining frozen (manufactured) turkeys... However I do not have personal experience with brining one.
 
z-bob said:
I've never brined a turkey, so I gotta ask this. Are you brining a frozen turkey or fresh killed? (I know you'd have to thaw it, duh)

The reason I'm asking is all the frozen turkeys I have bought lately have been pre-injected with chicken broth and sodium phosphates (I think that's what they use) They are almost too salty already. Seems like it would be inedible if you brined it.
Click to expand...
You can brine a frozen turkey as long as it has not beed injected with a sodium mixture, usually marked "natural" at least here;) do not brine a treated bird.
 
Sometimes we just smoke the turkey and other times we do the normal, oven baking method. But no matter what, the leftovers are used for awesome turkey gumbo. In my opinion, the best way to eat turkey.
 
I'll be frying. Fresh or frozen, always brine em before going into the fryer. Altons simple brine. 1lb brown sugar, 1lb kosher salt, and i add 2 quarts orange juice.
 
ChefRex said:
You can brine a frozen turkey as long as it has not beed injected with a sodium mixture, usually marked "natural" at least here;) do not brine a treated bird.
Click to expand...

You can brine an injected turkey as well but you'd have to figure out your salt content. The whole purpose of brining a turkey is to PUT salt into it. If you already had a salty turkey and brined it with NO salt in the water, it would actually pull salt out of the turkey.

The whole process of brining a turkey creates an equilibrium with the water outside of it.
 
bondra76 said:
You can brine an injected turkey as well but you'd have to figure out your salt content. The whole purpose of brining a turkey is to PUT salt into it. If you already had a salty turkey and brined it with NO salt in the water, it would actually pull salt out of the turkey.

The whole process of brining a turkey creates an equilibrium with the water outside of it.
Click to expand...

If you put a salty turkey in water you would be soaking it, brine by definition is a solution of salt and water, the salt leaching from the turkey would then create a brine and probably be a good fix for an overly salty turkey, just saying:mug:
 
I thought the purpose of brining was to denature proteins, creating pockets that actually retain the moisture that you are forcing into the meat during wet brining. Creating these pockets as you denature the proteins, allows for the brine to be absorbed deeper and retained. So, the flavors that you introduce into the brine, will be absorbed, and retained, by the flesh.

Brined meats retain much more moisture than non brined meats, and more than meats soaked in a non salt solution.

I think it's less about adding salt, and more about the molecular changes taking place.
 
I bought an injector and have some homemade Jamaican Jerk sauce (I think it needs a little more hot pepper) I will inject on Wednesday and roast on Thanksgiving day.
 
As I posted previously, I brined a turkey breast and smoked it. Very flavorful...and salty. I believe that almost all frozen turkeys are injected with a saltwater solution. The next turkey I smoke will NOT be brined.

glenn514:mug:
 
Doing for the second year in a row Bacon Wrapped Turkey. Comes out moist and added flavor of bacon.
Everything tastes better with bacon!"
"http://www.food.com/recipe/bacon-wrapped-roasted-turkey-341050
 
We are turkeyless this year as well. We usually have a crew of misfit degenerates that come around for Thanksgiving, but nobody signed up this year. Just me and the wife, a pork fatty and a 10# pork shoulder. I'm planning on grilling breakfast, lunch and dinner.
 

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