Thanksgiving Turkey Thread

[static]

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.

 

[bondra76]

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.

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.

 

[ChefRex]

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.

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

 

[The Pol]

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.

 

[kh54s10]

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.

 

[glenn514]

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

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

We decide to be Turkeyless this year. Got a hickory smoked ham instead. Still thinking about roasting that on the grill.

 

[Jupapabear]

This sounds fun:

http://coreenajolene.hubpages.com/hub/pit-cooking-a-turkey

 

[dan6310]

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

 

[SnakeRidge]

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.

 

[Evets]

I made sure to get a natural, un-enhanced turkey. It's soaking now but like I said before, I only use half the salt the recipe calls for.
I've got the nuclear turkey roaster pre-heating now. Well, actually it's cooling now. It should be just about right by tomorrow, mid-morning.

 

[bondra76]

thats awesome.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

That IS awesome, I especially like the Xmas lights, nice touch!
Regards, GF.

 

[The Pol]

Bird is coming out of the brine, a 13 pound free range that was butchered Monday.

Drying it off, rubbing under the skin with some seasoned butter, and into the smoker!

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[unionrdr]

Gotta get the turkey going to be done by 5PM or so. Son has to work his other job till 3PM. Did pies yesterday.I made my apple cranberry pie & wife made pumpkin. Got real cranberry sauce done too. Apple pies usually go together pretty quick, since we have one of those Amish-style things that peels, cores & slices all at once. Cut the spiral sliced apple in half & put in pie, sprinkled with cranberries. I sprinkle each layer with a mixture of 2 parts sugar to one part flour. Then add cinnamon, nutmeg & a pinch of ground cloves to taste. The flour helps make a thick sauce out of the juices so they don't soak the crust.

 

[ChuckO]

Our Thanksgiving guests sent this to me:

They said that this technique works really well.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

[The Pol]

13lb bird, smoking at 250F.

7:50AM start
60 minutes in breast temp 86F
120 minutes in breast temp 124F
180 minutes in breast temp 144F
240 minutes in breast temp 154F
300 minutes in breast temp 163F

 

[marckw]

About 11/2 more hours on the smoker then it's feeding' time! Well... more like grazing time since we put everything out and nibble all day.

 

[unionrdr]

Smelling the turkey roasting with sage sausage stuffing...mmmm....:cross:

 

[November]

We opted out of turkey this year. My 7 year old son raised some ducks. We slaughterred them yesterday and they have been in a brine till this morning. We are cooking them sous vide in the brewing rig. Once they render out, I will broil them to get the skin crispy. He is pretty excited to see if his work pays off. He raised them on a food blend that included a lot of spent grains.

 

[glenn514]

Our 15 pound bird is currently swimming merrily in 350°F oil outside. It will be done in about 20 minutes. I'll let it "rest" for a while before I hack into it. My, I'm getting hungry!

glenn514

 

[Evets]

My 19 pounder and a couple of pies.

 

[jleiii]

Some nice looking and sounding action going on here. The wood fired oven is awesome!
We had a 14lb brined & roasted bird at our daughters. Quite good, and moist. Turkey day was at our house for many years, and brining never came up. I may well try this in the future.
Worst part is I'm apparently allergic to turkey, but it's sooooo good. I just have to go easy on it, and skip the leftovers. Growing up we had ham most of the time, so I don't recall issues back then.
It took me close to 10 years of discomfort to finally realize the reason. After a few years of red and itchy hands the next day, I started wearing gloves to cleanup. Then a more years of gastro issues before I realized that it started on turkey day and lasted into Dec (when the leftovers were gone!), then back after Christmas turkey. Mr doctor just rolled his eyes when I made the connection, yet he had no answers over the years. I keep wondering if a free range, or other unprocessed bird might make a difference. A store roasted chicken can affect me, too. Anyone else have issues like this?

 

[number40fan]

That is really odd, jleiii. Have you switched up a few of the other variables that might be served during these times that could cause this issue? Or is the leftovers you are referring to, just the turkey?

As for brining, mine dropped into the juice about 12 hours ago. Going to smoke it today (Friday). The wife and I took a one day vacation from the family to go gambling and I planned to have this turkey Saturday at my mother's. My first brined/smoked/me cooking it turkey EVER.

 

[dinnerstick]

i went modernist- deboned the legs and made roulade per this recipe (http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-roulade - hard work but so worth it), brined and barbecued the crowns, salt cure and confit with the wings. amazing.

 

[Staestc]

My 19 pounder and a couple of pies.

Great looking food and an great looking oven.
Sigh, one of these days I'll start my build.

 

[unionrdr]

Finally got pics uploaded. Here's one with some of the stuff we had. Not pictured is my wife's mandarin orange salad with sour cream & crushed pineapple. Home made cranberry sauce & green bean casserole, dinner rolls, etc. That's my dampfbier V2 in the glass. Sage sausage in sage stuffing.:rockin: Turkey dripped juices when carved.

 

[Staestc]

My second turkey turned out great today. My stuffing was three breads apples, etc and was just awesome again. But the hit today was new to me. Roasted acorn squash then stuffed with basmati and wild rice with cranberries, pecans, some Parmesan and Gruerye cheese, then baked again. !

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417388066.050725.jpg


Travis'n'Texas

 

[unionrdr]

Acorn squash is great that way. forgot all about it this year?!