Posted on 09/07/2019 8:36:22 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Sorry, it is NOT an option. If you are preparing turkey you MUST brine your turkey. As I explain in this video, brining changes the chemistry of the turkey to the extent that it changes both the texture and the color of the turkey as well as its taste. The main ingredients to make a brine are 2 cups of kosher salt and 2 cups of brown sugar. You can also add rosemary and thyme along with other herbs along with whole peppercorns and crushed garlic for flavoring. Prepare your brine mixture by heating one quart of water but not to boiling and then mix in the ingredients. Pour over the turkey and add in cold water until it is completely covered. Let the turkey sit in the brine mixture for at least 2 full days.
If your turkey is too large to fit in the bottom shelf of your refrigerator, you can use a large bucket or a sealed plastic bag.
Remember, if you don't brine your turkey for Thanksgiving, I might be showing up at your table and punish you by grabbing your turkey and tossing it in the garbage for committing the gastronomic crime of not brining your turkey.
Since we’re not big fans of turkey, we will brine our ham in Coca-Cola, thank you. :-)
If you haven’t brined large salmon fillets prior to smoking with apple wood, you have not lived a full life.
And you DO cook the bird breast down - right?!
2 cups of kosher salt in the brine?
Not too healthy.
One of the reasons kitchen doyenne Martha Stewart wont brine......all that salt.
You smoked it? now it is “turkey pastrami” :)
I made a Root Bear and Sassafras glazed ham once. Added some tabasco to the glaze and coated it six times during baking with the reduced glaze. Truly unique.
OTOH, if your garage needs remodeling, do this in the garage.
Blast it in the fryer :)
It’s hard to figure out how long to brine them. The times you find are all over the place.
You’ll still have to do it a few times to get it right.
These know-i-talls can bite my ass.
PJ my GF just watched this and we are buying the turkey next shopping day...Friday.
Your last vid was enlightning but this time she was actually in the room to watch.
Thanks man you are a very helpful dude with many subjects.
Used to LOVE the Funnies..
Everybody I know just does it overnight and seems to turn out just fine, not dry, well seasoned. You certainly wouldn’t want to salt it with table salt, though.
A roasted fresh turkey with stuffing is an amazing meal. As soon as I take the bird out of the oven, the wife and daughter attack it, devouring the stuffing.
Here is another little trick - I always make extra stuffing that won't fit into the bird. I put it into a casserole dish, add a little chicken broth and bury the turkey neck in it. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours covered. Almost as good as that what comes out of the bird.
We have a large thanksgiving potluck a couple weeks early for families at a youth group I lead. Maybe 120 people.
We cook the turkeys and they supply all the sides. I think we did six birds last year.
We smoked some, fried some and did a couple trash can turkeys.
Once you’ve had a trash can turkey, all the others pale in comparison.
http://www.thetrashcanturkey.com/index.html
I disagree with their comment that the trash can must be new. We light a big fire inside the can earlier in the day to sanitize it. When we started the tradition, we used two steel cans that were in my shed when we moved in the house. Have newer ones now.
It seems like a high percentage of name brand turkeys these days are pre-brined. If we get one that isn’t I typically do brine. But my secret is using a smoker and stuffing the turkey. I cook it at a higher temperature than we normally smoke at. Typically people are advised not to stuff turkeys that they smoke to keep from over-cooking the meat that is further out, but this has not been an issue for me. I keep a close eye at my internal temperature and if we will not be getting to a safe temperature in time for the feast I put it in the oven for the last hour or two. But I have only had to do this a couple of times. Unsmoked turkey turkey which has not been smoked tends to be very bland.
Okay to crush up a livestock salt block to get your salt?
I smoke the turkey breast down for about the first couple of hours. Then flip it on the back for the rest of the time. BTW, since the turkey is atop a bed of vegetables (and chicken broth), it imparts a fantastic flavor to those veggies. Veggies consisting of red, yellow, and orange peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
Sorry, unsmoked turkey that has not been brined tends to be bland tasting. Android autocorrect is working overtime today.
LOL!
Now to the OP...
Brine, followed by spatchcock(heh, leave it alone FReaks)or butterflying.
...to cut the cooking time in half(even cooking), also makes the white(racist)meat more tender/less dry.
For those who like to stuff their bird, I've seen recipes of laying the flattened bird on the stuffing, which seasons both the stuffing & the bird...never tried that though.
Those cheap frozen birds you buy at the grocery store have been packaged with salt and water. Hellooo, that’s a brine. There’s no need to do extra brining.
Which you WASH off the skin after you remove from the brine. Believe me, you're not going to taste much saltiness in a brined turkey IF you wash it completely afterwards.
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