maharajamd

iTrader: (1)

Amazon Gold Box deal starts in 20 minutes... Wireless thermo

stogie1020

Did a 14# fresh this year.

Brined for 18 hours (water/salt/sugar, whole peppercorn, garlic, whole orange quartered and squeezed, bay leaf, thyme)

Rubbed herbed butter under skin of breast and on skin of dark meat.

Cooked 30 min @500 upside down un-stuffed (no bag/mayo/etc).

Flipped and cooked to 165-170.

Total cook time was about 2.25 hours.

People said it was the best turkey they had ever had.

maharajamd

iTrader: (1)

Nice. First time using a fresh bird? It makes a world of difference.

Jakes_tl

Well Thanksgiving is almost around the corner - wanted to refresh this thread.

By the way I never brined a turkey and this year I definitely want to, anyone have any good recipes?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I'm tasked to smoke another turkey....

Low and slow this time.. lol

Jakes_tl

I hear that is the way to go but I don't have a smoker, maybe next year.

TacoBello

Does the skin get crispy at all? Because if so...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

like bbq'd chicken or smoked turkey leg.

SiClone

I'm on the hunt for a 23-26 lb bird this week , but with all the bird flu issues in my state, they are tough to find. The meat guy at the grocery store said to check back in a few days as they might get the bigger birds closer to T-day.

I'm not afraid to cook big turkeys. No bag. No flipping. Fully stuffed with 5-6 boxes of stove top stuffing. I use a lot of garlic. I mince a few bulbs of garlic in a small $4 black friday food chopper and then mix some up with room temp butter, along with salt and pepper. Wearing gloves, I slide my hand under the breast skin (cavity opening end) and work the skin off the meat. Then I grab a clump of butter/garlic seasoning and massage the meat under the skin. You can use either plain softened butter for the outside skin or the mix. Bake/convect at 350. Baste every 30 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees every hour. I also like to throw in some cut up carrots, tators, onions, and celery in the pan. Makes a nice veggie side dish.

If you don't want dry breast meat, buy a meat thermometer and learn how to use it. When the deep part of the thigh (not touching bone) hits 165-170, its done. Take it out and let it sit for half an hour before slicing up.

Jakes_tl

I always make ours in a bag but wonder if it would be better without.

stogie1020

This is Alton Brown's, (and it NEVER fails me) so I can't claim it, although I add a bunch of other stuff to the brine like garlic, herbs, a little liquid smoke (also, I change up the aromatics, I don't like cinnamon, just use herbs, onions/garlic/celery, citrus, etc. ). Additionally, I cook for the "hot period" breast down and then turn it over for the remainder:

Also, YOU MUST RINSE THE BRINE OFF THE BIRD WELL, INSIDE AND OUT. PLEASE DON'T FORGET THIS.

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
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Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

stogie1020

The brine is all about the ratio of sugar to salt to liquid.

Jakes_tl

Curious why do you need to use sugar?

Jakes_tl

We are savory people in our family, we don't do the oranges, apples, cinnamon, cranberry with turkeys. I know a lot of people like that but it's not our thing. We do thyme, rosemary, sage etc

stogie1020

1. helps moderate any salt flavor from the brine
2. Helps caramelize the meat under heat.

stogie1020

Oh, if you brine, DO NOT use a butterball or a kosher bird (look for "liquid enhanced", "brined", "flavor enhanced", etc. on the label).

They are already "brined" and you will be eating a salty mess.

Jakes_tl

That stinks because we usually always get butterball from costco.

stogie1020

The butterballs are pre-brined. That's what makes them "better". I prefer to make it better myself.

Jakes_tl

I totally agree with you. I must rather brine it myself that way it's fresh and i know what's in the brine.

Jakes_tl

For those of you that roast your turkey in the oven: how to you roast your turkey?

Bag or no bag? What temp do you cook at? Do you flip over the bird during cooking?

stogie1020

No bag. Always ended up leaving a weird texture on the skin and it was impossible to remove without destroying the skin. I used to make the turkey look like a horror show with 20 toothpicks sticking up out of the breasts to keep the bag from settling on the skin, but that was a PITA too...

Now, I preheat to 500, cook breast side down for 30, flip it over (now breast side up) and reduce heat to 350. Cook until it hits the temp you are looking for. Should be about 2-2.5 hours for a 14-16# bird unstuffed.

Jakes_tl

Would you say without a bag it comes out a lot dryer or not?

Jakes_tl

Anybody cook their turkey 250 or 275 degrees? I heard some people do and they say it is the most moist / tender turkey they had.

stogie1020

Because I brine, without the bag comes out as juicy of not juicier than when I bagged it. Honestly, if you are looking for an amazing turkey this year, buy a fresh bird, follow my recipe and enjoy the extra three hours of relaxation time from not having to cook a bird at 6:30 AM. I kid you not, it's the best method I have ever done.

Done it. Just takes a long time. I don't recall any real difference in the actual flavor or juiciness. I do recall waking up at 4 AM to get the damn thing in the oven, though. No thank you.


I am sure someone has done all three methods side by side, google around some and see if you can find it.

oo7spy

Fried turkeys FTW.

Jakes_tl

Stogie have you were tried dry brine? I have read online saying that wet brine does make a moist bird but does give it more of a watered down flavor / mushy texture.

Here is the link to that: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/t...nksgiving.html

stogie1020

I read that too, never experienced it though. My results have been very tasty good texture very moist birds. You have time, buy two whole chickens and oven roast them both. Brine one in your brine of choice and compare.

I think part of the prpoblem is that people are just USED to dry and tough turkey (esp. the breast) so they think that is the way it should be. If you buy two chickens to roast, halve each of them and do the following test:

four halves
1. no brine/rub/seasoning
2. dry brine
3. wet brine with full salt amount (per brine recipe)
4. wet brine with 1/2 salt amount of brine recipe

Use one toothpick in #1, two in #2, etc. to keep them straight in the oven and during tasting.

stogie1020

Jakes_tl, how did you end up cooking it and how did it turn out?

The brined birds (I did about 12 hours in brine)came out awesome! Crunchy skin, super moist meat, good flavor, and they (20# each) cooked in about 3 hours TOTAL each.

Jakes_tl

I dry brined my turkey (19 pounder), started Tuesday night. I used about 5 tablespoons of Kosher Salt, some powdered Garlic to taste, loosely covered the bird and put it in the fridge, flipped the bird over on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I melted some butter and then added finely chopped garlic and put that underneath the skin.

Started with 500 degree over for 30 minutes, than covered the breast meat with a triangle shaped foil and dropped the over to 350 degrees. Total cook time was 2 hours - I was shocked, first time doing a turkey in our new oven.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Jakes_tl

I know, I love Thanksgiving and it seems to go by so fast

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I want to smoke a turkey so bad, but my smoker is too small

Jakes_tl

I too would love to smoke one but first need a good smoker which won't be anytime soon

Whiskers

Just threw away the leftovers

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I was looking at big ones on Saturday... Talked myself out of one, I love my little charcoal smoker, but I need to upgrade sooner or later

stogie1020

Awesome!

I used to cook turkeys low and slow. This meant I had time to drink beer, play football, go for a walk, drink some more beer, etc.

Now that it only takes 2-3 hours total, I miss the beer, football, walks, etc...

Jakes_tl

When you cooked them low and slow, what temperature did you cook it at? How was the turkey compared to how you cook it now?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

doopstr

OMG, put some Cajun spice on a turkey breast and threw it in my Showtime Rotisserie for 2.5 hours. Best turkey ever!

Bearcat94