It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh – Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!!
Posted on 11/20/2010 6:20:13 AM PST by Former MSM Viewer
I have never brined a turkey. Is it beneficial/ I want a fresh turkey this year and was told I should brine the bird for 2 days. Any experience with brining you could share would be appreciated.
It is definitely worth it to brine a turkey! I use a simple Emeril Recipe that calls for brown sugar, lemons, oranges, Kosher salt, Rosemary and thyme. The citrus “brightens” the flavor of the turkey and doesn’t overpower it. The Martha Stewart roasting method — cheesecloth soaked in a wine butter mixture and basted — made this the best roasted turkey I’ve ever made.
I’m putting together a holiday “master plan” binder for both my kids to take with them when they leave home. It includes recipes for cookies, main dishes, appetizers, hints...and the turkey roasting method. :)
That sounds like a very unique method, but it's kind of hard to picture.
Every time I've tried it I think it's been extremely successful.
Yeah, most people don't know the proper way to cook a turkey or they want to crank up the temperature to get it done faster. So brining saves the bird from all of the mistakes the amateur cook makes. If a person knows the correct way, then brining is unnecessary. However, brining is good for the cook who wants to socialize while preparing the meal, because it is a forgiving method.
A corollary to this is that the bigger the turkey, the more likely that people will cook it improperly. This is especially true if they try to cook a big old tough tom turkey. So brining can make it easier to cook big birds.
Yum!
We tried this brined turkey for the first time last year, courtesy of the Food Network. Whole family raved about it.
Ingredients
1 (10 to 12-pound) turkey
Brine, recipe follows
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths
1 large orange, cut into 8ths
1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken or turkey stock, for basting
Turkey Broth:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Reserved turkey neck and giblets
1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 large celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 small bay leaf
3 cups turkey stock, chicken stock, or canned low-salt chicken broth
3 cups water
Gravy:
4 cups turkey broth
1 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Remove the neck, giblets, and liver from the cavity of the turkey and reserve for the gravy. Rinse the turkey inside and out under cold running water.
Soak the turkey in the brine, covered and refrigerated, for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels, inside and out. Place breast side down in a large, heavy roasting pan, and rub on all sides with the butter. Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the turkey with the onion, orange, celery, carrot, bay leaves, and thyme. Loosely tie the drumsticks together with kitchen string.
For the turkey broth: Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add the turkey neck, heart, and gizzard to the pan and saute until just beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Add the chopped vegetables and bay leaf to the pan and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Pour the stock and 3 cups of water into the pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the stock is reduced to 4 cups, about 1 hour, adding the chopped liver to the pan during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Strain the stock into a clean pot or large measuring cup. Pull the meat off the neck, chop the neck meat and giblets, and set aside.
Roast the turkey, uncovered, breast side down for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, turn, and baste with 1/2 cup stock. Continue roasting with the breast side up until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the largest section of thigh (avoiding the bone), about 2 3/4 to 3 hours total cooking time. Baste the turkey once every hour with 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken or turkey stock.
Remove from the oven and place on a platter. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.
For the pan gravy: Pour the reserved turkey pan juices into a glass-measuring cup and skim off the fat. Place the roasting pan on 2 stovetop burners over medium heat add the pan juice and 1 cup turkey broth and the white wine to the pan, and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining 3 cup of broth and bring to a simmer, then transfer to a measuring cup.
In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Add the hot stock, whisking constantly, then simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved neck meat and giblets to the pan and adjust seasoning, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Pour into a gravy boat and serve.
Brine:
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 oranges, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
6 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
To make the brining solution, dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water in a non-reactive container (such as a clean bucket or large stockpot, or a clean, heavy-duty, plastic garbage bag.) Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary.
Note: if you have a big turkey and need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar for every gallon of water.
Yeah, I found it. I thought you were referring to another one.
Brining is only for people who would rather taste salt then turkey meat.
You don't get many pan drippings when you brine a turkey, nor does the skin get very browned. They say the meat holds the moisture better when you brine, but frankly, I didn't notice much of a difference either way. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
I used a brine of 1 pound salt, 1 pound b. sugar and three gallons of ice water for 12 hrs.
Deep fried my 14# Butter Ball for about 3 minutes per pound (40 minutes) it was OUTSTANDING!
It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh – Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!!
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that if you brine, you have to make sure that you rinse the turkey very thoroughly to ensure that you don’t end up with a turkey that tastes salty.
We have never brined and will be deep frying a turkey this year. That being said, the best way I have found to cook a turkey in the oven is to cook it breast side down. The juices go to the white meat which makes it very very moist. It is not pretty though so you might want to carve it in the kitchen and serve it on a platter.
As to the deep fried turkey, we inject it with Ken’s light caesar dressing which has parmesan cheese in it and makes it sooooo good. The second turkey we deep fry will be Cajun seasoned. (An ode to both my Sicilian and Coon*ass roots.)
My vote is for Alton Brown’s recipe, too! The year I first tried this, all the talk at the table was how delicious the turkey tasted. I also would advise you to pick up a fresh turkey that has not been injected with stock or any other of the “natural flavors” used by the industry to disguise the blandness in the factory farmed birds.
>>When prepared correctly, a brined turkey is not salty.<<
It will be either salty or dry, there is no other way it can be. I’ve been curing meat since 1969. If you put salt on a piece of meat and put it in a plastic container you will see liquid build up around the meat. That’s moisture pulled out of the meat, if you leave the meat for a longer period some of the liquid will be re-absorbed pulling the salt back in with it.
Brining meat is usually down to prevent the growth of botulism bacteria if the meat is to be smoked at a relatively low temperature (below the 160° to 180° internal temp needed to kill bacteria). Prior to refrigeration, smoking was one of the methods used to provide for long term storage of meat.
The brine solution is largely salt water with a touch of sodium nitrate. The nitrate is carcinogenic and can be toxic in high concentrations so it is imperative to get the amount correct. The actual amount required is quite small (milligrams) and therefore difficult to measure. The answer is to use a commercial preparation known as "Prague powder" which is a mixture of common salt and sodium nitrate that gives the correct concentration when mixed with water at xxx teaspoons per pound of meat. Bay leaves and other flavoring ingredients may be added to personal taste.
Low temperature cooking is also done to tenderize tough cuts of meat (beef brisket, &c.) where five hours at 175° will give you juicy and tender, whereas an hour at 400° will give you something like a mouthful of rubber bands encased in charcoal. Meat that is cooked at higher temperature (oven, charcoal, or deep fryer) and is not intended for long term storage does not require brining except if desired for flavor enhancement.
Regards,
GtG
PS Cajun deep fried turkey is "to die for"!
To each his own! IMHO trash bags are for garbage and should not be used for food preparation. Some (if not all) are treated with insecticides to prevent the growth of pests in your garbage can. Yuck!
Regards,
GtG
PS An earlier post suggested a camping cooler which seems like a neat idea.
Brine but not for 24 hours. Overnight is good enough.
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