justeric1agn
11-11-2011, 02:39 AM
ok trying this saturday. this is a cut and past so won't read it and i think it says something about obama is a turkey not sure who reads these cut and pasta things anyway. lol just kidding i read it cut out the adds and it sounds good going to smoke one Saturday while they are cheap.lol i'm a redneck going to buy tommarow soaking it friday night after it thaws all day in worktruck and smoking it saturday.lol
Start thawing the turkey about 3 days before you are ready to use it. Remember that turkeys thaw at a rate of about 5 lbs per day. If you have to hurry with it, you can put the turkey in a sink of cold water but you have to replace the water every 30 minutes and I don't recommend doing this from the git-go.
Try to defrost as much as possible in the fridge then if it's still a little frozen when you are almost ready to use it, use the water method to finish it off.
It needs to be completely thawed in order for the brine to work correctly.
Brining the bird
The first step in getting the bird ready is brining it. Putting meat down in a particular ratio of salt and water (or other liquid) causes a reaction and somehow through osmosis and other scientific terms that I really don't know a lot about, the salty water is pulled into the bird. The water molecules attach themselves to the protein strands and this just leads to a juicier bird in the end.
When you cook a bird, moisture is going to be lost. So by adding more moisture to the bird, even though we did not prevent the moisture loss, we are left with a lot more juice inside that we would not have had in an unbrined bird.
Needless to say, you and I don't have to understand exactly how it works but suffice it to say that it does work very well and if you try it, I fully believe that you will see and taste the difference.
The cool thing about the brine being pulled into the meat is no matter what you put in the brine, it will end up inside the bird.. it just works that way. For this reason, we add spices, juices, beer, wine, and anything imaginable to the brine as a better way to get it into the bird.
Injecting the bird also accomplishes this task and is faster but I feel that the brining process is far superior when time and space allows it.
So let's get to brining!
The first thing you'll need to know is how much brine you're going to need to make.. this is easy.
Place your turkey in the brining container such as an empty ice chest, large bowl, Jumbo 2-1/2 gallon ziploc, etc. and pour plain water over it to see how much brine it will take to cover it. Discard water when finished making a note of how much water was required to cover the bird.
My 12 pound bird required just under 2 gallons to cover it in a small ice chest.
Now that we know how much we'll need, go ahead and mix up the brine adjusting the recipe if you need to make less or more than 2 gallons.
Jeff's Buttermilk Brine for Poultry
Ingredients:
1 gallon buttermilk
1 gallon water
2 cups kosher salt
6 TBS rib rub
Direction:
Pour buttermilk into 1 gallon pitcher. Add 1 of the cups of salt and stir until the salt is dissolved. Add the 6 tablespoons of rub and stir again until well mixed.
Pour brine into brining container.
Pour water into the 1 gallon pitcher and add the last cup of salt stirring until it is completely dissolved. Pour into brine container with buttermilk brine and stir both together to mix.
Q: Why not add both cups of salt to the buttermilk or the water all at one time? A: Only so much salt will dissolve in a gallon of liquid and I did not want to push those parameters. Feel free to try it if you wish.
Once the 2 gallons of brine are in the brining container, it's time to submerge the turkey in it.
Remove the packaging from the turkey and be sure to remove the neck, giblets and anything else that might be in the birds cavity.
Place turkey down in the brine and use a heavy plate, bowl or even a bag of ice to weigh down the turkey if it tries to float. It is important that it be completely submerged.
The turkey must stay between 33 and 39 degrees for it to be safe so the fridge is the best place to keep a brining turkey if possible and you have the room.
If you cannot use the fridge then you will have to use one of the following methods:
1. Add some ice to the brine to get the temperature down to where it needs to be. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature is in the "safe" zone.
2. Place the turkey with the brine in a very large ziploc or plastic bag. Set the closed bag down in an empty ice chest and pour ice all around the bag to keep it cold. This will keep the brine from being diluted.
I usually just use the first method since most of the ice does not melt throughout the night and I have had really good results using that method.
Let the turkey brine for 10-12 hours then rinse well under cold water and set aside.
Seasoning the Turkey
I usually place the seasoning on the outside of the turkey and try to get a little under the skin wherever possible but this time I had this bright idea to flavor some butter with my rub, some garlic and a few chives and to stuff that under the skin.. all the way under.
Great idea so let's make up that butter.. it's easy!
Start thawing the turkey about 3 days before you are ready to use it. Remember that turkeys thaw at a rate of about 5 lbs per day. If you have to hurry with it, you can put the turkey in a sink of cold water but you have to replace the water every 30 minutes and I don't recommend doing this from the git-go.
Try to defrost as much as possible in the fridge then if it's still a little frozen when you are almost ready to use it, use the water method to finish it off.
It needs to be completely thawed in order for the brine to work correctly.
Brining the bird
The first step in getting the bird ready is brining it. Putting meat down in a particular ratio of salt and water (or other liquid) causes a reaction and somehow through osmosis and other scientific terms that I really don't know a lot about, the salty water is pulled into the bird. The water molecules attach themselves to the protein strands and this just leads to a juicier bird in the end.
When you cook a bird, moisture is going to be lost. So by adding more moisture to the bird, even though we did not prevent the moisture loss, we are left with a lot more juice inside that we would not have had in an unbrined bird.
Needless to say, you and I don't have to understand exactly how it works but suffice it to say that it does work very well and if you try it, I fully believe that you will see and taste the difference.
The cool thing about the brine being pulled into the meat is no matter what you put in the brine, it will end up inside the bird.. it just works that way. For this reason, we add spices, juices, beer, wine, and anything imaginable to the brine as a better way to get it into the bird.
Injecting the bird also accomplishes this task and is faster but I feel that the brining process is far superior when time and space allows it.
So let's get to brining!
The first thing you'll need to know is how much brine you're going to need to make.. this is easy.
Place your turkey in the brining container such as an empty ice chest, large bowl, Jumbo 2-1/2 gallon ziploc, etc. and pour plain water over it to see how much brine it will take to cover it. Discard water when finished making a note of how much water was required to cover the bird.
My 12 pound bird required just under 2 gallons to cover it in a small ice chest.
Now that we know how much we'll need, go ahead and mix up the brine adjusting the recipe if you need to make less or more than 2 gallons.
Jeff's Buttermilk Brine for Poultry
Ingredients:
1 gallon buttermilk
1 gallon water
2 cups kosher salt
6 TBS rib rub
Direction:
Pour buttermilk into 1 gallon pitcher. Add 1 of the cups of salt and stir until the salt is dissolved. Add the 6 tablespoons of rub and stir again until well mixed.
Pour brine into brining container.
Pour water into the 1 gallon pitcher and add the last cup of salt stirring until it is completely dissolved. Pour into brine container with buttermilk brine and stir both together to mix.
Q: Why not add both cups of salt to the buttermilk or the water all at one time? A: Only so much salt will dissolve in a gallon of liquid and I did not want to push those parameters. Feel free to try it if you wish.
Once the 2 gallons of brine are in the brining container, it's time to submerge the turkey in it.
Remove the packaging from the turkey and be sure to remove the neck, giblets and anything else that might be in the birds cavity.
Place turkey down in the brine and use a heavy plate, bowl or even a bag of ice to weigh down the turkey if it tries to float. It is important that it be completely submerged.
The turkey must stay between 33 and 39 degrees for it to be safe so the fridge is the best place to keep a brining turkey if possible and you have the room.
If you cannot use the fridge then you will have to use one of the following methods:
1. Add some ice to the brine to get the temperature down to where it needs to be. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature is in the "safe" zone.
2. Place the turkey with the brine in a very large ziploc or plastic bag. Set the closed bag down in an empty ice chest and pour ice all around the bag to keep it cold. This will keep the brine from being diluted.
I usually just use the first method since most of the ice does not melt throughout the night and I have had really good results using that method.
Let the turkey brine for 10-12 hours then rinse well under cold water and set aside.
Seasoning the Turkey
I usually place the seasoning on the outside of the turkey and try to get a little under the skin wherever possible but this time I had this bright idea to flavor some butter with my rub, some garlic and a few chives and to stuff that under the skin.. all the way under.
Great idea so let's make up that butter.. it's easy!