ok so I am brining this turkey please help

[smom1976]

Brining the turkey seems to be poping up quite a bit this year. So I am doing it.. I have it in a cooler with water much like msprissy's turkey (only less than half the size LOL) I put some salt about a cup maybe a cup and a half some brown sugar and then today I added some white sugar. It was mostly frozen when I put it in and the cooler is outside so I didnt add any ice. Today the water is still very cold and the turkey is thawed.. Tonight is supposed to get really cold..

Now MP says to brine till wed.. then soak in fresh for 12 more hours then room temp to put the bird in. I do not have any cheese cloth. But I might go and look to get some..

Now with the sweet/salty brine.. what kind of flavor does this add?

My husband said "what are you doing" I said "brining the turkey" "got it off of my chicken site" he replys "have you ever done this before?" I say "no" this would be the look on his face

so with a little help from all you all... my turkey will turn out great!

Oh yea I did get some injector stuff for the turkey should I not do both or would that be ok??

 

[key west chick]

I just put mine in a 5 gallon bucket with water and lots of salt and let it sit in my fridge over night. Took it out Thanksgiving morning, rinsed it well and cooked it. I think all the salt does is keeps it moist while you cook it. I couldn't tell a difference in the taste.

 

[kinnip]

Make sure that sucker stays cold during the day. It can still go bad in a brine. If you added enough salt, you shouldn't need the injector, but you can do it if you want to. I'll brine anything. I usually double the amount of salt in most brine recipes. In order for it to work with that much salt, you have to heat the salt in water until it's dissolved, cool the fluid and add to the cooler with ice. Then you can cook the hell out of it and still have a juicy bird.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Quote:
Interesting, kinnip. I may try that this time myself. Thanks for sharing

 

[smom1976]

Quote:
I just added a few ice cubes.. they should stay there for a while because it is very cold water..

The injector is a cajun butter, and I plan on buttering the meat under the skin..

very nummy...

 

[smom1976]

I just changed the brine solution for plain water.. I will let it soak till morning 8ish.. (that is 12 hours) and then let it come to room temp before cooking..

so far so good.

 

[Possumpoint]

We brine our turkey's and chickens before smoking and we love the flavor. We got this brine recipe from Alton Brown and it's never failed us.

Brine:

1 gallon HOT water
1 lb salt
2 qts vegetable stock (we use Maddi vegetable bouillon to make our own)
1 lb honey
1 7lb bag of ice
1 turkey w/giblets removed - save for gravy
1 clean 5 gallon bucket with cover of some sort (we use a large stainless steel cookie sheet with a brick on top, but can use foil.)
Vegetable oil for rubbing poultry

Combine water and salt in large pot on stove. Heat and stir until salt is dissolved. Add to bucket. Add vegetable broth and honey and stir well. Add ice and stir. Place cleaned turkey in last and cover. Let turkey brine overnight in cool place for 12 hours.

Remove turkey from brine and dry throughly. Rub turkey all over with vegetable oil.

Place bird on smoker and cook until done, (of course, this depends on the size of the bird.) Note: If turkey starts to get too brown, cover with a tent of foil.

** Let bird set for 1 hour before carving.

If DH has to work on Thanksgiving (which is the case this year, Arrrgh!) I still brine and bake in the oven. Got my little baby in the oven right now. It still comes out of the oven moist, tender and tasting heavenly. Oh, and a brined & smoked turkey or chicken is to die for! I'll take it smoked over fried any day! Once you brine your birds, you won't want to cook another no-brined bird again.

Just make sure you keep the turkey/chicken cold while it's in the brine solution. We place our covered bucket in DH's shop outside with the heat turned off and there is still ice in the bucket the next morning. It also helps if the turkey/chickens are pretty cold to begin with. During the summer months, we brine our chickens overnight in large containers placed in a spare fridge in our outdoor freezer room.

Happy Turkey Day!

 

[smom1976]

the turkey was amazing.... the trick with the cheese cloth did not work like I wanted it to.. I have had better results just cooking without. But I WILL brine again.. and the injector was good too..

No knife was needed, and because our silverware is so junky and not enough for everyone I got plastic and you cold totally just cut the turkey with your plastic fork.

NUMMYYYYYYY

 

[millhoff]

"We brine our turkey's and chickens before smoking and we love the flavor. We got this brine recipe from Alton Brown and it's never failed us."

You can't go wrong with following something from Alton Brown.