last minute turkey advice: use a brine

[squallumz]

haha yeah, the brining is a nice move and its really easy. i remember i met a couple restaurant owners from atlanta and they were picking my brain on how to keep their chicken moist since they could never figure it out when i was cooking at a hilton.

i told em about the brine and they went back home and tried it out. they were ecstatic with the results. wrote me a nice letter and everything.

it works well this pretty much any poultry. baking chickens, chicken breast, that sorta stuff too.


btw, i did use an engine manifold once to cook food when i was working out at sea fishing.

worst case of food poisoning ever. swear to god. i was so fucking sick. and i still cant eat what i ate that day til this day. ukey:

 

[Rane1071]

My father used to do all that basting and brining. He was quite the chef.

Me, I'm too lazy. I usually just whack it in the oven and hope for the best. Anyway, I usually smother my turkey dinners in cranberry sauce.

 

[Supafly]

We never really celebrated Thanksgiving in our family. Both because it's more of an american tradition, and we don't do so much big cooking stuff, as mum is a very poor cook. When I say, 'That tastes like Mummy did it', that's quite an insult

Yet I found meals cooked in a clay pot especially tasty, and very rich and not dry at all

 

[Rane1071]

We never really celebrated Thanksgiving in our family. Both because it's more of an american tradition, and we don't do so much big cooking stuff, as mum is a very poor cook. When I say, 'That tastes like Mummy did it', that's quite an insult

Yet I found meals cooked in a clay pot especially tasty, and very rich and not dry at all

Sounds like my family. While we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, we still had the odd turkey dinner every now and again, and Christmas of course. My mum's an 'ordinary' cook as well .. and that's being complimentary.

 

[Supafly]

Mum showed me how to do some basic things, and from then on (Around age 13), I did all the sauces and so on.

Dad and my sisters were really grateful

 

[Jack Davenport]

I just put a turkey in the oven. A little vegetable oil, salt. and butter. And a little water at the bottom of the pan. I will usually brush a little real maple syrup on the skin towards the end of the cooking time. Not much, but it helps give a nice brown color to it and finishing touch. I'll bail out of here and go visit family around 2 and I will have this turkey all to myself for sandwiches all week. This turkey will cook 4-5 hours.

 

[bahodeme]

seriously? ive always been told more than 24 hours gets sketchy with poultry. theres a tendency for it to actually get salty.

I thought the process/effects of brining stopped after 24hrs. I also use brining for pork chops as well.

 

[squallumz]

I thought the process/effects of brining stopped after 24hrs. I also use brining for pork chops as well.

i did mine overnight. ive never pressed it further than that.

todays turkey turned out fucking brilliant, btw.

like fucking deli meat. impressed the family big time. and this time, i only used water, salt, brown sugar, and threw in some celery and onion instead of the veggie stock mix. best turkey ive ever had. crispy skin, edible fat, moist meat, good flavour.

 

[jinxypie]

brine the son of a bitch.

Hell yeah! We did that this year too. Started Tuesday night, took the bird out of the brine about 4am Thursday. Brine consisted of: salt, brown sugar, water, peppercorns, allspice, rosemary, sage, & thyme. Then Thursday morning the bird got a rub before going in the smoker. I also cooked a regular (non-brined) turkey. And a ham! Plus a bunch of other stuff.

brine is the way to go, even if you're smoking/grilling your turkey.

The smoked turkey was really moist! I didn't like the rub we used, but the bird turned out great overall.

I miss Thanksgiving. Who's house can I come to next year? ;-)

You're SOOOOOO coming to my place!

pf. i got dibs.

No, dear squally, you don't. Heck, why don't you come to my place too? We can talk cooking methods and recipes and gardening... and stuff.

Speaking of poultry and cooking, Mr Chef Fancypants, what is your experience with goose? We're talking about trying one for Christmas.

 

[squallumz]

No, dear squally, you don't. Heck, why don't you come to my place too? We can talk cooking methods and recipes and gardening... and stuff.

Speaking of poultry and cooking, Mr Chef Fancypants, what is your experience with goose? We're talking about trying one for Christmas.

hehehe, imagine the fun!

as far as goose goes, i have done it a couple of times for us at home.

its super fatty and all the meat is dark so you gotta be a huge fan of goose. goose is very tradition so you get points there but if you arent crazy about super dark meat, You Might not like it much.

the biggest tips i can pass on that i know are scoring the fat. water fowl are super fatty (especially near the tail). helps em keep warm and float. i poked the skin with a fort and scored the skin to help render out that fat.

brining is also a good idea and you totally know whats up with the brine already so you should be good. (im also drying to smoke my turkey sometime soon).

the plain and simple goal in goose cooking is to render out all that fat so you end up with crispy skin. after all, thats what goose is all about, fatty crispy skin.

theres a few methods out there from doing it like duck and searing the shit out of the skin then baking it to going fully baked. it really depends on the size of the bird.

heres an all oven recipe thats got a solid rating that you can start peeking at. http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-spiced-roast-goose-200763

this year, for christmas, we are doing duck and having a chinese chirstmas. if we dont, goose is on the menu again.

 

[jinxypie]

interesting link. Thanks, I will share with hubby to see what he says.

 

[squallumz]

interesting link. Thanks, I will share with hubby to see what he says.

if you look carefully, they did a brine with that soy sauce. its a short brine, but a brine nonetheless. they may not know it, but that serves as the salt.