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The Turkey Thread


kevwun

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11 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I just put on some kosher salt and coarse grind black pepper, the same as I would do to a brisket.

Yup, I use my standard brisket rub, which for me is salt n peppa but also includes paprika for color and as a carrier.  I do use less salt than normal after brining.

 

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On 11/19/2019 at 12:45 AM, Gil Bang said:

Bumping this as I see y'all have "Firehouse Subs" out there too.   They sell their 5 gal pickle buckets with lids for a couple of bucks.   Food-safe plastic. 

 

On 11/19/2019 at 6:28 AM, utee94 said:

You can probably go around almost any BBQ place and ask them for 5 gallon pickle buckets and get them for free. We always had a dozen lying around our restaurant waiting to be taken out.

i'm buying my own 5 gallon bucket of pickles and proceeding to eat them. 

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7 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

I have a turkey that is not completely thawed which I'll be brining prior to smoking on Thursday.  Any reason not to start the brining tonight as opposed to waiting until tomorrow when the bird is completely thawed?

As long as you're doing a wet brine, it will finish the thaw for you.  Brine for as long as you ordinarily would.  If you brine too long it can get salty.

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I'm a turkey noob.  I did my first one last year using some random recipe I found online.  I don't have a smoker, so I'll be roasting it in the oven like I did last year.  Can anyone give me a recipe or tips to take it to the next level?  What the hell should I be doing tonight, tomorrow, etc?

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10 hours ago, Assman said:

I'm a turkey noob.  I did my first one last year using some random recipe I found online.  I don't have a smoker, so I'll be roasting it in the oven like I did last year.  Can anyone give me a recipe or tips to take it to the next level?  What the hell should I be doing tonight, tomorrow, etc?

Make a mixture of fresh herbs and butter and apply liberally underneath the skin.  Place some onions, carrots, celery, and herbs in the cavity.  Reynolds oven bags work great for roasting turkeys.

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14 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:
16 hours ago, Chewbacca said:
As long as you're doing a wet brine, it will finish the thaw for you.  Brine for as long as you ordinarily would.  If you brine too long it can get salty.

Good point on brining too long. Last year I only brined over night and the turkey turned out great.

12 hours seems to be the right amount of time for brining.

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10 hours ago, Assman said:

I'm a turkey noob.  I did my first one last year using some random recipe I found online.  I don't have a smoker, so I'll be roasting it in the oven like I did last year.  Can anyone give me a recipe or tips to take it to the next level?  What the hell should I be doing tonight, tomorrow, etc?

Brine now (12 hours or so) to make it moist/keep moisture. Then season with whatever herbs suit your fancy before roasting/smoking/ frying.  

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Cooked the pumpkin pies last night, one straight forward traditional, and the other 2 with crushed walnuts in the mix.

 

Gonna roast a 22 lb bird early tomorrow morning for the 1:00 feeding, and fry a 15 lb bird.

What's my seasoning for both ?  

Brining the roaster now, Thinking a Scarsburough fair traditional mix for the roaster : parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, with cracked pepper, olive oil on, under the skin, and in the cavity

Wanna do something different for the fryer. What's the way to go there ??  Do I still wanna brine that one ?  They never seem to have moisture issues when fried.

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40 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Cooked the pumpkin pies last night, one straight forward traditional, and the other 2 with crushed walnuts in the mix.

 

Gonna roast a 22 lb bird early tomorrow morning for the 1:00 feeding, and fry a 15 lb bird.

What's my seasoning for both ?  

Brining the roaster now, Thinking a Scarsburough fair traditional mix for the roaster : parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, with cracked pepper, olive oil on, under the skin, and in the cavity

Wanna do something different for the fryer. What's the way to go there ??  Do I still wanna brine that one ?  They never seem to have moisture issues when fried.

Don't brine the fryer, instead inject it. The Zatarain's injector with creole better shown above, works well.  

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1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

He's 18.5 lbs now.  

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Used the kitchen shears with great success once again, but now I kinda wanna do it with the reciprocating saw, just because.  Maybe next time.

Also, that's the exact same Ziploc bag I use, so much easier than a bucket or ice chest and since it's already spatchcocked, it can fold and squeeze into any space in the fridge that you have.

 

 

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1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Used the kitchen shears with great success once again, but now I kinda wanna do it with the reciprocating saw, just because.  Maybe next time.

Also, that's the exact same Ziploc bag I use, so much easier than a bucket or ice chest and since it's already spatchcocked, it can fold and squeeze into any space in the fridge that you have.

 

 

Overkill is always the best medicine in my book. 

I could not get that ziploc bag shut due to the size of the bird and amount of brine. I actually have a large brining bag inside of that one that is about 80% shut. So far no leaks and no stinkage. 

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Just now, Jameslaw121 said:

Would a rub of Rosemary, sage and salt & Pepper be good on a smoked turkey or would it just burn?

Not sure if it would burn, but I'm also not sure the relatively delicate flavors associated with rosemary and sage are going to make it through the smoke.  The salt and pepper obviously will.

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Just now, utee94 said:

Not sure if it would burn, but I'm also not sure the relatively delicate flavors associated with rosemary and sage are going to make it through the smoke.  The salt and pepper obviously will.

Then, I'll probably just stick to S&P and Paprika. with the injection and a stick of butter and an apple and oragne in the cavity

 

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Made an 8 lb tonight.

Spices: Salt, pepper and Tony C's to taste also a little brown sugar (inside and out of bird and under skin of breast)

Inside the Bird:  carrots, celery, apples, squeezed orange and some aromatics of choice (all seasoned with above)

I cut a stick of butter long ways and put one on each breast under the skin.  and throw half a stick inside the bird.

Put it in a bag and cooked it at 325 until 150

then covered top with foil pumped it up to 355 until 162.

I prefer fresh Turkey, non frozen.  Also taste is my number one concern.  I don't care about appearance or crispy skin.  Dry turkey sucks.    

Another year of not only tender but juicy.  

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7 hours ago, Chewbacca said:
16 hours ago, Baboontyme said:
I've done Rosemary and butter under the skin and you can definitely taste the flavor. Get that butter to room temp so you can spread it in there by hand. I use gloves.

Gloves, condoms, whatever works.

But the condoms keep the "butter" from getting inside the cavity.  Wait..... what are we talking about ?

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Trader Joe’s turkey not prebrined. I brined it myself using a great recipe I’ve had. Cooked on the gas grill with wood chip pack. Much smokier than I thought it’d be (which is a good thing), probably should have used a slightly higher temp, but pretty good overall. Best skin I’ve rendered. Learned the cheesecloth method.

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I wound up separating it during the cook. I had the wings at 180 so I snipped them off. Then I had the thighs right at 165 and the lopsided breasts were still in the 140 range. Pulled the breasts about 45 minutes later. Had plenty of time for everything to rest. I think it was the best one I've ever done. Maybe I didn't use enough salt in my brine in the past. This year I made sure I used 1.25-1.5 cups per gallon and I brined for about 48 hours. 

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  • 3 months later...

Put a turkey on the smoker an hour ago.  Looking forward to the feast.  The best part was nearly cutting the tip of my finger off slicing oranges to stuff in the cavity.  Been bleeding profusely since.  Probably stitch worthy but no way am I going to an ER right now.  I'll amputate first.

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Don't bleed out sb. 

Also save the carcass and the giblets and make yourself some soup when you feel like it. I had a frozen neck as well. I busted them out last week because #bored and made a big ass pot of soup for the 4 of us. It lasted a week and it was damn good. 

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Don't bleed out sb. 
Also save the carcass and the giblets and make yourself some soup when you feel like it. I had a frozen neck as well. I busted them out last week because #bored and made a big ass pot of soup for the 4 of us. It lasted a week and it was damn good. 


Ha, made the soup out of the carcass starting right after dinner.
Bird (or the half that was left over after I forgot the pre-carve pic
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And the soup, which was freaking delicious. Just had some for dinner.
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9 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

The bride just scored a 17 lb turkey at the grocery store as there were no chickens and only 2 smaller turkeys.  My normal drill is to spatchcock and wet brine a turkey for a couple of days before smoking it.  I want to try something different, aside from frying.  Ideas?  Thanks.

Spatchcock, dry brine, and smoke!

 

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