Wednesday, December 9, 2009

When Making a Turkey

Sometimes on Wednesday I forget that it's Recipe Wednesday. And then we end up not having a recipe and then those of you who are sitting around waiting for a recipe have to sadly sigh as you navigate elsewhere on the intertubes and hope that I will get my act together and just notice for once that it's Wednesday.

Well, longsuffering friend, your wait is over. I remembered that today is Wednesday and by George, I'm going to do something about it.

Today, let's discuss turkey brining. I bring this up because I recently made myself a brined turkey and it was absolutely delicious. I will probably continue to fantasize about this turkey for years to come. Sigh. This past Thanksgiving was my first attempt at brining a turkey. My grandpa has brined chicken for fried chicken as far back as I can remember. (But don't think I ever get invited to eat that chicken. Fried chicken is apparently company food for everyone but me. I'm apparently not company and not worthy of having fried chicken made for me. And I blame each and every person living in the family homestead for this.) If you brine your fried chicken, it tastes better. I then extrapolated that to brining whole chickens. That worked out really well. Then I remembered that once I had seen Alton Brown brine a turkey (in the same episode he fried a turkey. Best. Episode. Ever.) and I thought to myself, Self, you could brine a turkey. I bet it'd be delicious. And I listened.

I hadn't had occasion to actually brine a turkey until this past Thanksgiving when I gave it the old college try. Using Brother Alton's recipe for guidance, I mixed up my own turkey brine and had myself a nice turkey for Thanksgiving.

Brined Turkey

1 Turkey (mine was 26.5 pounds)

Brine:
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2-1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
water

Directions:
Thaw out your turkey. Really. Mine was probably 90% thawed when I decided it was going in the brine regardless of the ice. It was fine. In a container big enough to hold your turkey, mix up your brine and some water. Get about three inches of water and mix it up. I used a Sterilite 18 gallon storage bin I borrowed from my parents. It was green and before I washed it, it had paint on it. Place turkey in the brine. Fill up with water.

If you're familiar with Brother Alton's recipe at all, you'll notice that he doesn't cover his turkey with the brine. He wants you to use like four quarts of broth and turn your turkey over halfway through. I personally have issues with touching dead animals more than is necessary. I covered that sucker with water and didn't bother turning it at all. I then had my brother and his wife carry that turkey into my basement and then into my garage and we left the turkey there next to my garage door where he stayed nice and cold for the next 24 hours. I think the cold thing is key. If you don't keep your turkey and your brine cold, you will start growing a bacteria colony. Not necessarily safe, particularly if you're talking about mass-farmed poultry.

When it was time to roast that turkey we pulled it back upstairs (still cold) and pulled him out and dried him off inside and out. We then stuck him in a roaster bag and four and a half hours later he was the tastiest thing on the planet. We roasted him at 350˚ per the instructions on the roaster bag.

I've been thinking about roasting a chicken in the near future. Well, sort of. I think about it until I remember that the chickens at Costco are already roasted and they cost the same as an unroasted chicken at the grocery store. And then I don't care if they're brined or not. At that point I just want some chicken. Anyway, the point is that I think this same recipe would be good with a chicken. Quantities adjusted, of course. I think if I were brining a ten pound turkey or chicken (that would be a big chicken) I wouldn't need a cup and a half of salt. You get the idea. Anyway. That's how I brined a turkey. It was delicious. The end.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Bob,
If I am blamed for your lack of fried chicken one more time, I'm going to come to your house in the night and scatter your leaves!
Bob