Turkey Thighs

[fishrman]

My house has a definite preference for dark meat when it comes to turkey, unless the meat coming off the smoker is a turkey breast ;).  But today was all about the dark meat, so got a mess of turkey thighs, removed the skin and brined them overnight in the same brine I use for making the Thanksgiving turkey.  Smoked with apple for 2 hours at 230F, then upped the temp to 250F until I got an IT of 165.  These are definitely good eats and the apple cider vinegar in the brine gives them a definite tang when eating!  Great when diced and served with a pasta and white sauce.  Just as good when held with 2 fingers and attacked with your teeth as any good carnivore would do!



If you are interested, here's the brine recipe.  I use the amount shown for a 12-16 lb bird; for the thighs I cut down the amounts of each ingredient depending on how many I'm going to smoke.

Turkey Brine:
3        gal. Water                  1 1/3 C. honey
3        C. coarse kosher salt   1 1/3 C. apple cider vinegar
2 1/3  C. soy sauce                  1 1/3  Tbsp. black pepper
1 1/3  C. white sugar   6        Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 1/3  C. brown sugar   2        tsp. Allspice   

Heat water/salt/sugars to rolling boil.  Take off burner, add other ingredients.  Allow mixture to cool before placing meat into solution  (To speed up this process, use 1 Gal. of water, then add cold water with ice to make up the remaining amount after you've finished adding all ingredients).  Place turkey in non-reactive container (read: plastic – 5 gal bucket works well) and cover with brine. Refrigerate for 8-12 hours. Remove turkey from the refrigerator, discard brine, rinse well, inside and out.  Pat dry.  Place on wire rack sitting on rimmed baking sheet and place in refrigerator, uncovered, for 6-12 hours.

Enjoy!

[mikecorn.1]

Nice color on them bird parts.


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[OldHickory]

They look great Tom.  When I brine chicken or turkey, it always turns out tender and juicy.  My Wife and I think the thigh is the best part.  I hope you have some left over for snacks for tomorrow and the Super Bowl, but I would bet you don't.  ;D