Got my new digital and loving it for Ribs & Jerky so far.
Trying Turkey for the big day next week. I have read some of the ideas on curing/brining. I there a must do recipe???
13 lb bird how long should I smoke? How long to cook? What temp?
Hickory seems to be popular? Would that be a first choice?
I have a recipe as follows, what do you think?
1 gal water
4 cups sugar
2 cups salt (seems heavy on the salt)
1 Can frozen Apple juice
And Alder for smoke.
Sorry for all the questions....Want to get it right on the BIG DAY
W E L C O M E to the Forum SmokeBender!
You are on the right track. As for temp, I use aroung 225F, time is trickier, but figure no more than 4 hours of bisquettes and another couple of hours. I wait for an IT of 160.
I use Hickory, Cherry or Apple.
I use the brine from this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/honey-brined-smoked-turkey-recipe2/index.html
I'm doing a turkey breast and the brine I am using is:
1 gal water
1 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
Smoke 2-3 hours with hickory or apple
Put into oven till finished.
welcome to the forum smoke bender you are going to love your smoker... enjoy
Hey smokbender...read a great article and recipe in the LA Times food section about a dry salt cure for the turkey...had the recipe and all...We're going to try it...website is latimes.com/food Salt roasted turkey...gives you the same results as brining without the "spongy" texture of the meat...just and FYI...
Salt and turkey.....match made in heaven (not according to my doctor, but then again alot of things are not according to him)! ;D
C
Welcome Smokebender !
Quote from: La Quinta on November 19, 2008, 05:37:40 PM
Hey smokbender...read a great article and recipe in the LA Times food section about a dry salt cure for the turkey...had the recipe and all...We're going to try it...website is latimes.com/food Salt roasted turkey...gives you the same results as brining without the "spongy" texture of the meat...just and FYI...
Hey LQ -- I think I'm going to try salting my turkey this year too. I saw it in Bon Appetit. I think there were three different flavor variations -- here is the Bon Appetit link http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/11/turkey_salt_it_dont_brine_it I'm off to read your link.
Deb
Kool Deb...I tend to be a purist when it comes to Thanksgiving...but when LATimes test kitchens give it a big endorsement...I gotta try it...don't like their political views...but that has nothing to do with food!!
Quote from: La Quinta on November 19, 2008, 06:23:56 PM
Kool Deb...I tend to be a purist when it comes to Thanksgiving...but when LATimes test kitchens give it a big endorsement...I gotta try it...don't like their political views...but that has nothing to do with food!!
LQ- We do a pretty traditional thankgiving dinner here too. I'll be doing a herb based one - thyme, rosemary & sage. There seems to be quite a difference in salt used between the LA times (3 T) & the Bon Appetit (1/3 cup plus 1T) for about a 15 lb bird. I guess I need to do some thinking on what the better quantity might be. Also 3 days (LA times) vs. 18-24 hours (BA)
deb
My bird is going to the traeger with hickory/apple pellets.
nepas
Geez Deb you're making me do math!!! A third of a cup is how many TBLs? ??? Yeah the 3 days is a pain...but...the article says in a pinch you can do 2...air dry...yada yada...I just liked the recipe because I understand the innate principles behind dry curing. Let us know which way you decide to go???
Quote from: La Quinta on November 19, 2008, 07:31:31 PM
Geez Deb you're making me do math!!! A third of a cup is how many TBLs? ??? Yeah the 3 days is a pain...but...the article says in a pinch you can do 2...air dry...yada yada...I just liked the recipe because I understand the innate principles behind dry curing. Let us know which way you decide to go???
I always forget measurments La Quinta lol :D
Thats why I keep this bookmarked and always very close by at hand for me.
http://www.calculateme.com/index.htm (http://www.calculateme.com/index.htm)
Saved my life a bunch of times. Hope this helps you and anyone else too :)
Hey LQ, that turkey recipe looks very good, might look into that for Christmas (http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/evilgrin/evilgrin0039.gif) (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/Thanx.gif)
If you have an online subscription to Cook's Illustrated, or if you have the issue in which they covered salt brining that is also a good article. It may have been published about a year ago. You can fore go that by getting a kosher turkey, though more expensive it is already salt brined. I have been salt brining poultry, especially turkey legs off and on for about a year. It works well, less "messy", and uses less room in your refrigerator.
I haven't read any of the articles that have been posted, but if they haven't mentioned it; you don't want to salt brine a turkey that have been injected with a brine solution when it was processed, and of course you don't want to salt brine a kosher turkey.
Quote from: La Quinta on November 19, 2008, 07:31:31 PM
Geez Deb you're making me do math!!! A third of a cup is how many TBLs? ???
Sorry, sorry -- I don't know either ;D I only know a 1/4 cup is 4. So more than that ;D So without going to Stargazer's handy calculator (which I have to check out & bookmark, Thanks Stargazer) I would guess double the amount of salt that is in the LA Times article .....
Habs -- I have the online subscription & will go check it out there. I usually buy a natural bird because I usually brine.
Hey thanks for all the info. And yes the salting does look interesting.
I really appreciate the responses.
Thank you
Hope the info on here helps ya out SmokeBender!! :)
Quote from: deb415611 on November 20, 2008, 03:32:23 AM
Quote from: La Quinta on November 19, 2008, 07:31:31 PM
Geez Deb you're making me do math!!! A third of a cup is how many TBLs? ???
Sorry, sorry -- I don't know either ;D I only know a 1/4 cup is 4. So more than that ;D So without going to Stargazer's handy calculator (which I have to check out & bookmark, Thanks Stargazer) I would guess double the amount of salt that is in the LA Times article .....
Habs -- I have the online subscription & will go check it out there. I usually buy a natural bird because I usually brine.
Sorry! I forgot to mention, when you do your search look under brined chicken or salt brine chicken. That is what they did the article on, and I believe it was either May or July of last year.
Try this brine... you won't be disappointed!!!
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=8021.msg86456#msg86456
More Stupid Questions!
Do you just lay the bird on the rack, hang it, or put it in a pan?
Also what about drippings. Do you put anything under the bird, maybe on the lower shelf, or do you allow it to drip to the water bowl??
Thank for the help!
Mine goes straight on the rack and I don't attempt to catch any drippings.
KyNola
Ditto here - drippings hit the V tray and into the bowl.
If you have a vertical turkey roaster, the bird smoke/cooks better vertically. When you lay it flat, be very careful when you take the bird out of the smoker, or when/if you rotate the racks. A lot of juices collect in the cavity, and the slightest tilt will spill hot juices on your foot. When I remove whole chicken or turkeys from the smoker I place the rack on a half sheet cake pan to catch any juices that may spill out while moving it from the smoker to the table.
KY and FLBR are spot on about the drippings.
Habs has stated it perfectly. You'll know the meaning of pain if the juices hit your hand as well :o. Unfortunately, it happened to me. Now, I never attempt to remove a turkey or chicken any other way than what Habs has stated.
Good luck with the bird!
SD
I did an apple cider brined bird last year (from the recipe site). We rotisseried the bird and it turned out awesome. Mowed right through that meal. That frozen apple juice brine will probably turn out pretty darn good too.
Neps: Did I read TRAEGER???????????
Oh yeah, Consigs.....my man, Nepas is king of the toys for sure. He even has a pigtail and that's not meant in a derogatory way. The dude has cooking meat down to every conceivable way man can cook meat. I'm waiting for his next invention where he buries flank steak underground for 3 months and it comes out like kimchee. I am envious of his toys!
SD
Toys come and toys go.....I just want a Treager now, but wait a minute..... I should get a job first!!! ::)
I was just funnin' about Neps using a different smoker brand.
But speaking of interesting techniques, Duck, a chef over here told me about an Italian cooking technique where you lay a rib eye on white hot wood coals (that's on the bed of coals itself). He says the heat is so intense it sears in all the juices. I don't think I'll try this technique until I see it demonstrated; don't want to ruin a good piece of meat.
Interesting Sigs......I'm familiar with the searing technique....just wondering how you would keep the ash off of the steak. Please let me know if you get a chance to see it done and then if you do it yourself. Would be very interested in giving this a try.
Ciao,
SD
I'm going to open a bottle of red and ponder this one for a while. ;D I asked about the ash and he said it wasn't a problem. I'm going to follow up. He has the inhouse wood fire pizza oven that he uses for this technique too.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEE! I love wood-fire pizza! Trouble is......none around here. :'( I'm gonna have to come out to visit you some time. We can open a case of red, watch the entire series of Sopranos and smoke foods all day long. Come to think of it, that's all I've been doing since I lost my job 11 months ago ! ;D
Blast the coals with a blow dryer to knock off the ash right before you throw the meat on.
Alton Brown uses this technique for flank steak. Prior to placing the meat on the coals he uses a hair dryer to blow away any ashes from the coals; so you are placing the meat on coals with no ash on them.
That's where I got the idea...
8)
Quote from: FLBentRider on November 29, 2008, 04:07:26 AM
That's where I got the idea...
8)
I must have miss your post before I posted this morning. I didn't notice there was another page. Mike threw me off track by mentioning Syracuse Salt Potatoes. :)
FYI
Bird came out great!
Did a normal bird in the oven (just in case things didn't workout), and used the honey brine with apple smoke for the other.
The families consensus was lets do the smoked bird next year!
It was a hands down, clear winner.
Really enjoying my Bradley.
Any other must do's?????
Thanks for the info.
May the smoke be with you.
Quote from: SmokeBender on November 30, 2008, 08:56:24 AM
FYI
Bird came out great!
Did a normal bird in the oven (just in case things didn't workout), and used the honey brine with apple smoke for the other.
The families consensus was lets do the smoked bird next year!
It was a hands down, clear winner.
Really enjoying my Bradley.
Any other must do's?????
Thanks for the info.
May the smoke be with you.
We did that last year with the "backup" turkey.
This year the smoked one flew solo, no leftover turkey, plenty of leftover ham...
Must do ?
Pork Butt (pulled pork)
Habs Canadian Bacon
Habs Pastrami
Bachezchic rolls.
St Louis Ribs