Christmas Brine for Turkey - no Cranberry

[Smokeville]

My friends had ordered a turkey, and I don't have the guts to try the Cranberry version which is still in the smoker.

So here is the alternative. Their bird is in the brine now and I'll smoke it tomorrow.

2 gallons water
2 cups salt
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups not-from-concentrate orange/tangerine juice
2 cups apple juice
3 tbs thyme
3 tbs rosemary
3 tbs sage
3 tbs savory

The brine tastes very "seasonal," my wife says.

Regards, Rich

[KevinG]

Are you saying you're chicken, c'mon it's a turkey  ;D.

[BigTex71]

I used that brine recipe and let my 12# turkey brine for about 14 hours. I fired up the OBS at 5am on Christmas morning and rinsed the turkey several times and let sit at room temp for about an hour while the OBS got hot. I added the turkey to the OBS and planned to smoke for the first 4 hours. I loaded the smoke generator with enough bisquettes for 4 hours (and the 2 extra), but the last 3 bisquettes got stuck in the feeder and did not drop. I did not notice until several hours after I had my wife turn off the smoke generator - yes, I learned a lesson there.  ;-)

Regardless of only having the 3 hours of smoke, the turkey was a HUGE hit. It was done after about 7 hours. I changed the water once after about 4 or so hours. It was, by far, the best turkey I had ever done. Thank you for that brine recipe!

Oh, I used a combination of apple wood and hickory.. a 2:1 ratio of apple:hickory. Delicious!

[Quarlow]

Good job Bigtex, As for the pucks getting stuck just make sure the puck tube is all the way down or they will hook the egde. I have never had any get stuck yet, whether thats just luck I don't know.

[Smokeville]

Thanks, Bigtex, that means a lot.

I sold the turkey that I used that brine on, so I couldn't even test taste it. My friends said they loved it, but I'll have to try another soon.

Regards, Rich