Thanksgiving!

[jacojdm]

I hate "enhanced meat" it's freaking ridiculous. I never buy Meijer meats because they enhance pretty much everything, and it just bugs the crap outta me. A lot of their pork loins contain up to 15% solution! How much meat do you think they'd sell if the thing said "Contains at least 85% meat!?"

I don't like paying per pound on something that has a fair percentage of salt water injected into it.

This is a big part of what ran the Tops chain out of business here in northeast Ohio. Tops replaced its butcher counters with prepackaged meats (like Meijer does with pork, and Wal Mart does with all of their meats, I believe). Consumers (like me) stopped buying these enhanced meat products. It seems to have been the straw that broke the Dutch camel's back.

[hammb]

From what I've read you're best off not brining an enhanced turkey, so I'll just backoff and go with the rub alone (with little to no salt).

I bought this turkey after Thanksgiving last year, and I didn't become as informed about the evils of enhanced meat until this summer when I started smoking meats. I'll see how this one turns out then I'll buy a natural bird for my next one

[dduncan]

From what I've read you're best off not brining an enhanced turkey, so I'll just backoff and go with the rub alone (with little to no salt).

I bought this turkey after Thanksgiving last year, and I didn't become as informed about the evils of enhanced meat until this summer when I started smoking meats. I'll see how this one turns out then I'll buy a natural bird for my next one

When I worked at Churchill's, we sold the fresh, un-enhanced bird. Great stuff. Man, I miss the beef and pork that we supplied. 4 years working in the meat department there, the $/quality was so much better than anything in Chicago. You do realize that I put down $$.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I managed to find 1 of only 2 non-enhanced birds in this entire god-forsaken town. I had to buy an amish turkey, and I've named him Ray-Ray. Brining tonight, cooking tomorrow morning. I'm actually pretty excited to get going.

[Rightupinthere]

I managed to find 1 of only 2 non-enhanced birds in this entire god-forsaken town. I had to buy an amish turkey, and I've named him Ray-Ray. Brining tonight, cooking tomorrow morning. I'm actually pretty excited to get going.

Amish birds are fun to watch when they brine. They close one eye.*










*Northeast Ohio joke.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Ray-Ray the amish turkey turned out awesome. Best turkey I've ever had.


Recipe:

For Brine:

1 gallon water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1T peppercorns
1T crystallized ginger

+ 1 gallon ice water

For aromatics:

1 big red apple
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup water
3t rosemary
2t sage
1 cup water

Combine all that (except ice water) in a big pot and boil it. Stir until the peppercorns and ginger dissolves. Let it cool to room temp, then refrigerate covered until chilled. combine that mixture with the ice water, and soak your bird in it overnight. I used a cooler and just iced it down overnight. If you have room in your fridge, that'd be the best place.


Next morning -- rinse off the turkey and pat dry. Put it in a roasting rack in a wide deep pan. Preheat oven to 500. for the aromatics -- put water, sliced apple, and cinnamon sticks in a micro-safe dish and nuke it on high for 5 minutes. Dump that into your birds nether-regions, and add the rosemary and sage.

Put your pan on the lowest level of the oven and cook for 30 minutes at 500 uncovered. Take it out, cover the breast with foil, and turn the oven down to 350. stick your probe thermometer (if you have one), and set the alarm for 161. Toss the bird back in the oven and cook it til it hits 161.
When it's done, let it sit loosely covered for 15-20 minutes before carving.


Juiciest, most flavorful turkey I've ever tasted. And it was my first attempt. I can't wait to taste it after I perfect this recipe.

[Rightupinthere]

Glad to see you had a good experience.

My mother had a wierd bird. She got it fresh. We cooked it until 160 in the thigh. Five minutes after pulling it out of the oven, the plastic thermometer popped (which had me concerned).

However, when I was carving the sucker, the breast was perfect, the left thigh was good, but the right thigh was underdone. Strange bird, but mother's best to date (also brined).

[orangeandbrown]

First off, get one of these:


Stick the sensor into the fattest part of the thigh. Put the sensor on 170 degrees. Once the alarm goes off, get that bird out of the heat and let 'er rest for about 15 minutes to let the juices to redistrbute.

Don't put stuffing in the breast. I'm not a fan. Instead, stuff the breast with some orange halves and rosemary.

If you want a really juicy bird, brine it - which gives it amazing flavor.

Good luck!

My mother brines our bird, and it is awesome. Never dry. We also cooked it on the grill this year.

[McConvey]

Oddly enough we did not have turkey. But seeing as how I'd eaten turkey something like 7 of the last 10 days, it was ok.

Instead we had birds nests, which are very good, but I bet we're the only family that had hamburger for Thanksgiving.

And of course we had green salad!