Something you will likely never see on my blog again...might want to take a picture. And no I don't have a picture..and I should have taken one but I didn't. I forget about things like that until it is to late. But I have nothing but praise for the brined turkey recipe. Yes it is true I am praising......fowl. I feel like a traitor. A traitor to my lifestyle. A traitor to the whole beef industry. An industry that has provided meat for my table and leather for my boots! I am deeply ashamed.
OK I am over it. As good as it was I don't intend to lap my lip over another bite of bird until next year. Yes I slipped and fell, but I have asked forgiveness and have been redeemed. Rib Eye steaks are on the menu in the near future...like this evening for supper.
So I am going to share the secret recipie for.......Brined Turkey and after this there will never be another turkey recipe on this blog......ever.
Brined Bird
1large turkey
2 turkey roasting bags...I never knew these existed....but I found them in a weird place in Wallie.
1 cup of kosher salt
2 qts of unsweetened apple juice
2 1/2 cups of brown sugar
4 oz of grated ginger root
15 whole cloves
6 garlic cloves crushed
3 bay leaves
3 medium oranges, quatered
3 qts of water
I n large kettle combine the first seven ingredients, bring to a boil and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Add the cold water to cool down the hot, and then add the oranges, marinade needs to be room temp.
Remove the turkey innards...giblets and such.
Place the turkey in bag...double with the second one. Then place in a throw away roasting pan. Now carefully pour your brine in the bag. Carefully, and two people would be helpful doing this job. Other wise your bag could collapes and brine could go spilling over the side all over your feet, the front of the cabinets and all over the floor. And you could very well be in a quandary as to how to hold the bags up and prevent more spillage and get over to the other side of the kitchen to get the twisty tie thingy. Yes this could happen..ask me how I know.
After repenting for saying ugly words and changing your shoes, mopping the whole kitchen and cleaning up turkey brine down the front of your cabinets...you are now ready to place the hateful bird in the icebox.....for 24 hours...turning ocassionally. I did not get up in the night to do this. And again 4 hands are better then 2 for this job. I had to do the turning, as DH said he would become defiled if he touched the unclean bird and he didn't want to stay ourside the camp till evening...a little Levitical law humor there. OK OK so it wasn't that funny.
When the time comes to cook the bird take it out of the brine and wash it off in clean water. Pat dry. Rub olive oil all over the skin, and place breast side up in pan. Grill over indirect heat for an hour. Tent turkey with foil and grill 1-2 hours or longer ( or longer seems to be the key)...or until meat theromoeter inserted in the thigh reads 180. I could not find my meat thermometer anywhere. A butcher knife to the thigh and a look see if blood was present was the test. Didn't hurt a thing.
Let stand 15 minute before carving and serving. Yeah right! It was 2 in the afternoon before this bird was done, we didn't wait.
Ok as usual there is a slight change I want to make to this. I started it on the propane grill....but only because I didn't get my wood fire going sooner. It has been a while since I had cooked with wood...and I forgot how long to took to make a good hot bed of coals. Hours and Hours and lots of wood. Finally we had the coals just right and we cooked the bird for 2 hours or so on the wood fire. Which made all the difference in my opinion. Mesquite can't be beat for taste and for hot coals.
What I was impressed with was that this bird was so moist. It never dried out. I have cooked them in the oven and have come out dry but this was truly the best bird I have ever eaten. So....if you have to eat a bird I highly recomend this method.
You cannot make gravy with the drippings if you do this......repeat....you cannot make gravy with these drippings.....the dogs enjoyed it over their dog food...but had upset stomachs the rest of the day......
Now that is my one and only ever turkey recipe......cherish it, love it, remember it...you will never see another one on this blog ever!!!
EAT MORE BEEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great day.
God Bless and Happy Trails
RanchWife
4 comments:
Your brine was very similar to the one I concocted! Boy oh boy oh boy was it DELISH. I stuff butter under the skin and in the cavity of mine, with a couple of apples and an onion and stuck it in an electric roaster. 3 1/2 hours later it was DONE and by far the most moist turkey I've ever had with the prettiest crisp skin. Even my non-turkey-loving hubby said "it's pretty good" which is about the highest praise one can expect to get from him in regards to turkey. I want to try grilling one sometime, I bet that added a real nice flavor!
Hahaha!!! Oooooh too funny. I love your writing style, everything very matter-of-factly funny. I would absolutely love to try grilling a turkey sometime...not sure where I'd get mesquite...probably end up on the propane grill the whole time. At any rate, it sure sounds good -- I'll copy down the recipe for posterity -- I mean for later use! :)
P.S. I happen to think your husband's joke is pretty funny -- especially since on Sunday nights we're going through Exodus -- it rings a bell!! :)
We had chicken enchiladas for lunch on thanksgiving day!! Talk about out of the norm ;) Oh and didn't have pumpkin pie either, it was cherry!!
We too slipped off the beef wagon and partook of fowl. I read bits of your post to DH who muttered that he supposed he should be grateful he wasn't forced to become involved in strange practices - tossing the unclean thing in plastic bags and such. Back to hamburger tonight.
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