The bird shouldn't be less than 24 hours in the brine. 3 days is fine provided it is cold and you adjust the seasoning.
I don't make stuffing, just dressing like Bill. I tried stuffing it once. Didn't work out at all.
If you want to stuff the bird, run some long metal skewers though the stuffing. They will help conduct the heat inside.
I have never done a dry brine so can't comment. Before the days of brining, I used to salt the bird for a couple hours before oiling it and roasting.
Many different meats can brined, not just birds.
To speed up the process, inject the meat before adding it to the brine.
I don't make stuffing, just dressing like Bill. I tried stuffing it once. Didn't work out at all.
If you want to stuff the bird, run some long metal skewers though the stuffing. They will help conduct the heat inside.
I have never done a dry brine so can't comment. Before the days of brining, I used to salt the bird for a couple hours before oiling it and roasting.
Many different meats can brined, not just birds.
To speed up the process, inject the meat before adding it to the brine.
I was having too much fun yesterday to remember pictures of all, but I took some earlier in the day.
Beef wrapped asparagus
Scallops and bacon
Tuna sashimi
Shrimp
Spinach topped oysters
Missing:
Lobster tails
Lox
Veggies
Cheesecake
Beef wrapped asparagus
Scallops and bacon
Tuna sashimi
Shrimp
Spinach topped oysters
Missing:
Lobster tails
Lox
Veggies
Cheesecake
Attachments
Cal, I'm coming! Do you have a spare bedroom from a depressed Swede?? 😕
I had planned to go to my brother and then to my sister and in between see my son and daughter and their kids. But a sh*tty linka rm to from the gear stick to the gearbox broke and can I a) find a repair shop that can fix this on Monday and b) will they have the spare part??
So I must quickly have to fix some Xmas food to myself. Got the browned cabbaged 450gram smoked eel, two cans of anjovy (will make a Jansson's Temptation - like a potato gratin but with added anjovy - YUMMI!!), buy me some marinated herring, some small sausages - Prince sausages and fix me some meat balls.
Got vodka and beer (but light low C2H5OH lager
) so I have to get som real dark beer (stout or porter).
Just because opf this cr*p piece. (3rd and 4th gear work but reverse?? Yeah, if I get out of the car and push it ...)
Right now: potato gratin + pork belly or in Swedish Porchetta.
I had planned to go to my brother and then to my sister and in between see my son and daughter and their kids. But a sh*tty linka rm to from the gear stick to the gearbox broke and can I a) find a repair shop that can fix this on Monday and b) will they have the spare part??
So I must quickly have to fix some Xmas food to myself. Got the browned cabbaged 450gram smoked eel, two cans of anjovy (will make a Jansson's Temptation - like a potato gratin but with added anjovy - YUMMI!!), buy me some marinated herring, some small sausages - Prince sausages and fix me some meat balls.
Got vodka and beer (but light low C2H5OH lager
) so I have to get som real dark beer (stout or porter).Just because opf this cr*p piece. (3rd and 4th gear work but reverse?? Yeah, if I get out of the car and push it ...)
Right now: potato gratin + pork belly or in Swedish Porchetta.
Attachments
Thanks Cal,
I've been bringing things for a long time, just never did a turkey before. Everything I have read said "no longer than 24 hours" (in a wet brine), so it's interesting to hear the exact opposite.
I don't know why anyone would *want* stuffing! Sure those veggies can be good to make up a sauce (gravy), but lasagna pans or even thinner mean more surface area for oven-roasted crunchy bits. 🙂
Taste is subjective, and I do not like crunchy stuffing/dressing. I like the stuffing cooked inside the bird precisely because it has a moist texture as it absorbs those lovely turkey juices.
Re: brining: I generally brine a turkey for 24 hours or less, but at least overnight plus a few hours. That is mostly for infrastructure reasons, I just don't have a way to keep the bird+brine sufficiently cold for long enough.
There are two techniques which, to my mind, "improve" a roasted turkey: brining and spatchcocking. Both make the bird cook faster, cook more evenly, and retain moisture. Most times I do both.
If I spatchcock the bird, brined or not, I cut an oval piece of parchment about the size of the "cavity" of the bird, place that on the rack, heap stuffing on it, then drape the bird over it. Without the parchment too much stuffing falls through the rack and the stuff on the bottom gets dry and crunchy. I have not had a problem with excessively salty stuffing because of this, but maybe I don't brine my turkey long enough to absorb enough salt.
I have also roasted brined turkeys in a more conventional manner, and again had good results with the stuffing. Rinse the bird well after brining, then dry it as much as possible before stuffing. Naturally omit or greatly reduce salt in the stuffing mixture. I had one very salty brined turkey, but I believe that it was pre-brined before I got it and brined it again; unfortunately I didn't have the packaging by the time we tasted the bird. Now I always read the fine print.
Back in October for thanksgiving I brined our turkey for about a day, stuffed it, and cooked it on the rotisserie on my gas BBQ, and it worked a treat. The bird was cooked perfectly and evenly, and looked wonderful (as rotisserie-cooked foods do since they are exposed to the heat very evenly). In the past I had done chicken on the rotisserie and shoved some things (small onion, garlic, whole spices, etc) in the cavity and a lot of them fell out as the rotisserie turned and the chicken shifted lightly with every revolution. When I did the stuffed turkey I cut a piece of parchment, with a hole in the middle, and slid that up the spit and into the cavity, tucking the edges, to keep the stuffing inside, then the second set of prongs to secure the bird. It worked great, the stuffing stayed inside the turkey and everything cooked nicely.
Edit: One more thought about cooking brined turkey in the oven: When you start to roast it, and assuming you start it at a high temperature to get some browning happening, a *lot* of moisture will come out of the bird and create steam. The first time you open the oven door to peak you may think you have an impending disaster, as all that steam mixed with a little vaporized fat looks like smoke. It scared the heck out of me the first time I saw it!
Re: brining: I generally brine a turkey for 24 hours or less, but at least overnight plus a few hours. That is mostly for infrastructure reasons, I just don't have a way to keep the bird+brine sufficiently cold for long enough.
There are two techniques which, to my mind, "improve" a roasted turkey: brining and spatchcocking. Both make the bird cook faster, cook more evenly, and retain moisture. Most times I do both.
If I spatchcock the bird, brined or not, I cut an oval piece of parchment about the size of the "cavity" of the bird, place that on the rack, heap stuffing on it, then drape the bird over it. Without the parchment too much stuffing falls through the rack and the stuff on the bottom gets dry and crunchy. I have not had a problem with excessively salty stuffing because of this, but maybe I don't brine my turkey long enough to absorb enough salt.
I have also roasted brined turkeys in a more conventional manner, and again had good results with the stuffing. Rinse the bird well after brining, then dry it as much as possible before stuffing. Naturally omit or greatly reduce salt in the stuffing mixture. I had one very salty brined turkey, but I believe that it was pre-brined before I got it and brined it again; unfortunately I didn't have the packaging by the time we tasted the bird. Now I always read the fine print.
Back in October for thanksgiving I brined our turkey for about a day, stuffed it, and cooked it on the rotisserie on my gas BBQ, and it worked a treat. The bird was cooked perfectly and evenly, and looked wonderful (as rotisserie-cooked foods do since they are exposed to the heat very evenly). In the past I had done chicken on the rotisserie and shoved some things (small onion, garlic, whole spices, etc) in the cavity and a lot of them fell out as the rotisserie turned and the chicken shifted lightly with every revolution. When I did the stuffed turkey I cut a piece of parchment, with a hole in the middle, and slid that up the spit and into the cavity, tucking the edges, to keep the stuffing inside, then the second set of prongs to secure the bird. It worked great, the stuffing stayed inside the turkey and everything cooked nicely.
Edit: One more thought about cooking brined turkey in the oven: When you start to roast it, and assuming you start it at a high temperature to get some browning happening, a *lot* of moisture will come out of the bird and create steam. The first time you open the oven door to peak you may think you have an impending disaster, as all that steam mixed with a little vaporized fat looks like smoke. It scared the heck out of me the first time I saw it!
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When I read your proposed menu to my wife she said "The beef-wrapped asparagus sound like a palate cleanser in that meal!"
Happy birthday Cal.
Thanks a lot for this detailed answer!
Your comments about reading the fine print made me curious. I just read the package - the fresh turkey I bought is not just a turkey. First of all, it is butter infused, which I didn't notice on the package. So I flipped it over and read the ingredients: Turkey, cultured butter, salt, and spices.
So I better just leave well enough alone and roast it the way it is. I am flipping back and forth on the stuffing/dressing... I don't like it crunchy either. I like it moist (not wet!) and I love it with fried giblets in it.
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Yah, I gave up stuffing a long time ago started filling the bird with onions,carrots, celery, couple jalapeños, and various fresh herbs. Cooks so much nicer and keeps it moist too.
One way to make stuffing is to boil the turkey carcus just until it has given up the remaing bits of meat and fat. Then filter that to make stock. Simmer the stock until it is reduced to 1/3 of the initial volume. Use that for the moisture in the stuffing.
Viva l'difference!
Three?! I feel like this is a rendition of the Monty Python Sistine Chapel sketch. 😀
This is way way more complicated than what we (usually) do. That's using a lasagna pan, all the veggies in the bird ends up part of the gravy, which you drown the dressing in anyways. Comes out great.
Some do turkey for thanksgiving and Christmas. Others may eat turkey more often. Making turkey soup post thanksgiving usually yields way too much. So condense a bit and freeze. Or use the method that made the Dorrance family a fortune, over salt the condensed stock.
Tonight I will take the turkey breasts out and drain the brine, cover them with cold water, and put them back in the refrigerator.
Tomorrow I will get them out, change the water, start the smoker and spend the day smoking them.
This will suck a big one since after dinner tonight I have to drink Magnesium Citrate and go on THE clear liquid diet for 36Hrs. Consequently there will be no sampling of the beast.
Vodka is a clear liquid isn't it?
Tomorrow I will get them out, change the water, start the smoker and spend the day smoking them.
This will suck a big one since after dinner tonight I have to drink Magnesium Citrate and go on THE clear liquid diet for 36Hrs. Consequently there will be no sampling of the beast.
Vodka is a clear liquid isn't it?
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A quick way to make stock for this year's turkey is to spatchcock the bird, so now you have the neck, the giblets, and the spine (could also cut off the wing tips). Make a quick broth with those (brown first if you like, in a pan or hot oven) and the usual veg. That makes quite a bit of stock for gravy and/or moistening stuffing.
I know where I would use it.
Throw it in a pressure cooker with a qt of water, an onion, some celery, and a few carrots. Quick work.