Build thread-Turkey

[Jeeperrick]

Everyone has a different way of preparing turkey for Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd start a build thread! Some of you guys smoke'm, deep fry, grill, bake, beer can, etc...lets see whatcha got!

I have a friend who owns a farm in Brillion,WI, everything is considered organic/home grown. My turkey was butchered on Saturday and weighs in at 27 pounds.

I'm going to brine my turkey for 12 hours in a mixture that consists of..

2 gallons of Vegetable stock..I use Kitchen Basics as they are additive free
1 cup of brown sugar
2 cups of Kosher salt
2 tablespoons of Black Pepper corns
1 tablespoon of All Spice from Penzies
1 tablespoon of chrystalized Ginger

this is a slightly modified version of a recipe that Alton Brown from the Food Network published. Normally I use salt, brown sugar, and water.

Bring this to a boil, let cool overnight. Add 2 gallons of water when your ready to brine, add turkey and let it sit for 12 hours or so.

I'm going to smoke mine, roughly 6 hours at very low heat (100-120) then another 3 hours or so at 300.

Tonight I made the brine, it's cooling right now. The only thing that went wrong so far is....I'm out of beer! :tears:

 

[Prepmech]

Alton Brown rocks, Hale sounds like him sometimes when he tries to explain the chemical reactions that take place between pork and apple cider... then we got sidetracked and used our knowledge of chemistry to make things go boom.

Beer is the key ingredient, if you have lots of good beer, noone will notice how bad the turkey tastes.

 

[HaleYes]

Alton Brown is my hero.


that is all......

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

The Turkey Brigade makes a mean fried turkey...but the special receipe can only be revealed at Winterfest...hope to see you there!

 

[XJ Stryker]

We are going against thanksgiving tradition this year. Wife is baking a Ham.

I like Ham better anyway so I ain't complaining.

 

[bpm4x4]

how to get turkey (for me):




get in car
drive 1 hour
eat turkey and everything in sight
enjoy Fat Tire
drive 90 minutes
repeat
arty:

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

I like Ham better anyway so I ain't complaining.

Word. Defying all logic I convinced Mom to make ham for Thanksgiving. And ham for Christmas. Turkey makes my mouth tired...

Except when it's fried.


We will be there with the turkey fryer at Winterfest...



Dammit I am hungry now.

 

[Rockhound89]

check out mad max turkey its damn good.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/madmaxturkey.htm

 

[Jeeperrick]

Now that the brine has spent a day cooling, I put the mixture with the brine in a tote (new/clean) this morning at 6am. I'll pull it out sometime after 7pm tonight, back in the refrigerator for the night, then onto the smoker around 4am. Now the question...is 4am considered late at night or early in the morning. My wife says morning so no beer, I say late at night so a beer is ok to have as I'm not going anywhere except for a possible nap later in the morning.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

tell her that your using the Pacific time zone for you beer consumption and Central time zone for your cooking...so logically speaking your drinking late into the night and cooking in the early morning. daym...I sometimes even impress myself!

 

[XJ Stryker]

Told wife I wanted Turkey we can have Ham anytime so It is back to turkey.

Cajun injected with a Nice Tony's rub over the top.

 

[ChiXJeff]

Gotta be noon somewhere...

The g/f's family has requested that I fry a turkey again. Personally, I generally prefer good bird that's lightly seasoned, and her family has a very bland palate. So, the brine will be 1 cup of table salt per gallon, and no more than 1/2 cup of sugar per gallon. I just might throw in a can of frozen apple juice concentrate.

Ya know.... I don't remember the last time that we spent either Thanksgiving or Christmas up with her family, and I wasn't cooking. I'm not complaining, means I get something good for dinner.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

I hear ya Jeff, I was floored when I met my wifes family and they served potatoes w/o any gravy available...what kind of farm family does not serve gravy with potatoes?? No gravy=must be nazis....

 

[HaleYes]

I hear ya Jeff, I was floored when I met my wifes family and they served potatoes w/o any gravy available...what kind of farm family does not serve gravy with potatoes?? No gravy=must be nazis....

They probably don't like Phil Collins either....... do they? Must be communists.:eyes:

 

[ChiXJeff]

Actually, I grew up with boiled potatoes for dinner..... and usually just a little butter to go along with them.

I have to come up with gravy for Friday, and that's a little difficult to do with fried bird. Found an interesting recipe that's just the rendered grease off a half lb. of hot sausage, a little flour and some chicken stock. The test run was astonishingly good.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

you have a valid point there Mike...I am going to have to use my special power to investigate them...they might even be a member of the Du Klux Klan (Uneasy Rider, Charlie Daniels)

Jeff, in my opinion (and also being a hog farmer) you can not go wrong w/ a pork based gravy...now my doctor may disagree, but piss on them, it is Thanksgiving!!

 

[ChiXJeff]

The odd thing about the gravy is that the pork didn't come through, it's all chicken, nicely seasoned.