Note To Self
Once in awhile, I stumble across a good recipe that I enjoy very much but forget about very quickly because my head is too full of other important stuff.
True story.
So, this post is just for me. It will be my "note to self" prompt whenever the words "roast" and "turkey" come up in conversation. I'll say "what a minute! I think I wrote a blog post about that one time!" and will scurry through my list of posts and come up with this genius recipe that I made for Thanksgiving 2011 and loved too much to forget.
We spent Thanksgiving alone this year and that was just fine for us. It's been busy here lately and it was nice to not travel and fit a bunch of (very much enjoyed) visiting in over the course of a few days. I worked a Night shift on Sunday night so we decided to eat our turkey Saturday night. I asked the boys for some of their favorite foods so that I could be sure to include some hits for them in with the meal.
On Monday, Dean happened to mention that the item he loves most for Thanksgiving dinner is pumpkin pie. Hmm. I wish he would have told me that Saturday....there would have been some on the table for him. That would have been a particularly nice gesture on my behalf, thoughtful even, considering he doesn't like roast turkey.
How did I end up with a spouse who doesn't love turkey? I really enjoy making turkey dinner. I like the planning, the anticipation, the bird slowly roasting over the afternoon and making its' sudden "I'm done" declaration when the skin is browned just right and the drumsticks fall in surrender to the heat of the oven. I like the mad rush of getting the gravy done and mashing the potatoes, dishing everything up, keeping things hot and sitting down to a loaded table that groans under the aromas of roasted bird, dill pickles, hot vegetables, cool salads, with some luscious dessert peeking at you from the counter nearby with the teapot ready to dispense a lovely warm blend to finish the night. Sigh.
Unfortunately, the last turkey I roasted at the end of August was a dud. A very disappointing dud. I think I seriously under-seasoned it, but even the texture was just "uck". Nearly caused me to doubt my ability to cook a decent turkey and it just reassured Dean that turkey is indeed a flawed ingredient.
I have to make a believer out of him yet.
So, this time, I happened to be paging through a magazine that happened to be featuring Pioneer Woman. I don't love all of her recipes, but I do like a lot of them so I sat up and paid attention when I read the title of the turkey recipe. Truthfully, I didn't even end up following her recipe, but that's where the inspiration started that sent me on a Google search for a "Turkey Brine" recipe.
Wow, there are a lot of turkey brine recipes!
I remember my cousin, Janet, brining a turkey at a reunion a few years ago but she deep fried that turkey so I don't think I made the connection that a person could brine anyold (woops, YOUNG IS BETTER) turkey on any occasion! By the way, according to Dean, that deep fried turkey is still the best turkey he's ever eaten. ... and another sigh escapes my lips....someday he'll like my turkey too.... ;)
As I said, there are a lot of brine recipes and some of them take the flavor in a totally different direction than I would have thought of, particularly by using orange juice, apple juice, orange zest/rind, etc., in the brine. Maybe I'll try going in that direction next time. For this time, Thanksgiving 2011, this was my recipe:
Turkey Brine
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp EACH dried rosemary, dried sage and dried thyme
1-2 tbsp black peppercorns
Bring all of the above ingredients to a boil and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. I did this step the day before I was ready to start the brine process; you could do it the morning of the brine day, or flash cool it in the freezer if you have time to fuss with that. My work schedule didn't allow me those options so I prepared it on Thursday.
For brining the turkey, you need to allow at least 1 hour per pound of turkey of brining time. My turkey was a small 10 pound turkey, so I needed to brine the turkey for a minimum of 10 hours. I started to brine my turkey Friday night in the later evening. Place your thawed turkey in a pot large enough to hold the turkey in an upright position. Pour the prepared brine over the turkey. Now add enough cold water to the brine so that the turkey is completely submerged. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to start cooking the turkey.
On Saturday when I was ready to start cooking my turkey, I drained all of the brine off (throw it away) and then rinsed the turkey very well. I've been told that this rinsing step is ultra important. Once all of the brine is rinsed off, place the turkey in the roaster and don't add any other seasonings. Let it roast per usual (my little 10 pound turkey took about 3 hours at 350 F).
I found the end results to be far more flavorful than normal. In fact, even the boys commented that it was more flavorful than usual. That strikes me as a substantial marker for success.
Here's a couple of things to consider:
1. I did read that you could brine the turkey in 2 turkey bags (instead of a pot) - one to hold the brine and turkey in, and the second bag for insurance against leakage. I've never used turkey bags so can't speak from experience on how well they work.
2. My fridge was full, so I used a large pasta pot to hold the turkey and brine in and then placed that in my camping cooler surrounded by ice. Worked very well.
3. Feel free to add to/change the list of seasonings (other than you need to keep the sugar/salt/liquid ratio the same). If you don't like rosemary, don't use it. I wasn't sure about the thyme, but I did like it. Whatever seasonings/herbs you like to use to flavor your turkey with - add them to the brine and be creative! But, they say that you need to keep the salt content up, enough salt so that a raw egg would float in the water, and that's why it's so important to rinse the brine off. The turkey was NOT salty, by the way.
I'll be interested to hear if any of you have used this method already and what your results have been! And if I start talking turkey in the next few months, remind me to re-read my own post!
True story.
So, this post is just for me. It will be my "note to self" prompt whenever the words "roast" and "turkey" come up in conversation. I'll say "what a minute! I think I wrote a blog post about that one time!" and will scurry through my list of posts and come up with this genius recipe that I made for Thanksgiving 2011 and loved too much to forget.
We spent Thanksgiving alone this year and that was just fine for us. It's been busy here lately and it was nice to not travel and fit a bunch of (very much enjoyed) visiting in over the course of a few days. I worked a Night shift on Sunday night so we decided to eat our turkey Saturday night. I asked the boys for some of their favorite foods so that I could be sure to include some hits for them in with the meal.
On Monday, Dean happened to mention that the item he loves most for Thanksgiving dinner is pumpkin pie. Hmm. I wish he would have told me that Saturday....there would have been some on the table for him. That would have been a particularly nice gesture on my behalf, thoughtful even, considering he doesn't like roast turkey.
How did I end up with a spouse who doesn't love turkey? I really enjoy making turkey dinner. I like the planning, the anticipation, the bird slowly roasting over the afternoon and making its' sudden "I'm done" declaration when the skin is browned just right and the drumsticks fall in surrender to the heat of the oven. I like the mad rush of getting the gravy done and mashing the potatoes, dishing everything up, keeping things hot and sitting down to a loaded table that groans under the aromas of roasted bird, dill pickles, hot vegetables, cool salads, with some luscious dessert peeking at you from the counter nearby with the teapot ready to dispense a lovely warm blend to finish the night. Sigh.
Unfortunately, the last turkey I roasted at the end of August was a dud. A very disappointing dud. I think I seriously under-seasoned it, but even the texture was just "uck". Nearly caused me to doubt my ability to cook a decent turkey and it just reassured Dean that turkey is indeed a flawed ingredient.
I have to make a believer out of him yet.
So, this time, I happened to be paging through a magazine that happened to be featuring Pioneer Woman. I don't love all of her recipes, but I do like a lot of them so I sat up and paid attention when I read the title of the turkey recipe. Truthfully, I didn't even end up following her recipe, but that's where the inspiration started that sent me on a Google search for a "Turkey Brine" recipe.
Wow, there are a lot of turkey brine recipes!
I remember my cousin, Janet, brining a turkey at a reunion a few years ago but she deep fried that turkey so I don't think I made the connection that a person could brine any
As I said, there are a lot of brine recipes and some of them take the flavor in a totally different direction than I would have thought of, particularly by using orange juice, apple juice, orange zest/rind, etc., in the brine. Maybe I'll try going in that direction next time. For this time, Thanksgiving 2011, this was my recipe:
Turkey Brine
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp EACH dried rosemary, dried sage and dried thyme
1-2 tbsp black peppercorns
Bring all of the above ingredients to a boil and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. I did this step the day before I was ready to start the brine process; you could do it the morning of the brine day, or flash cool it in the freezer if you have time to fuss with that. My work schedule didn't allow me those options so I prepared it on Thursday.
For brining the turkey, you need to allow at least 1 hour per pound of turkey of brining time. My turkey was a small 10 pound turkey, so I needed to brine the turkey for a minimum of 10 hours. I started to brine my turkey Friday night in the later evening. Place your thawed turkey in a pot large enough to hold the turkey in an upright position. Pour the prepared brine over the turkey. Now add enough cold water to the brine so that the turkey is completely submerged. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to start cooking the turkey.
On Saturday when I was ready to start cooking my turkey, I drained all of the brine off (throw it away) and then rinsed the turkey very well. I've been told that this rinsing step is ultra important. Once all of the brine is rinsed off, place the turkey in the roaster and don't add any other seasonings. Let it roast per usual (my little 10 pound turkey took about 3 hours at 350 F).
I found the end results to be far more flavorful than normal. In fact, even the boys commented that it was more flavorful than usual. That strikes me as a substantial marker for success.
Here's a couple of things to consider:
1. I did read that you could brine the turkey in 2 turkey bags (instead of a pot) - one to hold the brine and turkey in, and the second bag for insurance against leakage. I've never used turkey bags so can't speak from experience on how well they work.
2. My fridge was full, so I used a large pasta pot to hold the turkey and brine in and then placed that in my camping cooler surrounded by ice. Worked very well.
3. Feel free to add to/change the list of seasonings (other than you need to keep the sugar/salt/liquid ratio the same). If you don't like rosemary, don't use it. I wasn't sure about the thyme, but I did like it. Whatever seasonings/herbs you like to use to flavor your turkey with - add them to the brine and be creative! But, they say that you need to keep the salt content up, enough salt so that a raw egg would float in the water, and that's why it's so important to rinse the brine off. The turkey was NOT salty, by the way.
I'll be interested to hear if any of you have used this method already and what your results have been! And if I start talking turkey in the next few months, remind me to re-read my own post!
Dean and I are birds of a feather, if you will. I just commented to Dixie yesterday that pumpkin pie is probably my favourite of all pies. And, quite frankly, I would miss nothing on a turkey-less Thanksgiving (or year, for that matter).
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, Dixie did an excellent job on her first-ever turkey-cooking!
Yay Dixie!
ReplyDeletePerhaps Dixie and I should spend Thanksgiving together, and you and Dean should spend Thanksgiving together? ;)
My daughter Janice always insists on doing the turkey and that includes putting it in brine. We have used a cooler, too. This year we used our neighbours' fridge while they were away. Then the weather was just right to keep it in our garage overnight for the brining process. It always turns out so moist and tasty this way!
ReplyDelete