Jiarby's Ginger-Orange Blossom Turkey Brine

[Sanny]

Jiarby’s Ginger-Orange Blossom Turkey Brine:

1 gallon water

2 cups apple juice

3/4 cup kosher salt

¼ cup soy sauce

1 cup orange blossom honey

¼ tsp ground cloves (about 5-6 crushed whole cloves, stems removed)

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tablespoons fresh orange zest, takes about 2 small oranges

3 bay leaves

Yes... that much salt, look up the definition of "brining" if you are confused about what is happening here. http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/c00169.asp

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and heat to 160°F. Do not boil.. you just want to dissolve the salt & honey. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Cool completely before putting in the turkey. This makes a little over 1 gallon of brining solution.

***NOTE***

There is no need to brine a turkey that is already injected and brined by the manufacturer. The bird can only absorb so much moisture. Look for a “naturalâ€, un-injected turkey. READ THE FINE PRINT.

Brine the turkey for 8 hrs in the refrigerator or cooler (iced down), then remove, rinse, and pat completely dry inside and out. Let sit in fridge for 3-6 hours uncovered. One hour prior to cooking, remove from fridge, place on roasting rack, and place a 1-gallon ziplock bag of ice over the breast portion(thx, Whiz). The goal is to get the breast meat very cold, and allow the thigh meat to warm up a little. This will allow the thighs and breast portions to be done at the same time…no dried out breast while waiting for those pesky thighs to get to 180° like grandma says. Ignore that pop up thing!

Smoke at 325° indirect with a pan catching the drippings. I like apple & cherry wood on poultry. A 14# bird will take about 2.5 hours. Remove and cover with foil. Let it rest for 20 minutes before carving. Resting upside down will allow juices to settle in the breast area, flip it back over before carving. Breast temp will be 160-165°, Thigh temps about 10-15° higher…175ish to 180. Using the ice on the breast allows them to both finish at the same time.

[trish]

Thanks Sanny...I was thinking of this last week as I remembered the orange zest. As I recall, when he cooked his turkey he also stuffed the center with oranges, apples, and onions....or am I confusing this with another recipe? The concept has remained in my brain, and at this age there is no accounting for what clings to the grey matter.

[jiarby]

and here it is too! May need to fix the link??

[Majestik]

Now...

...that sounds delicious. I guess I'm gonna have to break down and brine a turkey!

[Sanny]

Thanks Sanny...I was thinking of this last week as I remembered the orange zest. As I recall' date=' when he cooked his turkey he also stuffed the center with oranges, apples, and onions....or am I confusing this with another recipe? The concept has remained in my brain, and at this age there is no accounting for what clings to the grey matter. [/quote']

Mad Max (recipe on Whizzy's site) stuffs his with apples and onions. Dunno what Jiarby does.

[jiarby]

I like to leave the cavity unstuffed, to facilitate quicker more even cooking. A few apples and onions loosely packed in the cavity with some fresh ginger slices would probably complement the brine.

My wife like to stuff it with some nasty store bought breadcrumb stuffing.

I grew up with my mother making a home made meat dressing that looks like gray baby poop (mostly ground beef, saltines, onions, and poulry seasoning). I've only made it once in 20 years.

We did some FoodTV wild rice-sausage stuffing one year that was OK, but nothing special.

My advice is to make a basic salt & water brine, then add a couple flavoring components that YOU like. Keep it simple. What's making it work is the brine.

A possible negative of an overly flavored brine is that the drippings are also flavored; if you make gravy from your pan drippings then the brine seasonings may affect the flavor. This may be good or bad... I prefer a traditional turkey gravy made from pan drippings and roux.

[Baby Huey]

Thanks for the recipe Sanny, I think I may attempt this tomorrow. One question though, as this will be my first turkey cook ever, you said the breast will be 165ish and the thighs will be 175ish after resting for the 20 minutes. What temperature did you pull the bird off the heat at (I'm trying to figure out how much carry over there will be). Thanks!

-Ben

[Sanny]

I have no recollection, Huey, sorry. In fact, I don't know if I did this recipe, or Mad Max (I think I did Max). But I probably used the temps that are in the recipe, though, or nearly. But I know I didn't ice the breast.

[U2PLT]

Cooling the Turkey Breast

I have cooked on the rotisserie: several chickens & two 12-14# chickens. I cook the chickens for 2 hours at 210* then go up to 350* until the thigh reads at 175, and the breast will read slightly over that. I cook the turkeys until the show 130* on thermopen and then finish off at 350* just like the chickens. Remove from KK and put in oven with foil over top for at least 30

minutes. With the rotisserie I have stopped using Glenn's cooling of the breast system.

. In every case the breast was super moist and tender and the thigh joints did not have any sign of blood. I had talked to Glenn about using the rotisserie and he agreed that it would infuse all the juices throughout the bird. Every time I have served this to friends and relatives they say it is the best chicken or turkey they have ever tasted.

[Jackie from Jersey]

..

[Sanny]

Hmmm... This may convince me to eat turkey more than once a year. My "one turkey" is basted in beer on a rotisserie.

It's good stuff, Jackie. The skin is shatter crispy! oooh aaah!