Source: www.bbq.about.com

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best way to get flavorful poultry, regardless of how it is prepared, is to start with a brine. Brining adds moisture and flavor to poultry and helps to keep it from drying out. A turkey can be a serious investment in time so you want to make sure it is perfect, especially if you’re entertaining. Whether you grill, smoke, fry, or roast your turkey, you should use a brined bird.

Supplies:

To properly brine a turkey you need to start the night before you plan to cook. You will need at least 10 to 12 hours (plan on 1 hour per pound of turkey), a container large enough to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it. You’ll also need salt, water, sugar, seasonings, and enough room to refrigerate it. A large stainless steel stock pot or even a 5 gallon clean plastic bucket would make excellent containers. Whatever container you choose the turkey needs to have enough room to be turned so it should be big. Both Reynolds (Oven Roasting Bag for Turkeys) and Ziploc (XL Storage Bag) make very large food safe sealable bags that are great for brining.

Turkey:

Now let’s get to the turkey. The turkey should be cleaned out, completely thawed, and should not be a self-basting or Kosher turkey. Self-basting and Kosher turkeys have a salty stock added that will make your brined turkey too salty. Make sure you check the ingredients on the turkey before you decide to brine. A fresh, “natural” turkey works best, but a completely thawed, previously frozen turkey will work just as well.

Brine Ingredients:

To make the brine, mix 1 cup of table salt in 1 gallon of water. You will need more than 1 gallon of water but thats the ratio to aim for. One way of telling if you have enough salt in your brine is that a raw egg will float in it. Make sure that the salt is completely dissolved before adding the seasonings you like, making sure not to add anything that contains salt. Brines can be spicy hot with peppers and cayenne, savory with herbs and garlic, or sweet with molasses, honey and brown sugar. Whatever your tastes are, you can find a large number of brine recipes on my site.

Sweetening the Brine:

Sugar is optional to any brine, but works to counteract the flavor of the salt. While you may choose a brine without sugar, I do recommend that you add sugar (any kind of “sweet” will do) to maintain the flavor of the turkey. Add up to 1 cup of sugar per gallon of brine. Like the salt you need to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.

Set-up:

Place the turkey in a container and pour in enough brine to completely cover the turkey with an inch or two to spare. You do not want any part of the turkey above the surface of the brine. Now you put the whole thing in the refrigerator. If you are like me, making enough room in the fridge is the hardest part of this project. The turkey should sit in the brine for about 1 hour per pound of turkey. Brining too long is much worse than not brining enough so watch the time.

Keep it Cool!:

Don’t have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler. A cooler big enough to hold your turkey makes a good container for your turkey and brine. The cooler will help keep it cool and allow you to brine your turkey without taking up precious refrigerator space. If the weather is cool, but not freezing you can put the whole thing outside until you need the turkey. If the weather is warm fill a a zip top bag with ice. Place this in the cooler with the turkey and brine and it will hold down the temperature during the brining process.

Rinsing:

When you are ready to start cooking your turkey, remove it from the brine and rinse it off thoroughly in the sink with cold water until all traces of salt are off the surface inside and out. This is the single, most important step. If you don’t get the brine rinsed of thoroughly you could get a very salty bird. Safely discard the brine and cook your turkey as normal. You will notice the second you start to carve your turkey that the brining has helped it retain moisture. The first bite will sell you on brining turkeys forever, and after you’ve tried this you will want to brine all your poultry.

Cooking

Now it’s time to Bake, Grill or Deep Fry that bird! >> Deep Fried Turkey Instructions

Popularity: 5%

Source: www.bbq.about.com

Question: How Much Turkey Should I Buy?
Answer: The general rule of thumb is that you need to buy one pound of turkey for each average appetite adult. Once cooked and carved you are going to be presenting your guest with a little under 1/2 pound of turkey. This means a 20 pound turkey should feed twenty average adults.
You should adjust this size based on whether you want leftovers, how many children will be eating (plan on 1/2 pound for children) and whether or not you actually know any average adults. Remember that the larger the bird the longer the cooking time and more potential waste. You’re best bet is to get close to the right size, but never under buy.

Popularity: 1%

Whether you are grilling or smoking a turkey, this baste keeps the meat moist, adds a delicious flavor, and helps brown the skin. Remember to begin basting about an hour after you start cooking.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
* 1 teaspoon sweet basil
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon sage

Preparation:
Melt butter in a small sauce pan. Pour in lemon juice and add poultry seasoning and other ingredients. Lightly baste on turkey every 30 minutes after the first hour of cooking.

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SOURCE: Turkey Baste

Popularity: 2%

Source: www.sizzleonthegrill.com
Lately Ive noticed many readers have commented on this web log or the Users Forums about trying to watch what they eat. Many have asked for suggestions on how to lower the fat and salt in their diet. Im not a nutritionist and also struggle with some of the same issues of managing salt, fat and balancing my diet. So in response Ive posted several tips Im putting into practice reducing fat in the meat you cook as well as several posts on the benefits and properties of various cooking oils hopefully these are useful to you.

But here comes Thanksgiving and the holidays where there is so much good food and man-oh-man is it loaded with calories and fat! Whew-boy-howdy it is. For example that turkey you may be preparing for a special holiday meal is a good source of protein but it can be loaded up with extra fats and salt so you should be aware of the choices you make in preparation and serving. There is a difference in the fat content of white meat and dark meat in the more commonly prepared chickens as well as that holiday turkey. The National Chicken Council advises that you can leave the skin on the chicken while cooking because the additional flavor it imparts, as well as protecting the meat from drying out during cooking, is less than 1% of the fat. So remove it prior to eating but after cooking. OK that makes sense to me.

And Ive also played with the notion of proper cooking. Heres a method of preparing turkey or chicken that actually separates the white meat from the dark meat cooks them independently of one another to adjust for cooking times and allows you to kinda place them back together for the presentation.

Turkeys & Chickens are about the same – one section is dark meat (leg-thigh) and the other white meat (breast – wings) Because of modern breeding the breasts of domestic chickens and turkeys are much larger than previous generations. Dark and White meat also cook at different rates due to fat content. Consider cooking separately & joining for presentation.

But the big question remains: What about the fat in white meat vs. dark meat?

I dont usually excerpt material from other web logs or web sites but there is no way I can repeat this data on my own and wanted to share it with you. Originally produced for the web log called FitSugar.com this reference chart gives you some important facts to help you plan and enjoy your holiday meals. Only a portion of the article is featured here and I encourage you to read FitSugar.com for the entire story as well as other helpful information about managing your daily nutritional needs.

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Turkey: White vs. Dark vs. Turducken vs. Tofurkey

I know you know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but do you know the nutritional differences between white and dark turkey meat? Im a fan of all parts of the bird, but I know many people who avoid dark meat because they think its much more unhealthy than white meat. So I made a handy chart so you can see how they compare. I also added the nutritional info for turducken (for you serious poultry lovers), and Tofurky (for you vegans and vegetarians).

Please go to FitSugar.com to read the entire article and source material as well as links to other information contained in the post.

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Happy Grilling!

Popularity: 2%

Source: www.sizzleonthegrill.com

Beer Can Turkey in The Big Easy oil-less infrared turkey fryer

Ive cooked hundreds of beer can chickens over the years. And it was always a pretty simple process. Open a beer, sample it to perform necessary quality control, place a rinsed, dried and seasoned whole chicken over the can (inserted into empty cavity) and set on a small tray to stabilize then put it all on the grill or in the oven for about an hour at 400F degrees.

The Chicken Roaster is useful for flavoring chickens.

When The Big Easy came along beer can chicken was one of the first meals I cooked in it. And nearly every week since. Last year sometime I began using the Char-Broil Chicken Roaster and now prepare chicken with a variety of flavored liquid infusions.

The premise is pretty basic: The chicken is cooked from the outside by indirect heat of the grill, or direct infrared energy in The Big Easy, and the heat also warms the liquid in the beer can or Chicken Roaster . The warming liquid slowly steams into the cavity of the chicken imparting flavor, adding moisture and helping to cook the bird. Simple and tasty.

So why on earth have I never thought to prepare a Beer Can Turkey?

Last week I did and I gotta tell you the results were just excellent! I prepared an 11.5 pound turkey in The Big Easy but you could just as easily prepare it in your grill if you set it up to accommodate the height of the bird and use indirect heat. I think The Big Easy makes it less difficult but I dont want to limit your creativity!

First I thawed the 11.5 pound turkey in my fridge for a day and a half. Then I removed the wrappings, took out the giblets and neck (to make a flavored stock for gravy) and placed the bird in a very basic brine mixture of about 1/2 cup kosher salt and enough water to cover the bird along with a dash of apple cider vinegar. (Want to know more about brining and the whys and wherefores? CLICK HERE) I use my largest stock pot for this brining process. Since I generally never cook a turkey much larger than 12 pounds, it works just fine for this purpose.

Why never cook a whole turkey much larger than 12 pounds you ask? Younger birds, in my opinion, are more tender. And in my experience two 12 pound birds deliver more meat than one 24 pound bird plus they are easier to manage in my oven or smoker or grill or Big Easy take less time to cook and less chance of meat drying out.

A 12lb turkey fits nicely in a large stockpot for brining. The stockpot with plastic wrap over the top sits in my refrigerated cooler for 4 - 8 - 12 - 24 hours, depending on how I feel about it all at the particular time.

Sometimes Ill place smaller birds in seal-able plastic bags, but still place them in the pot for insurance against leakage.

I stored the pot with the brining bird in my refrigerated cooler.

Later that afternoon I removed the bird from the pot and rinsed it. While you can certainly brine for up to 24 hours Ive found that I get good results in as few as 8 when cooking this size bird.

After rinsing and drying off with paper towels I placed the bird on a platter in the regular fridge for about an hour to air dry a bit. Remember one of the rules of roasting and grilling:

Wet = Steam.

Dry = Crisp & Brown.

Next step was to lightly rub the exterior of the bird with some neutral flavored oil. When cooking in The Big Easy I add just a light coat of peanut or canola oil to the surface of a turkey or chicken prior to roasting. You dont have to but I like to. I didnt add any salt to the skin because brining adds a bit of salt to the meat so I dont think it needs extra. Some folks like to add a rub to the surface of the turkey, even under the skin. If thats your style of preparation you may not need to apply oil on the skin.

The next steps are pretty simple. Place the turkey cavity over a half can of beer -I used a 32 oz. size and place the bird in the cooking basket. I use the Easy Out Hinged Basket and find that is makes the task very easy. The cooking part is pretty easy.

1. Set the basket with the turkey in The Big Easy oil-less infrared turkey fryer.
2. Turn on The Big Easy.
3. Plan on cooking for about 10 minutes per pound.

Im not suggesting you take a nap or watch the game on TV when preparing food in The Big Easy. You should always be attentive to any outdoor cooking appliance but cooking in The Big Easy is not anywhere as worrisome as using a hot oil fryer.

Turkey or chicken placed in The Big Easy will generally be legs down and wings up - allowing you to place an oven safe meat thermometer in the breast so it can be viewed from the top of the cooker.

When cooking a large roast on your grill, smoker or in The Big Easy I always recommend you use an oven safe meat thermometer inserted into the roast so the tip of the temperature probe is in the center of the meat and away from bone (bones conduct heat a bit faster than meat so your readings can be off). The only way to know something is cooked, without cutting into it and looking, is using a reliable thermometer. I place the meat thermometer in the breast meat so it is easily viewed from the top of the cooker when the chicken or turkey is roasted in a vertical position. And I set the timer for about 60 minutes.

An 11 pound turkey will cook in The Big Easy at a rate of approximately 10 minutes per pound and that added up to approximately 110 minutes. I wanted to keep abreast of what was going on in the bird so set the timer to remind me to go check on it. I did and it was still way below 150F degrees. No worries another 15 or twenty minutes I says to myself. I go back to the kitchen and continue prepping the rest of the meal. I can see the cooker through the kitchen window and its a boring site. BUT I forgot to set the timer. I realize its been nearly a half an hour since I went outside! YIKES!

In my minds eye there is a picture of this crispy blackened bird, the meat all dry. And having to go to the store and get another so I can write this story but not tell a soul that I messed up! Using the hook that comes with the cooker I lift the basket and the thermometer in the breast meat is registering 175F degrees. Insert the instant read digital thermometer in the thigh and it reads 180F degrees. OH MAN~! A turkey of this size will continue to cook from internal heat and potentially raise in temperature anywhere from 5 10 degrees. I generally cook until the breast meat reads just a tad more than 165F degrees.

Wellthank goodness I brined the bird (more moisture to begin with) and because of the 8oz of beer that heated up and steamed inside the bird it was not over cooked at all. In fact it was perfectly done and so very moist. Ill let the pictures tell the story.

The 11.5 lb turkey is resting, cross-legged, on a 32oz can of beer set inside an Easy Out Hinged Basket.

One of the drum sticks slipped a bit and the part sticking out was too close to the side of the cooker - charred. No worries - the meat was'nt affected

Side view shows the turkey positioned in the cooking basket.

Turkey set on the side - shows how the 32oz. can fits into the cavity. Most of the beer evaporates and steams inside the bird.

Leg-thigh piece is easily pulled off and joint cut. The dark meat is done, moist and nearly fall off the bone.

The breast meat is removed as one whole piece.

Happy Grilling!

Popularity: 9%

Turkey Fryers can be dangerous if safety precautions are not followed. Submerging a turkey full of juice into 350 degree oil, surrounded by open flames should not be taken lightly. Overflows splashing down the sides of the fryer and into the flames can easily catch fire. Always refer to your cooker’s owner’s manual for specific operating instructions.

VIDEO | Safety Tips for Deep Frying a Thanksgiving Turkey

Turkey Fryer Safety Precautions

• A TURKEY FRYER IS FOR OUTDOOR USE ONLY.
• Never operate on a deck, porch or inside a garage.
• Never operate on a table, boat, truckbed or tailgate
• Use only in well ventilated OUTDOOR areas, away from all combustible items such as landscaping, leaves and brush
• Keep children, pets or any recreational games away from the fryer
• Operate away from overhangs, trees, leaves and buildings.
• Be prepared to allowed sufficient time for cool down of oil. This will require several hours.
• Never cover the pot when cooking with oil
• Never fill the pot more than half full with oil.
• To catch oil splaches andavoid damage and stains from cooking, place tin foil under the cooker before adding oil, water or food and before lighting.
• Always were protective equipment such as leather gloves when immersing and removing the turkey.
• Make sure turkey is completely thawed. Never put a frozen turkey in hot oil.PUTTING A FROZEN TURKEY INTO THE FRYER CAN CAUSE THE OIL TO EXPLODE.
• Always use a deep fry thermometer and maintain temperature around 350 degrees F. Never allow oil to get above 400 degrees F.
• Never put an empty aluminum pot over an open flame. An aluminum pot will MELT IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS if liquid is evaporated or pot is empty.

Litwin Turkey Frying Safety System

The Litwin Turkey Frying Safety System greatly reduces the risk of fire caused from spill overs while frying your turkey. The Litwin turkey frying safety system safely and securely holds the bird for draining while you prepare the rest of your meal and it is designed to fit most 30 to 40 quart pots.

Popularity: 13%