Thanksgiving Turkey- Brine or Inject?

XLBalco · October 2012

Any opinions here? I know alot of people Brine but I didnt see too many injecting. Havent done one on the egg and was going to experiment. FIgured the brine wouldnt be a big deal but was more interested in those that inject.

henapple · October 2012

I do both

BENTE · October 2012

i will be doing both. last year was the first brined bird i have done. and since turkey's are so cheap at thanksgiving time i buy a couple extra and put them in the freezer. well in july i pulled one out. i decided to brine and inject. it was one of the best i have ever done i do not remember what i injected with but i will make one up at thanksgiving. one thing to think about. when you brine a bird your drippings will be salty so make sure you take that into mind when making your gravy!

jlsm · October 2012

I use a dry brine: 1 T kosher salt for every 5 lbs of bird. Rub under and over the skin and inside. Let sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours. I don't have room to wet brine in my fridge and I don't want the hassle of keeping ice water in a cooler for such a long period.

Solson005 · October 2012

I injected a 9 lb turkey on my small this past weekend and was very pleased with the results.

fishlessman · October 2012

ive done both, but what really makes a difference is duck fat. mix it with dry herbs and partially freeze, stuff it on the breasts under the skin. being frozen it slows the breasts from cooking as fast so that the thighs get done in time. the duck fat with the herbs makes the breast meat bettter, but the drippings in the roasting pan takes the gravey over the top

booksw · October 2012

Yesterday I cooked a 14 pound turkey on my LBGE. I brined the whole thing and injected half (with a mixture of olive oil, orange juice, and chicken broth). We then did a head to head comparison of the injected breast to the not injected breast. THey were both very delicious and moist but the injected breast was literally dripping with moisture- I was surprised at the difference.

I will be injecting the whole turkey for thanksgiving.

What solution did you have in mind to inject?

Sgt93 · October 2012

I would like to do a test run of a turkey this weekend. I have never done one.

Duganboy · October 2012

@booksw what temp and did you use any smoking wood

booksw · October 2012

I cooked it at about 325 and I used just a hand full of apple chips soaked in beer. I read that turkey takes up smoke readily and to go easy on the wood. I had a free bag of apple chips so used those.

Beer can chicken is a sentimental topic for my extended family. This year we will all be together for thanksgiving for the first time in years and I have to show off my egg and I have to make beer can turkey...

XLBalco · October 2012

some good input! thanks

henapple · October 2012

Beer can turkey...better get a "fawdy".

Stargaze · October 2012

Are you guys buying Kosher Turkeys or something? I know the typical Butterball type turkeys are already injected with a solution. I don't know if that matters or not but I just figured getting a turkey that wasn't messed with is probably better. Thoughts?

jlsm · October 2012

I always get unprocessed turkey, but it's easy to find in Philadelphia.

tgkleman · October 2012

I brined last Thanksgiving, using Alton Brown's (food network) recipe. It turned out very well, although i did do a practice run a few weeks prior just to make sure it worked out. I have never tried injecting, although I do remember a tip someone posted about wrapping the bird in saran before you inject to make it less messy.

nolaegghead · October 2012

tgkleman said:

I brined last Thanksgiving, using Alton Brown's (food network) recipe. It turned out very well, although i did do a practice run a few weeks prior just to make sure it worked out. I have never tried injecting, although I do remember a tip someone posted about wrapping the bird in saran before you inject to make it less messy.

Yeah, that's a good tip. If you don't, there's a good chance you'll be wiping marinade off the walls and cabinets of your kitchen.

Mickey · October 2012

I do not brine or inject. Grill direct at 400 raised and get very good juicy bird.

Griffin · October 2012

henapple said:

Beer can turkey...better get a "fawdy".

Or a Foster's...Australian for Beer!

I've brined, I've injected, I've brined and injected and I think that one might have been the best.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · October 2012

I like to brine my poultry (chicken & turkey) While I do like to inject beef and pork, I don't the birds.

Injecting would not hurt the cook IMO...so do it if you want.

I like to use apple and pecan for a light smoke on the Turkey.

A perfectly cooked turkey will be quite juicey and delicious on the Egg...ice the breast and don't overcook!

jfm0830 · October 2012

I haven't made a turkey on the Egg yet, but for the last 7 years I've made turkeys on the smoker. I started off injecting my turkeys and switched to brining 4 years ago. The brined turkey has been the most moist turkey I've ever made. I would tend to agree with the folks that have said you could do both, as long as the two processes are complimentary in taste.

Stargaze said:

Are you guys buying Kosher Turkeys or something? I know the typical Butterball type turkeys are already injected with a solution. I don't know if that matters or not but I just figured getting a turkey that wasn't messed with is probably better. Thoughts?

Brining, as you know, involves salt so you definitely DO NOT want to use a Butterball or any other turkey injected with a salt solution. I have never had any trouble finding an all natural turkey in any of the supermarkets around here.

Another thing you want to be careful of when brining is not all salt is equal. Different brands of salt have different saltiness and you will need to adjust the amount of salt based on the brand of salt you use. Now I am not talking table salt vs kosher, yes they are different too, but Diamond Kosher salt is different than Morton's Kosher salt. Many of the recipes I've used have a sidebar chart covering this. If the one you are using doesn't specify it, there are some good articles on brining on the Virtual Weber Bullet website that spell out the whole salt thing.

Jim

nolaegghead · October 2012

Jim, a good rule of thumb is to use weight when measuring salt.

Not all salts are created equal. You can't go wrong if you buy brining/pickling salts, which come normally in large amounts. Table salt leaves sediment and iodized salts, well, we just don't need it. Basically, you want pure sodium chloride.

I weigh out my salt. That takes the guesswork out of the density part of doing it by volume.

Ruhlman's universal brine is 225g salt, 125g sugar and 1 gallon water.

The brine concentration isn't super important, but it you have a consistent brine salinity, you can tweak the time component of brining.

Good advice on not brining something already factory brined.

jfm0830 · October 2012

Agreed on weighing out the salt. I first got my kitchen scale just for that purpose. Now that

I've moved into baking I use it year round.

Jim

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Thanksgiving Turkey- Brine or Inject?

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