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Basting question

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Auburnegger
Auburnegger Posts: 127
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Should you baste a turkey with butter all the time or sometimes just use water only??
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  • Richard Fl
    Richard Fl Posts: 8,297
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    I have a pan which started with some water below to catch the drippings and just use the liquid to baste every 30-45 minutes
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  • Boxerpapa
    Boxerpapa Posts: 989
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    You want to baste with the drippings that collect in the pan you have the turkey in.
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
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    you baste with the juices that are in the pan. ..if you are following the mad max method. .its a combination of the melted butter/wine/juices from the bird itself. .. along with what is collected inthe bottom of the pan, stick your basting bulb down into the cavity of the bird and pull the juices from there as well, they will mix with the butter/wine mix. ... all mixes together for good basting juices and then turns into great drippings for the gravy. .. .if you are lacking enough 'stuff' in your pan/cavity, you can always add some more butter and liquid (think apple juice, or some of the turkey stock you've been making). ...
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    If truth be told Turkey Skin is waterproof. If you listen to Alton Brown Basting does nothing for you.

    Having said that I usually baste my bird with a heated mixture of white wine, butter and tarragon.

    Not sure what it does for the skin, but the Gravy sure is good :woohoo:
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
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    if you follow my technique and keep pulling the juices from the cavity, those juices that collect from the bird, have been cooking in that onion/apple/lemon and herbs, you then pour them over the bird where they collect down in the pan with more juices from the bird and the original two sticks of butter and the half bottle of wine. ...over the course of the cook, all those juices/butter/wine, cooking in and out of the bird, with the onion/apple/lemon/herbs, the lump charcoal and little bit of wood smoke, leave you with the great drippings that make for the fantastic gravy. ...that and the bastings make for great flavor on the skin. ... cause while they may not permeate the skin cause as you say it is waterproof, it does stick to the skin adding that flavor to the skin, and there fore to the flavor of the bird when you bite into a slice that has skin still attached to to. ..
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Now did I say I didn't baste :)

    You know I don't follow your recipe.. After 35+ years you just kind of get into a habit... :laugh:

    No sense publishing my turkey method. I'd be too afraid some one would come to the house and break my knee caps. :woohoo:
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
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    pay attention pete. ..i didn't say you didn't baste, i was trying to build on what you said as to why basting, even though it doesn't add to the flavor of the meat itself, is still beneficial to the finished product, and why that is. ...its not a specific recipe issue, but one of technique. . .you have a recipe that is different than mine, but the technique is similar. ..either way, its adding to the drippings and the drippings add to resultant great gravy and thats the point of the discussion. ..
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  • Mr. & Mrs Potatohead
    Mr. & Mrs Potatohead Posts: 2,037
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    Not sure where to go here…I certainly want my knee caps in place, when all said and done :blink: !
    But for what ever it may be worth:
    I baste with the cavity and pan juices, perhaps more so for the resultant gravy…But I do wonder if the basting helps in keeping the bird a bit moister too??!!??
    None the less, it is with the drippings and I feel no need to add any “basting juice”.
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Ok so Mr. Homeless Cart pushing Mensa can't read :)
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