Gearing Up For Turkey Season [pics]

KMagnus

Had an opportunity to get the holiday season started early with a Thanksgiving meal today.  Having been tasked to cooked the bird week before, I decided to brine it 2 days rather than the 1 as I normally do.  So, I dropped the +18# Butterball into the brining mixture high noon on Wednesday and pulled it out to rest in the fridge on Saturday.

Pulled the bird outta of the fridge and got my large BGE up at 4:00 AM.  I put an ice back over the breast at 4:35 and got the temperature stabilized between 325-350 by 5:00.  I injected it with one small bottle of creole butter, coated all the skin with Canola oil and lightly dusted with salt and pepper.

I ended up pulling it at 9:10 AM when the breast was approximately 160 F and the thighs were 185 F.  The skin ended up really crisp, but I ended up having to wrap it in foil and put it in a cooler with towels since lunch would not be until 12:15 PM.  Below are some pictures before I pulled and wrapped.  Ended up with a full platter of white and dark.  All of it was gone by 12:45 PM and I had explained how I cooked it to just about everyone before it was over.

Thanks for looking!
Ken

banzaitoyota

Looks good

medic119

Beautiful.  If I get all everything purchased this week, I hope mine will look like that.  I am getting my Large BGE delivered tomorrow and hopefully the platesetter will be in this next week.

willieb43

This is my first attempt at egging a turkey.  Have done them in a Weber in the past with good results-used time and the pop-up rather than thermometer.  What does brining accomplish?   Seems like it would tend to dehydrate (I studied physics and chemistry) the meat and make it more dry.  Does spatchcocking  dry out meat if I pay strict attention to the bird's internal temp.  I'm tasked with the turkey for a party, and I don't want to sully the egg's reputation or look like an idiot .

rpm29

Cooking a turkey on the Egg is the simplest thing.  I generally cook a large breast 4-5 time a year.  Takes about 3 hours at a temperature around 275 degrees.

Brining uses osmosis to pull additional moisture (and depending on your brine, flavor) into the bird.  I don't always brine, but the turkey definitely comes out more moist when I do.

Also, I start the cooking with the breast down in the pan.  After about an hour, I flip it over.  Simple to do when you are only working with a breast.  Might be more difficult with a full turkey.

KMagnus

Willieb43: The law of diffusion allows the salt/sugar/spices to flow from the area of higher concentration (brine) to lesser concentration (meat cells).  Some of the liquid will also flow to the meat through osmosis.  Once inside the meat, the salt causes cell proteins to unravel (denature).  Denaturing results in a sticky matrix that forms a barrier when heated capturing and holding moisture.

If I have the time to plan, I will always prefer cooking turkeys that have been brined as I've definitely noted the difference.