Turkey Question

Spring Chicken

<p />I know the word "turkey" has been beat to death the last few days but I have a question about mine. I started with a 13-pound frozen freeby. I injected some Tony Chachere's Creole Butter & Jalapeno Injectable Marinade into just one side of the bird. The other side had a goodly amount of pepper and spices rubbed onto the skin. Cavity was filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. [p]I cooked it indirect at about 350° for 2 1/2 hours until the breast reached 165° and leg was 184°, basting with giblet gravy every now and then. I took it off and let it rest for about 45 minutes under a layer of towels. [p]It was tender and juicy, sliced up well and looked really nice, But it had no flavor. Liberal sprinklings of salt and pepper finally got it a notch above boring.[p]One thought is that it is a "cheap" turkey. My neighbor had one just like it and cooked it in a bag in the oven. It also lacked flavor.[p]Has anyone got any ideas as to correcting this little problem? I'm thinking of brining it next time, or maybe adding some smoking wood.[p]Appreciate any suggestions.[p]Spring Chicken
Spring Texas USA

TRex

<p />Spring Chicken,[p]I also cooked a freebee this year, but I got it delivered to my house the morning of Thanksgiving day. Thus, I had no time for brining or anything fancy like that. So, what I ended up doing was making an herb paste and inserting this herb paste between the skin and the meat (I had to use a sharp filet knife to carefully peel the skin away from the meat without tearing or puncturing it. Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised at how much flavor was imparted to the meat this way. Now, it wasn't as much flavor as if I had brined the bird, but still it was very noticeable and several people commented on it. [p]Anyway, the link below gives more details on what I did.[p]Cheers,[p]TRex
[ul][li]The Lazy Man's Thanksgiving Day Turkey[/ul]

ChefRD

Spring Chicken,
in a word "brine"
Two words, JSlots Rule!
HTH
Ron.

fishlessman

Spring Chicken,
i got lots of flavor out of the bird this year. j appledogs brine, then blended up some maple cured bacon with an onion and some sage, made a paste out of it and rubbed it in real thick under the skin. then basted with the drippings using mad maxes directions with the fruit, wine etc.