Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
My SIL (sister in law), who is an odd duck anyways, (hope she don't see that or
) anyways she has requested I smoke a turkey for her for new-years. Bear in mind here she is married to the guy who refuses to eat my smoked turkey saying it is under cooked due to the pink tint the cure gives it. She wants me to inject this turkey with a sauce made out of 1 can jellied cranberry sauce, 1 cup cranberry juice, 1/4 cup orange juice.Sounds like an odd injection to me. If I brine it like I always do with my standard brine there is going to be a clash of flavors. I don't want to tell her no and have her PO and griping to the wife. I guess I could do a brine of salt, sugar, cure, and water nothing else, and make this wild injection and inject it. Whats your all take on this.
Add a bottle of cranberry juice cocktail to the brine. It will turn the turkey pink. You can tell her you injected it, the whole thing is pink so your BIL can't complain
I'm with Al and I'm kinda of a trouble maker to. So I would turn this bird as pink as I could for the BIL. Here this is how your wife wanted it. Then I would do a second bird that could be eaten or just do another on your regular way.
I would inject it with the concoction. Especially if you buy a turky that has some % of brine solution already in it. IMO when you buy those turkeys there is no need to brine (because they already are). I think the flavors would work great together.
After much thought and deliberation I have decided I'll do 2 turkeys. The SIL is paying for the 1 she wants so if its a flop I'm out nothing, except what ever salt and sugar so virtually nothing. I checked out the cranberry turkey Jeff did last year and am going with that brine. I am also going to add some RED food coloring to so I can make sure the bird is as pink as can be, as was suggested.
I'm with Al and I'm kinda of a trouble maker to. So I would turn this bird as pink as I could for the BIL. Here this is how your wife wanted it. Then I would do a second bird that could be eaten or just do another on your regular way.
I told my wife what her sister wanted and her reaction was she wants WHAT. She also stated I'd better have a back up plan. She thought the extra pink turkey was a good idea. We are leaving on Friday night to head to her house, so I am taking the smoker along, and will smoke them there. Turkeys will go in brine later today. I am going to take about 2 cups of brine and mix in the cranberry sauce, and OJ and inject it before brining. I will update this when we return.
After much thought and deliberation I have decided I'll do 2 turkeys. The SIL is paying for the 1 she wants so if its a flop I'm out nothing, except what ever salt and sugar so virtually nothing. I checked out the cranberry turkey Jeff did last year and am going with that brine. I am also going to add some RED food coloring to so I can make sure the bird is as pink as can be, as was suggested.
I told my wife what her sister wanted and her reaction was she wants WHAT. She also stated I'd better have a back up plan. She thought the extra pink turkey was a good idea. We are leaving on Friday night to head to her house, so I am taking the smoker along, and will smoke them there. Turkeys will go in brine later today. I am going to take about 2 cups of brine and mix in the cranberry sauce, and OJ and inject it before brining. I will update this when we return.
Well first off I apologize for the bad pics. I managed to clear them up some what. In my haste to get every thing loaded and make sure I had every thing. I forgot the camera left it charging on computer desk. I borrowed my SIL cell and she e-mailed the pics to me.
We arrived at my SIL late Friday night as expected but all went well. We had a good time shooting the breeze, having a few drinks and playing cards. Around noon Saturday I unloaded the smoking stuff from truck. The cooler temp was 36, so I just put the cooler in kitchen. I should have put in the garage as the cooler temp alarm went off around 6 pm. Rather then go get more ice I opted to just wash the turkeys up and put in fridge mistake #2 as you will see.
The turkey I did at my SIL request was named Barney due to the purple color. This name came about when my BIL saw it and exclaimed WTF it's the color of Barney, that's worse then your under cooked turkeys, and proceeded to tell me I needed to learn how to cook. I should have kept my big mouth shut but told him this was his wife's idea not mine. Well that started an argument between them, as he was expecting ham as usual. Now my SIL is
at me for not keeping my big mouth shut, and my wife is
at them for arguing as well as me for starting it. I finish washing up turkeys and get them in fridge. I make up an excuse that I need more wood chips and am going to store to get them. My 2 boys and I go off, my intent was to just get the He** out of there for a bit. While I'm out I decide I'll just get a cheap ham and re-smoke it, with the $ my SIL gave me for the turkey. This should make everyone happy. It pacified the situation some what is all. My SIL is
at my BIL now cause I went and bought a ham, to satisfy him. My wife tells me no matter what we do them 2 are going to to be
at each other most of the night.
I say we are going to party with or without them. I go make a pitcher of Margaritas, and pitcher of strawberry daiquiri's my wife starts putting out munchies. My oldest fires up smoker puts the ABT's on racks, shots are going to smoke in pan. We are getting the party started. My SIL thanks us for getting stuff ready and joins in,BIL is camped out in office (good place for the pompous A**). around 10 my BIL comes out of office and joins. Every thing goes good till 12. We brought some fireworks to set off at midnight which is the normal for us. Well the boy's and I had set off a few and BIL comes out telling us to stop it's going to upset the neighbors. My SIL and wife come out and tell him to knock it off quit spoiling the fun. He storms off to his office again. We all set a few more off and went in. We partied till about 1:30 when the ham came off smoker, wrapped in foil and put it in cooler to rest and cool down. Never saw the BIL rest of the night.
I'm up again at 6:30 to get the turkeys on as they are for lunch not set time just after 12. Turkeys went in smoker around 8:00, I wasn't moving very fast due to being hung over. I got the turkeys going and sat down in recliner, and fell asleep. My oldest boy was up so instead of wake me he kept an eye on the smoker (thank god I was hurting). The turkeys came off smoker at 1:30, smoker temp ran between 275 and 300. At 12 my wife and SIL started getting the rest of dinner ready. We ate right at 2:30. My BIL still wouldn't touch the turkeys, but he had ham, and actually said it was good. All in all the smoke went well. The Barney turkey actually wasn't bad at all, was sweeter then others and had a cranberry flavor. For a change of pace I'd do it again.
And now the Q-view
Barney turkey just before going into smoker. It is actually a darker purple then the pic shows, color got washed out.
Other turkey just before going into smoker. I didn't inject my injection solution just brined. Don't have a clue why I didn't remove the tail.
Barney turkey out of smoker. Skin is much darker then normal I think that is due to the increased sugar that is in the cranberry sauce.
Other turkey out of smoker
Barney turkey cut up. If you look close you can see the cranberry sauce injection. The meat wasn't evenly colored, it ranged from light purple to pink. I should have added food coloring to the injection, as well as brine. The cranberry sauce didn't spread out it mostly stayed where it was injected.
Other turkey cut up. Not as moist as when I inject as well as brine but still very moist
On a side note if you use food coloring be aware it will color your hands, I took acetone trying to get it off
) anyways she has requested I smoke a turkey for her for new-years. Bear in mind here she is married to the guy who refuses to eat my smoked turkey saying it is under cooked due to the pink tint the cure gives it. She wants me to inject this turkey with a sauce made out of 1 can jellied cranberry sauce, 1 cup cranberry juice, 1/4 cup orange juice.Sounds like an odd injection to me. If I brine it like I always do with my standard brine there is going to be a clash of flavors. I don't want to tell her no and have her PO and griping to the wife. I guess I could do a brine of salt, sugar, cure, and water nothing else, and make this wild injection and inject it. Whats your all take on this.
