Oops! What will this become? Brine-cured bird over-due for smoke...

[forluvofsmoke]

I planned on smoking this today, but it's not gonna fly...got a boo-boo here:

This is a (gulp) 7.5lb fresh/frozen (untainted) roaster which I added a 1/2 recommended strength of TQ and seasoning brine solution to lastnight. I didn't add additional salt to the seasonings, knowing the TQ would have more than I wanted. The bird was in the fridge for 2-1/2 days thawing prior to adding the solution, and I planned on no longer than 16-18 hours brine-curing. It was still partly frozen when I cut the vac bag and added the solution lastnight, and I hoped that it would be thawed by noon today for an hour or two of fresh water soak before I rubbed and smoked it.





It's still 60-65% frozen, and looks like it will take a couple more days, so I won't be able to smoke it until next Saturday (6 more days).

What will become of this? Other than being very salty, requiring possibly a 12 hour soak in fresh water, will it basically become a poultry ham or pastrami of sorts?

I'm open to ideas on how to finish this blooper...has any one done something similar to this before un-intentionally or otherwise and made a good of it?

Note: My tattle-tale fridge thermo has shown min/max temps @ 35-38*F.

Thanks

Eric

 

[fire it up]

Personally I would remove it from the cure, place it in a safe container with some form of weight on top to keep it submerged and let cold water run over it for an hour or two that should finish thawing it, then I would smoke it if tonight is your only option for several days.
Not sure what would become of the bird after such a long soak if you let it go.
If you are able to cut the bird up or even in half it should be thawed in half the time.

If absolutely not able to do it you could always toss it in that square metal box that cooks food but doesn't smoke, what do they call that thing again? Arven, Ooven, Oh right, an Oven

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks, Fire it up.

I took your forced thaw advice...soaked in fresh water to draw out some salt while it finished thawing. That seemed to work pretty good...I though I was in deep doo-doo a few hours ago.

I'll get the q-view started for this after a bit. The bird is in my Vault as I write

.

Eric

 

[cowgirl]

Eric, I'm pretty sure you need to just send it to me in case there is something wrong with it. I'll dispose of it for ya.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

LOL!!!!!! It's smokin' right now @ 280~290* with Cherry/Mesquite.

I just hope I soaked enough of the salt back out of it. I tasted the brine-cure solution before puitting the bird into it lastnight...seemed like enough salt to preserve about 30lbs of meat

.

Take care, Jeanie!

Eric

 

[fire it up]

Glad you got the bird going Eric.
I'm looking forward to the end results.

 

[rivet]

Great advice FiU! Right on target.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

This is my first brined bird...ever. This was given to us by a local friend who raises their own beef, cluckers, and harvests eggs. It was last fall's bird and they wanted us to give 'em a shot and see how we like it. They had some larger birds which would not fit into a gallon vac-seal bag like this one (it barely fit). Some were pushing 8.5lbs w/o giblets, this one was 7.5lbs.

As described above in the first post, the brine-cure contained the TQ solution, and the brine seasonings were chili powder, garlic powder, fine ground black pepper, chopped/dried onion, chopped/dried sweet basil.

Just drying her off after the fresh water bath:


Rubbed with Lemon-Pepper and Cajun:


1 hour, 10 minutes into the smoke with Cherry/Mesquite @ around 280-290*:


Internal temp looks good so far:


I'm guessing with the size if this bird, I'm looking at about 6 hours total smoke time...the breast portion of this thing is MASSIVE! It closely resembles a small turkey.

Thanks

Eric

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Coming along quite nicely:

I/T, time into the smoke, and rack temp to the right:


Getting a nice color already, and with the I/T over 140* @ this stage, I jacked the chamber temp down to ~255*:


Back later with the rest!

Thanks

Eric

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I'm guessing (as I've never did a bird burn this hot to start out) that the stall hit at higher temps due to the higher chamber/rack temps when I started this smoke.

It hit 'er @ 162* or so, and it has been there for an hour but is almost to 170* now.

I moved the probe into 2 different spots in the breast, and the reading went from the original 166* to 168*, so we're close to dining on (hopefully) a new tasty treat. The salt content from the TQ brine-cure will be the cincher. When I stabbed the probe into the 2 different places, some nice fairly clear juices spurted out and oozed down the side, so it is very juicy. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I/T's a few minutes ago:




And the package looks like:


Back with the finish very soon!

Eric

 

[beer-b-q]

Looking good so far.

 

[pops6927]

He's not taking pictures, he's CHOWIN' DOWN! That big yardbird is hammin' it up on his plate right now, I'll bet!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Heh-heh, well, not quite...she is out resting while we wait for the rest of the crew to arrive.

She sure does look purty tho!





I better get a knife and steel out and get busy, eh? LOL!!!!!!!

Eric

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Looking good Eric. Nice job on the bird...

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks Fire! I was sweating it 'til you came along...

Thanks Beer, it went quite well...and tasty!

Thanks, Cajun...I think I just found a good source for local yard birds, and the brine-cure is different than I'm used to...mighty good taste with the seasonings I used.

Eric

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I'm chowing down right now and really enjoying this:










The skin was alot tougher than it looked...not sure if that's typical of a whole brined bird...maybe I should have used oil/butter before the rub, or basterd after it browned, but I wanted better penetration of smoke more than a crispy skin. Other than that, mighty good eating, taste and moisture were very good.

Thanks all, from another happy smoker!

Eric

 

[beer-b-q]

it looks awesome Eric...

 

[scottyaz]

I'm thinking of doing a chicken myself next weekend, looks wonderful!

 

[irishteabear]

Looks delicious Eric. Nice job!