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I don't usually inject but I want to this year. I was considering some kind of mix of apple juice, bourbon and rub but I see a lot of recipes that use butter. My worry is that butter might give a strange texture to my cold turkey the next day when it solidifies. Is that something worth worrying about? Does butter make it better?
I saw one recipe that smoked the butter and then mixed it with bourbon, that seems like an interesting option to inject some smoke into the breast. Opinions?
Wife puts butter on everything... Even peanut butter and jelly, so you guessed it, on and in the turkey. The fat basically renders out during cooking so nothing weird with the cold meat. The salt contribution of the butter does help, but the overall affect is minimal and nothing like a brine.
If you are in the mood.... make GHEE, then inject it in the turkey...
How to Make Ghee
Prep 10 mins
Cook 15 mins
Total 25 mins
Author Wellness Mama
Yield 2 cups
Ghee is a traditional food that was considered sacred in some cultures. It is a form of clarified butter, made my separating the milk proteins from the pure healthy fats, creating a flavorful and delicious fat for cooking or on vegetables.
Ingredients
16 ounces (1 pound) of butter- preferably unsalted, organic and grassfed
Equipment: A medium size saucepan, a fine wire mesh strainer, cheesecloth, a spoon, a 16-ounce or larger measuring cup, a clean jar for storage
Instructions
Cut the butter into cubes and place in the saucepan.
Heat the butter over medium heat until completely melted. Reduce to a simmer.
Cook for about 10-15 minutes (this will vary based on how hot your stove is). During this time, the butter will go through several stages. It will foam, then bubble, then seem to almost stop bubbling and then foam again. When the second foam occurs, the ghee is done. At this point, the melted butter should be bright gold in color and there should be reddish brown pieces of milk solids at the bottom of the pan.
Let cool slightly for 2-3 minutes and then slowly pour through the wire mesh strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth. The small bits of milk protein are usually discarded, though a friend told me that her grandmother used to mix those with flour (or almond flour) and a small amount of honey to make a flavorful fudge-like treat.
Ghee will last up to a month at room temperature or even longer in the fridge. I typically store mine in the fridge, just to me safe.
Use as a cooking oil for stir frys, to top sweet potatoes, or melted on steamed/roasted vegetables. Ghee is much more flavorful than butter, so use sparingly!
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The Pioneer Woman....
Ghee is butter that has been processed to remove the milk solids. It’s basically butter oil.
Ghee can be a way for those with a slight dairy sensitivity to enjoy the flavors of butter. The casein and whey proteins that cause a sensitivity are removed with the milk solids.
You know how butter tends to burn when you cook with too high of a heat? That’s because the milk solids overcook easily. When you remove those, the smoking point of butter goes way up: from about 350 degrees to 450 degrees or more.
Now, let’s dive in and make some ghee!
Start with the highest quality butter you can. Salted or unsalted will work, though some insist that the best ghee is made with unsalted butter. I’ve used both.
Put the butter in a saucepan. It will melt faster if you cut it up a bit first. Turn the heat to medium-low.
After the butter melts, it will start to bubble and separate. This has probably happened to you when you’ve melted butter for a recipe and forgot it on the stove for a bit. It’s just the whey from the butter floating to the surface.
Skim the whey off. You can either compost it, feed it to your animals, or (if you aren’t sensitive to dairy) save it and put it in mashed potatoes!
Continue to cook the butter until it turns clear and the milk solids sink to the bottom. You can stop at this point: you’ve made clarified butter!
Or you can continue to cook your butter to make ghee. You want to brown (not burn!) the milk solids on the bottom of the pan. This will give your ghee a nutty, butterscotch flavor.
Finished!
Let the ghee cool a bit and strain through cheesecloth, butter muslin, a paper towel, a coffee filter, or a clean tea towel. This ensures that you remove the last bits of the milk proteins.
daveomak, that is awesome. I very much appreciate the detail and the helpful pictures. You made me want to make something that I had never even heard of before seeing your post.
Zwiller, I'm already planning on brining in addition to the injection. I just did some chickens as a test the other day and they came out amazing except that the breast was a little bland. Perfectly juicy and most people loved it but I wanted a little more salt or something so I'm really just looking for a vehicle for pushing some of my rub into the breast.
There is a product called "Better than Bullion" that is a paste that comes in a jar. Outside of making your own stock from scratch I highly recommend this stuff! They have many flavors.
You can also buy creole butter that is meant for injecting just like that. But Dave has a good idea. I have made gee butter, but never injected it before... sounds tasty!
If the meat is Cold, straight butter will solidify in the needle and clog it. A 1/4C melted butter in 2C Luke Warm Chix or Turkey Broth that you emulsify in a blender is easily injected and no butter pockets. Add rub or seasoning to Broth, bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and cool to 100-110 degrees. Blend in the Butter and inject...JJ
Just making sure others reading this picked up on it but the reason for making ghee is that it will not solidify/clog. Not sure how or why but I get away with injecting melted "I can't believe it's not butter".
Blodzoo, sounds to me like you just need to inject the brine well into the breast and/or not brining long enough. Ideally you want to inject 10% of the weight of the turkey and I think most guys (myself included) do not take it that far... I plan to measure it out next time. Alternately, you are looking about 4-5 day brine if not injecting.
All this being said, I concur and prefer veggie stock (remember butter is the wife's thing). I make my own. Simple: throw onion, carrots, celery in a processor and add to brine mix and boil for a few minutes.
Just making sure others reading this picked up on it but the reason for making ghee is that it will not solidify/clog. Not sure how or why but I get away with injecting melted "I can't believe it's not butter".
Blodzoo, sounds to me like you just need to inject the brine well into the breast and/or not brining long enough. Ideally you want to inject 10% of the weight of the turkey and I think most guys (myself included) do not take it that far... I plan to measure it out next time. Alternately, you are looking about 4-5 day brine if not injecting.
All this being said, I concur and prefer veggie stock (remember butter is the wife's thing). I make my own. Simple: throw onion, carrots, celery in a processor and add to brine mix and boil for a few minutes.
I'm not sure where you got this...But, Ghee is all about adding a nice nutty flavor when injected. Being 50% Saturated Fat, it will set solid as any other Animal Fat when Cold, the same as Whole Butter that has not been cooked. The only difference between Ghee and the Butter you start with, is cooking to remove the 15% or so Water and the Milk Solids, aka Protein and Sugars, stuff the Burns so easily. The solids are removed by skimming and/or letting them settle out before filtering.
The reason ICBINButter stays liquid is, being mostly Unsaturated Fat the molecular bonds that hold Saturated Fat in a solid, are not there or fewer in number. So the melting point is much lower and it has to be colder to solidify, reason it is Spreadable right out of the refer...JJ
I'm not sure where you got this...But, Ghee is all about adding a nice nutty flavor when injected. Being 50% Saturated Fat, it will set solid as any other Animal Fat when Cold, the same as Whole Butter that has not been cooked. The only difference between Ghee and the Butter you start with, is cooking to remove the 15% or so Water and the Milk Solids, aka Protein and Sugars, stuff the Burns so easily. The solids are removed by skimming and/or letting them settle out before filtering.
The reason ICBINButter stays liquid is, being mostly Unsaturated Fat the molecular bonds that hold Saturated Fat in a solid, are not there or fewer in number. So the melting point is much lower and it has to be colder to solidify, reason it is Spreadable right out of the refer...JJ
