turkey brine

[daddyzaring]

How long on the brine?

 

[travcoman45]

I brine most a my stuff over night. Seems ta be bout right.

 

[mnola917]

Is this brine at all spicy? I'm smoking my first turkey for Easter and I dont want ANY spicyness. I love it, but the family doesnt.

 

[wildflower]

Do we have a rub for Mr. T????

 

[promisekeeper]

Brining in a cooler with some ice has worked for me. I've seen articles where some folks clean out a drawer in the fridge and do it in there. I haven't mustered up the courage to spring that one on my wife. She lets me keep fish bait in there in the summer and I don't want to lose my priveleges!

My family doesnt like the spicy either, so I'd have to go easy on the Cajun. My brine is pretty similar except instead of Cajun, I load it up with Rosemary. Love that Rosemary taste on poultry! I think I'm gonna grow some this year. Brined turkey was awesome in the oven...can't wait to do a smoked one!

 

[daddyzaring]

I have a 2 and 3 or 4 gallon stock post I did my brine in.

Is poltry the only thing that you can brine, that it helps with?

 

[travcoman45]

Well, little late on the response, but no, it ain't spicey at all.

I use a citrus rub on my poultry, nice taste an all. I use my brisket rub (sorta a universal rub a mine) that has a bit more bite ta it.

I brine in 3 an 5 gallon food grade buckets what I got from the bakery in the supermart. Course I got a icebox just fer smokin stuff. Ya can use the cooler to, just put the ice in bags so it don't dilute the brine an keep the temp around 36° ifin ya can.

 

[danielh]

I will agree on the above brine... Perfect. Best birds I've done were with it, rubbed with the same cajun you throw in the brine, and then injected with a cajun/butter mix.

I'll throw the bird in before bed, and pull it out the next morning before the smoke. So roughly 8hrs.

 

[jirodriguez]

I see a lot of people who are brining their birds in a plastic bag. Is it just me or does it seem like a turkey is way to big for even the biggest freezer bag you can get? Maybe these are really small turkeys?

Anyway would this work:

The only container I have big enough to fit my 13lb bird with a gallon and half of water is a stainless steel kettle. BUT...that will not fit in the fridge. So what about putting a freexer bag full of ice in the kettle and leaving out side somewhere secure where critters cant get at it (shed)? Would this work?

 A good time of year to give this thread another bump!

For plastic bags, look for the ziploc 5 gallon bags, usually sold near the plastic storage totes. They will hold a big 20+ lb bird no problem and still leave room for brine. I put my bird and brine in the ziploc, then put it in a big ice chest and cover it with a 20 lb. bag of ice. Let it sit in the garage overnight, and smoke it the next day - usually only about half the ice melts, so it is staying plenty cold.

 

[raptor700]

Thanks for bumpin' this thread! Definetly some good info here. If everyone reads this thread, then no one will have a bad bird on T-Day!

 

[wingnut]

I am putting together 'Mr. Tips' SLAUGHTERHOUSE POULTRY BRINE.  My question is, do you mix the ingredients dry or is there some cooking needed?

 

TIA  Larry

 

[jirodriguez]

Since my pots hold 1 gallon of water I mixed 1 gal. water with everything else and heated it just enough to thouroughly dissolve the salt and sugar. Then set it aside to cool. Then when I put my turkey in the 20 gallon ziploc bag I added the brine in the pot plus another 1/2 gallon of cold water to have the 1 1/2 gallons of water listed in the recipe.

You do not have to heat it if you don't want to, but a lot of people do just to make sure the sugar and salt dissolve well.

 

[tbakko]

+1 for Tip's

 

[travcoman45]

I warm half the water an mix in the ingriedients (no need ta boil), it helps bring out the flavours a bit more, then just add the rest a the water.  It's best ta add the poultry inta a room temp er cooler brine. 

 

[delarosa74868]

I use a citrus rub on my poultry, nice taste an all. I use my brisket rub (sorta a universal rub a mine) that has a bit more bite ta it.

Citrus rub? Sounds like that would be good!  Is the recipe a secret?

 

[travcoman45]

Well, sorta, but here be the jest of it:

Citrus Poultry Rub

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Salt

2 TBS Lemon Peel Granules

2 TBS Orange Granules

1/2 tsp Chipolte Pepper

2 TBS Oregano

1 TBS Onion Powder

1 TBS Garlic Powder

1 TBS Black Pepper

Grind to a powder.

 

[dwdunlap]

Question:

The turkey brine and injection recipe sound great and I want to try. However, my finicky anti smoke family would veto smoked Turkey for sure. Traditional roasted or nothing!

So I am wondering why the brine and injection wouldn't be excellent for roasted Turkey too?  I have been brining the bird a couple of days for years and it makes incredible turkey. So I don't see why this recipe wouldn't be fantastic too. Would I want the injection as well or would that be too much for an oven turkey? 

DWD in Richardson

 

[curry nichols]

I tried a new Brine today:

1.5 Gal Water

.5 cups Kosher Salt

.5 Cups Brown Sugar

2 tsp Celery Salt

2 tsp Rosemary

2 tsp Thyme

2 tsp Sage

Brining a 3 Lb Butterball Boneless Turkey Breast.  Will update - Putting it in the Primo with Pecan and Lump Charcoal

 

[jakester]

On the  Slaughterhouse Poultry Injection  has anyone tried substituting broth or some other liquid for apple cider?

 

[jakester]

Does anyone around here do a dry brine?