Smoked turkey - my favorite bird
Posted: 19 Aug 2010, 01:55Not a lot of discussion about smoked turkey on the forum, but Mad Cow seems to have it right. Being an American I do more turkeys at Thanksgiving than at Christmas and I have smoked one every 4th Thursday in November for many years. Recently fried turkey has become popular as well but I leave that version to my brother in law. We often end up with one smoked, one fried, and one from the oven. I'll be traveling back to the states this year for Thanksgiving and have already signed up for the smokey version.
Here is my favorite brine, lifted without shame from the virtual Weber bullet web site:
2 quarts apple juice
1 pound brown sugar (light or dark)
1 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
3 quarts cold water
3 oranges, quartered
4 ounces fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly sliced
15 whole cloves
6 bay leaves
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Substitute 3/4 cup Morton Kosher Salt or 1/2 cup table salt for Diamond Crystal.
Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Boil for one minute, remove from heat, let mixture come to room temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F.
In a large non-reactive container, combine the apple juice mixture with the remaining ingredients. When adding the oranges, squeeze each piece to release the juice into the container, then drop in the peel.
This recipe calls for a 24 hour brine but the bird has to be kept at 40f or below during the process, which would probably use the entire stock of ice from my local Tesco. I find a shorter brine works, but not less than 12 hours. No matter, I intend to fire up the WSM this Christmas and fill the Dorset air with lovely apple smoke.
Here is my favorite brine, lifted without shame from the virtual Weber bullet web site:
2 quarts apple juice
1 pound brown sugar (light or dark)
1 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
3 quarts cold water
3 oranges, quartered
4 ounces fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly sliced
15 whole cloves
6 bay leaves
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Substitute 3/4 cup Morton Kosher Salt or 1/2 cup table salt for Diamond Crystal.
Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Boil for one minute, remove from heat, let mixture come to room temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F.
In a large non-reactive container, combine the apple juice mixture with the remaining ingredients. When adding the oranges, squeeze each piece to release the juice into the container, then drop in the peel.
This recipe calls for a 24 hour brine but the bird has to be kept at 40f or below during the process, which would probably use the entire stock of ice from my local Tesco. I find a shorter brine works, but not less than 12 hours. No matter, I intend to fire up the WSM this Christmas and fill the Dorset air with lovely apple smoke.
