Christmas turkey

[UKEgger]

I'm always interesed in the to brine or not brine debate, I have done the Turkey both ways but couldn't tell the difference between the two.

What do others think ? Can you tell the difference ?

[Swindon_Ed]

Never noticed any difference in flavour brining a turkey, so what i did last year, and will do again this year, is inject my turkey as it gave a great flavour.

[keith157]

What with if it's not a closely guarded family secret

[aris]

I have brined for past several years. While I do not notice a huge flavour difference, it does affect the moistness.

If you inject with melted butter, I suppose that would work too

I will continue to brine - it has served me well. This year I may inject too.

[Jonty]

Aris,

I'm doing a turkey this weekend and I plan to brine it and then inject it with a melted butter mixture.

[aris]

Let us know how it goes. I'm very curious about timings and temperatures. Last thing I need is guests waiting for their turkey on Christmas day!

[Swindon_Ed]

I inject my turkey with a mix of butter chicken stock and i mixed in some ground dried sage & bayleaf which gave it a great taste.

Cooking times i'll leave 3.5 hrs on christmas day and will be cooking it @ 280f. I also only cook the crown i take the legs off to cook seperatly. Cook the crown to 165f internal temp' as whist it's resting it'll come up an extra 5f and be safe.

[aris]

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/chic ... urkey.html

Found this. Wow!

[keith157]

Cheers aris a great site with lots of interesting infor (I note they recommend the Spanek as well ) just don't go looking for the oysters up near the breast where they show them they are part of the thigh. Otherwise a good hit cheers

[UKEgger]

A great tip for a moist breast is to lay a bag of ice on the breast about 30 minutes before you start to cook, this starts the breast cooking temp a fair bit lower than the rest of the bird so will be perfect at the same time the rest hits the right temp.

I used a bag of frozen pea's last year as they mold to the turkey shape better.