Simple Turkey Injection Marinade

Hello everyone! I cooked my first turkey on my WSM yesterday and thought I would pass on what I learned. I did not brine because I was trying to keep the sodium content low. I did inject a marinade that gave the turkey a wonderful flavor. I found this recipe in the archives of the BBQ forum. It calls for: honey, just enough water to dilute the honey, and 1/4 stick of butter. I only used about 1/8 stick of butter myself (trying to eat healthier this time) /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I heated this mixture on low heat just long enough to melt the butter and injected it into the bird all over.

The turkey had a very good flavor with barely a hint of sweetness. It was a bit dry IMO, probably because it wasn't brined, but still very good.

I have cooked many turkeys on my Weber kettle in the past without brine and they were all very moist. I assume higher temps sealed in any moisture.

If anyone would like to try this injection, it made a very good Honey Turkey.

Hi Dee, i am thinking of trying a turket this weekend, and have a couple of questions... What size bird did you smoke? and at what temp and for how long? Thanks, Steve

Hey Steve!

The turkey I cooked was eleven pounds. I cooked it between 290 and 300 degrees with moistly lump charcoal. I had about 1/4 Kingsford charcoal and 3/4 lump so I could maintain the higher temp with water in the pan. It took three hours and forty five minutes to get to 165 degrees in the breast.

The injection I used was very good but next time I would brine using the brining techniques on this site or I would inject very heavily the night before cooking to give the turkey time to absorb the liquid. I injected mine just a couple of hours before cooking and I think that is why it was a little dry, but as I said, I was trying to keep the sodium content low.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

DeeC.
I too, had questions regarding the intake of excess sodium during brining. This is what I did. Make-up your normal brine, but with one exception. Just add 1/4 cup kosher salt. Put an egg, in the brine mixture and continue adding salt in small amounts, until the egg floats. This test is based upon one gallon of liquid. Brine the poultry in your customary manner. After brining, and removing the poultry, pour the brine back into a small stockpot. Once again put another egg in the brine and add salt, until the egg floats. I did this on two separate occasions and found that it took less than 2 Tablespoons of salt, to re-float the egg. I did this test with Turkeys, each weighing about 12 pounds. Try this for yourself, or purchase a salinometer, for a more scientific test. Conclusions showed, that 2 Tablespoons of salt soaked into a 12 pound Turkey, is really not an excess amount of sodium intake. If you try it, let me know your results.

Hey Jim!

I saved and printed your low salt brine technique. Thanks so much. I will definately try it on my next turkey.

This last turkey was good, mind you, just a tad on the dry side in the breast meat.

I'll post whenever I give it a try. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Hi Kids! I just thought I would add my two cents worth on the injecting of marinade...I do it quite a bit as I also like to deep fry the turkeys. You might want to try injecting as much as possible from inside the cavity that way it keeps the skin intact for and keeps the juices in alittle better.
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals

Cooking with higher pit temps, spending less time cooking, can help with moisture.
You can also add more moisture to the injection, low sodium chicken stock for example, adding more spices really kicks it up.
Jim