So who's going with the Apple brined turkey this Thanksgiving?


 
R

Richard Marquez

TVWBB Fan
I did it for the first time last year and it was amazing. So flavorful and the family raved about it. Doing two this year. My buddy had a taste and begged for a position on the 2nd rack for this Thanksgiving
icon_smile.gif
 
Richard,

See my post about non injected birds. Did you use a non injected or injected bird when you did yours last year?

Scotty W.
 
Originally posted by Scotty W.:
Richard,

See my post about non injected birds. Did you use a non injected or injected bird when you did yours last year?

Scotty W.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that Scotty because I did see your post and that's the first thing I thought of. Truth is I don't remember, but I want to say it was an organic turkey. I'll certainly be paying closer attention this year. Luckily whatever I had worked perfectly.

Edit: Conisdering the recipe clearly states the following:

"When buying a turkey for brining, choose a regular turkey, not a self-basted bird that's been injected with a solution of salt and other flavorings. Read the fine print on the label—you do not want a turkey that says, "Contains up to X% of a solution to enhance juiciness and tenderness..."

I'm sure I was mindful of this when selecting the bird.
 
Always order from your favorite Butcher and specify a fresh turkey, not frozen or enhanced. The apple-brined turkey recipe in the cooking topics produces a way better than average bird.
wsmsmile8gm.gif
Bob
 
Been thinking about doing one this year. May just poop out and do it the old fashioned way without the brine but it is darned good when done with it
icon_wink.gif
 
Couple of years ago the wiff came up with a beer/rosemary marinade that was really good. I smoked it with a very light load of maple wood and a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary. Gonna try that again.

Russ
 
Richard,

I'm going with the Good Eats honey brine this year, which makes me a little nervous since I've been a turkey fryer for 10 or more years now. But it's worth a try.
 
My turkey is in the brining bag loaded with apple brine plus honey, soaking in the bottom drawer of the frige right now. Out of the brine tomorrow night to rinse and let dry overnight, then on the WSM with pecan,apple, and cherry wood bright and early Thursday morning.
 
Originally posted by Jeff_B:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tony Tango:
Everyone talks about this brine, but I cant seem to find a link! Where can one see this recipe? thanks!
Click to expand...

Here you go Tony

Apple Brine Turkey

Its in the Cooking Topics at the top of the home page. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Jeff!
 
Trying the apple brine this year for the first time. I have been using the basic brine for several years (water, brown sugar, kosher salt), and I add some Italian seasoning, some apple and orange slices, peppercorns and garlic cloves. This has always been a family favorite, regardless of how I cooked it, but this apple brine looked too good not to try this year.
 
Brine is ready. Turkey going in on Friday night. Sit in fridge on Saturday. Cooking on Sunday. Found out if you take the turkey(in the plastic)and add water to your container.Then place turkey in the container. You can see how much actual solution you need for that particular size bird. Duhhhhh!!!
icon_rolleyes.gif
 
My bird's been soaking for about 16 hours now
icon_smile.gif


Coming out about 8-9pm tonight then in the fridge. Tomorrow morning, my buddy will show up around 10:00am. We'll have some drinks on my backyard patio while watching some football. Around 12pm, or so, I'll stick the yardbird's on the smoker. When they're done, my buddy will take his and be on his merry way. This is what we did last year and I don't doubt that this will be tradition for many years to come (God willing).
 
I have been using this recipe for a number of years with great success. One year I was short on time and did not have time to allow the bird to air dry in the refrigerator. Had no impact on flavor, but made a big difference in skin texture. Won't ever skip that step again. Only other thing I learned was that you really need to watch the grate temp probe if you are using a Maverick. The temp initially really spikes, so you need to protect the probe by holding it away from everything until you are ready to put it in place on the grate. This year I am going with a bigger bird than usual, around 19lbs. Wish me luck.
 
I did two 15 pounders in my 18.5 WSM and they came out great. Skin was gorgeous but a little tough. I carve so it didn't matter at the table. Flavor was awesome.

I did put a little foil shield around the breast/wing semi circle on the lower rack to keep it from getting scorched on the edge.

Great flavor. Folks liked it better than the Oven Bird which we did with Bobby Flay's Herb Butter Turkey recipe. It was delicious but hard to beat the apple/ginger brine with a wisp of apple smoke.

I was wearing my tvwbb apron so when people asked me for the recipe I could point at it.
icon_smile.gif
 
I smoked a 12# today with tapple brine. First time I done a turkey. It turned out great. Also did a plain breast in oven and it wasn't close. May be best turkey I have had. Looking forward to results as I get more experience with turkey. Gravy from the drippings was fantastic. I hope everyone enjoyed the day.
 
This is why it is my go to recipe for turkey. This guy was 19 lbs. Temps ran right under 350 the entire time and it took little less than 3.5 hours. Got distracted and ran the temp in the thigh up to 181 thanks to a malfunction with the Maverick but turned out better than previous years. Not sure if that was due to size of the bird or not but not questioning success. Color came from overnight drying, light brush of Canola oil, and medium sized piece of cherry wood.

Turkey.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top