Keri C's Apple Juice Brined Turkey


 
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Keri C

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This morning was my first bird of the year going to the outside world. I hooked into the LAN and worked from home while the WSM worked on the back porch. Featured player for the morning was a 12-lb turkey, brined 24 hours in 1 gal apple juice, 3/4 cup Morton K salt, 1/2 cup honey, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar. Rinsed the bird VERY well inside and out with running water to remove all traces of the brine. Patted dry with towels and set to dry overnight in refrigerator. Went on WSM at 6:45 am this morning stuffed with onions, over 2 chimneys burning Kingsford, cherry pellets, and dry foiled waterpan. No oil, rub, or anything else on the skin, which resulted in a very nice skin texture. Easily maintained between 325 - 340 with vents half open. Came off a few minutes after 10:00 am, probably a little overdone as part of the breast had already hit 165 but, hey, that's what brining's for, eh? Anyway, wrapped in about 8 layers of HD foil, 2 heavy towels, and set to rest breast side down in pre-heated ice chest whilst I took a shower. Delivered about 1 1/2 hours after it came off the smoker and it was still too hot to handle with plastic gloves. A quote from my niece, at whose office the pre-Thanksgiving lunch was held:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Well, at least 3 people told me that it was the best turkey they had EVER had, so you were quite a hit... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Musta done something right, for once...
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Pictures weren't quite as sharp as I had hoped, but here 'tis.

Keri C, Smokin on Tulsa Time

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(And, no, I didn't glaze the bird with ANYTHING. When I pulled it out from its breast-side down rest in the foil, it really WAS this shiny.)

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Aw shucks, Ben, I bet you say that to all the girls. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
Two 13-gallon Hefty kitchen trash bags (one inside the other) set down inside a 5-gallon plastic bucket. Bags are twist-tied such that most of the air is forced out of the bags. Ideally you can set the whole thing in the refrigerator, but my spare refrigerator is full of turkeys. So, instead, I set the bucket down inside an ice chest with ice mounded up about halfway around the bucket and a couple of frozen ice packs laying on top of the sealed plastic bags in the bucket. The apple juice in the brine came straight out of the refrigerator when I added it, so everything was cold starting out, and stayed that way very well.

If you have more than one turkey to do, you can double the trash bags, put a bird and a gallon of brine in each bag, and snug several bags upright next to each other inside an ice chest with ice packed around them. Depending on the size of the ice chest, you may need to pack some towels or something in around the sides to take up some of the extra room to keep the bags from slumping over.

When I've had more turkeys than available ice chests, I have been known to put the bird and the brine in the bags in the buckets, twist-tie the tops of the bags, pack ice around the bags inside the individual buckets, and let them sit in the garage, patio, bathtub, anyplace that dripping water won't hurt. Gotta remember to refresh the ice occasionally and keep everything icy COLD. Nothing worse than Thanksgiving guests getting the turkey trots...

There you go. Everything you wanted to know about my turkey buckets but were afraid to ask... I guess I could have answered your question in one short sentence, but where would have been the fun in that??? /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
I use one of those plastic containers sold as closet organizers etc. Just find one that will hold the size meat/poultry you want to brine.
 
Where do you get your all-natural turkey's at? Turkey farm or grocer? If a grocer, what brand of turkey? I'm doing two turkey's for my Mom on Turkey day, but after reading (and seeing!) this turkey recipe I'd love to try it. Thanks,

ron
 
Ron, We have 2 choices here. Perdue and our local Giant Grocery store carries Fresh Free Range Turkeys now. Picked up a Perdue at BJ'S to deep fry and getting a Free Range to do like this. Hope this helps. Maybe someone else can chime in and help.
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Bryan
 
Keri, I am not familiar with "pellets"? I am going to do two turkeys for guests, one deep-fried; the other will be your little gem here. If I was to use Cherry chunks, like baseball size...how many should I use to not over power the bird? And the two chimneys, did you fire those up at the same time and dump them all in at once...set up the smoker with the bird in from the onset. Or did you wait for the temp to get there before putting the bird in...Sorry for the novice questions.... If the bird is a success I shall post your avatar at a place of honor at our table in humble tribute to your cooking expertise!
 
Keri, Did you use the standard 1/3 cup of pellets for the bird.
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Thanks Bryan
Todd, 2 baseball size chunks of Cherry should be plenty for the turkey. Bryan
 
Hey Keri,

Would your "speed brine" technique work as well on a turkey (recalling your speed cooked chicken string). I'm not getting to my mom and dad's until Wed. night. Mom's got a bird coming from a local free range grower, and I'd like to brine this big guy. What proportions of salt to apple juice would you suggest. I'd like to be able to give it some "air time" in the fridge, but might not happen. Will also likely go into the oven for roasting although I might be able to talk them into getting it on to the kettle.
 
Yes, I used the "standard" 1/3 cup pellets for this guy. Here's the pellets I use: BBQers Delight. You can usually find at least a few flavors of them at supermarkets. Walmart carries them under the Brinkman name, I think.

Yes, two chunks of cherry should be plenty. You don't want very heavy smoke.
 
Cooks Illustrated says that you can do a complete turkey brine in 4 - 6 hours using a ratio of 1 cup non-iodized table salt to 1 gallon of liquid. This is stout stuff, so don't leave it in there any longer than that. I still like to add some sugar to counteract some of the brine, so I'd say 3/4 cup white or brown sugar, 1 cup tablesalt, and 1 gallon of apple juice. Honey is optional.

Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse VERY well under cool running water inside and out, under the armpits, under the skin, etc. Pat dry inside and out with paper towels. Place turkey breast-side up on a flat wire rack set over rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan and refrigerate, uncovered, 8 to 24 hours or as long as possible to let the skin dry out.
 
Thanks Keri and Bryan, those pellets sound like an interesting option, I will have to check them out further as well. Looks like we will have a great feast on T-Day, I will make sure to photo my efforts!
 
Todd, The pellets are great. I get them from BBQers Delight in 10 lb bags. I put 1/3 cup of pellets in a foil pouch and put a small hand full on the top of the lit coals when first starting. It produces a great deal of smoke for about 5 min while the meat is cold and will take on a lot of smoke. No more wood chunks for me. They also work really well in the smoker box in the Summit Gold D
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Bryan
 
Keri, I just visited the web site you gave for the pellets; they have some good looking stuff! Do you always or only use pellets in your WSM? I am going to place an order but will wait to hear what you say. And if you do use only pellets, do you use a foil pack like they say with only a 1/3 of a cup of pellets? Thanks
Nick
 
I use wood chunks or pellets, depending on what mood hits me at the time. We have stacks of peach, pecan, apple, and hickory out back for the stickburner, and a large limb that fell out of our pin oak that's just the right diameter to cut off for chunks. I'll drag a few skinny seasoned logs of different kinds around for Robert every now and then, and he slices up a bunch for me. I really like those pellets, though. You can get a cast iron pellet pot for them, but I just make a little pouch out of doubled HD foil, put the 1/3 cup of pellets in the pouch, seal it up, poke a tiny hole in the foil, and toss it on the coals. I guess I've used every flavor they make, and I know several of the family. Great folks... and Candy Weaver of the company won 1st in brisket at one of the larger southern cookoffs with a WSM and the Jack Daniels flavor of pellets.

Yes, I'm a walking commercial for the BBQrs Delight pellets, but, no, I'm not associated with the company.

Keri C, smokin' on Tulsa Time
 
Free Samples: Nick and Todd, Candy Weaver has told me that I can pass on a free sample offer for their BBQrs Delight smoking pellets. She said to tell everyone that wants to try them to send her an e-mail, tell her what three flavors you'd like to try, and she'll ship 'em off to you to try. She's cool that way... I posted the details of her kind offer under the Conversation forum at HERE

Thanks again, Candy Sue!

Keri C
 
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