Gearing up for Thanksgiving, tell the kitchen to brace itself..

[vintagekitchen]

Thanksgiving dinner here will be on Wednesday, at 2 pm. For me, that means starting preparations for the feast a day early as well, so tonight I started brining the turkey.

Pretty simple formula, 1 gallon boiling water, dissolve 1 1/2 cup each table salt and brown sugar in the water, add 2 gallons ice water, put it in your vintage ugly green cooler, the beat up one with the cracked lid, add the turkey and some 2 liter bottles you filled with water and froze for giant ice packs, put it on some towels in case it leaks, and place the entire thing in front of the dishwasher, where you will trip over it for the next 24 hours, lol.

 

[washdaddy]

Kevin-
Great start for a Thanksgiving feast prep thread! Make sure you don't walk into your kitchen in the dark for a glass of water in the middle of the night. You're liable to cuss the turkey out before you even get it into the pan if you happen to kick the cooler!

Hope your feast turns out to be a gastronomic phenomenon that all will rave about once they are stuffed just like a turkey!

Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Rick

 

[arbilab]

Timely docu on production turkeys tonight. They never have sex. But I'm going to eat (a fractional) one anyway.

From the deli. I'm only responsible for the peripherals. Did fry a half pound breakfast sausage to enrich the stuffing mix.

Done it every way, from whole bird to breast roast to deli slices plus, to TV dinner (yeesh). I'm not a cook, I'm a kitchen engineer dealing mostly with single servings.

 

[frigilux]

I used to purchase and brine fresh turkeys that hadn't been injected with a salt solution at Byerly's in Minneapolis . The results were moist and delicious. Haven't done that for a few years now. I find Butterball turkeys available locally do well on their own. Made the mistake of brining a bird that had already been injected once---holy sodium!

 

[vintagekitchen]

injected birds

My turkey, as usual, was a basic store brand injected bird. So long as you limit the brining time to 24 hours or less, and rinse the bird well, no problems with overly salty birds.

After rinsing, I let the bird sit uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 24 hours, to help drain excess brine, and to dry out the skin so it will brown and crisp.

Tonight birdy goes in the oven, slow and easy overnight. Guaranteed moist bird, and guaranteed panic attacks for food safety critics.

The chicken is in the crockpot now, slow simmering to a rich broth for dumplings.