A thread for foodies...

[jwbryson1]

I am a die hard BBQ fan and have my own smoker in my backyard. :mrgreen: It is what I love to do and I plan to do it for the rest of my life. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought I would share my secret apple brine recipe that can be used on a whole turkey that you cook indoors in the oven or outdoors in a smoker or other grill of your choice. I prefer to smoke mine outdoors for extra flavor (plus, it gets me out of the house for a few hours...)...

Anyhow, here is the recipe...

Apple Brine For Turkey
2 quarts apple juice 1 pound brown sugar (light or dark) 1 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 3 quarts cold water 3 oranges, quartered	4 ounces fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly sliced 15 whole cloves 6 bay leaves 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Substitute 3/4 cup Morton Kosher Salt or 1/2 cup table salt for Diamond Crystal. Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Boil for one minute, remove from heat, let mixture come to room temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F. In a large non-reactive container, combine the apple juice mixture with the remaining ingredients. When adding the oranges, squeeze each piece to release the juice into the container, then drop in the peel.

Put the turkey in the brine breast side down. For this purpose, I use one of those orange Igloo brand 5 gallon water coolers. Place a heavy plate or bowl on top to keep the bird submerged, if necessary, or in my cooler I just screw on the top lid.


Brine the turkey for 24 hours. You may wish to stir the solution 2-3 times during the brining process. I'm not sure if this is necessary or if it actually does anything, but I like to do it anyway.


Since brining does not preserve meat, the turkey and the brine solution must be kept below 40°F throughout the entire brining process. So, keep the whole thing in your refrigerator overnight.


After brining, rinse the turkey thoroughly inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.


Place on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet and allow to air-dry overnight (8-12 hours) in the refrigerator. This helps create crispy skin during cooking.



Apply a very thin coat of vegetable oil or melted, unsalted butter to the turkey skin.


There is no barbecue seasoning or rub applied to the turkey as part of this recipe.

Cook the turkey until it measures 160-165°F in the breast. Quick Tip: The breast will cook faster than the dark meat (thigh, legs), so in order to make sure you do not overcook the white breast meat or under cook the dark meat, lay a large zip lock bag full of ice on the breast for 30 to 45 minutes before placing in the oven or your smoker. This will chill the breast meat and slow the cooking so it heats at the same rate as the dark meat. It works like a charm!

That is it! Enjoy and brine your turkeys!! You will NOT be sorry!

 

[terri]

Great post! This sounds delicious!

Do you do dessert?

 

[jwbryson1]

Great post! This sounds delicious!

Do you do dessert?

Indeed I do. Somebody should post a dessert recipe too! :mrgreen:

 

[terri]

Great post! This sounds delicious!

Do you do dessert?

Indeed I do. Somebody should post a dessert recipe too! :mrgreen:

Just for you, punkin!

My famous cherry pie:

crust: In large bowl, combine: 2 C. all purpose flour, just under 1 C. vegetable shortening, 1/2 TBS sugar and 1 tsp. salt

Then add: 1/2 TBS vinegar, 1 whole egg, 1/4 C. COLD water

Mix well. Chill in fridge a minimum of 15 minutes before rolling. (Cold dough is easier to handle due to high fat content.) This is enough for a top and bottom crust.
I roll this out to about 1/8" thickness, enough to layer the bottom of a standard pie pan.

Pie filling:
2 cans red sour cherries, packed in WATER*
3 TBS quick-cooking tapioca
1 C. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1/2 C. cherry juice - use the water from the canned cherries, measure 1/2 C and drain the rest of the cherries.
1 TBS butter, cut into pieces

Mix tapioca, sugar, salt, cherries and juice. Once the pie pan is lined with the bottom crust, fill with cherry mixture. DOT the cherry mixture with butter pieces. Roll out and cover the pie with the top crust. Cut slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake in a hot oven (425') about 55 minutes, or until crust has lightly browned and cherries are bubbling.

NOTE: For convection oven, reduce the heat by 25 degrees and start checking the pie after about 50 minutes. This pie can bubble over in its enthusiasm to be eaten, so a piece of tin foil under the pie pan can help.

Let cool on pie rack, and try not to eat in one sitting.

*This is an old-fashioned, from scratch pie. The thickener comes from the tapioca, not from cherries canned in syrup! Still, if you have dietary issues with shortening or sugar, stay away.

 

[kathyt]

I am a die hard BBQ fan and have my own smoker in my backyard. :mrgreen: It is what I love to do and I plan to do it for the rest of my life. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought I would share my secret apple brine recipe that can be used on a whole turkey that you cook indoors in the oven or outdoors in a smoker or other grill of your choice. I prefer to smoke mine outdoors for extra flavor (plus, it gets me out of the house for a few hours...)...

Anyhow, here is the recipe...

Apple Brine For Turkey
2 quarts apple juice 1 pound brown sugar (light or dark) 1 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 3 quarts cold water 3 oranges, quartered	4 ounces fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly sliced 15 whole cloves 6 bay leaves 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Substitute 3/4 cup Morton Kosher Salt or 1/2 cup table salt for Diamond Crystal. Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Boil for one minute, remove from heat, let mixture come to room temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F. In a large non-reactive container, combine the apple juice mixture with the remaining ingredients. When adding the oranges, squeeze each piece to release the juice into the container, then drop in the peel.

Put the turkey in the brine breast side down. For this purpose, I use one of those orange Igloo brand 5 gallon water coolers. Place a heavy plate or bowl on top to keep the bird submerged, if necessary, or in my cooler I just screw on the top lid.


Brine the turkey for 24 hours. You may wish to stir the solution 2-3 times during the brining process. I'm not sure if this is necessary or if it actually does anything, but I like to do it anyway.


Since brining does not preserve meat, the turkey and the brine solution must be kept below 40°F throughout the entire brining process. So, keep the whole thing in your refrigerator overnight.


After brining, rinse the turkey thoroughly inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.


Place on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet and allow to air-dry overnight (8-12 hours) in the refrigerator. This helps create crispy skin during cooking.



Apply a very thin coat of vegetable oil or melted, unsalted butter to the turkey skin.


There is no barbecue seasoning or rub applied to the turkey as part of this recipe.

Cook the turkey until it measures 160-165°F in the breast. Quick Tip: The breast will cook faster than the dark meat (thigh, legs), so in order to make sure you do not overcook the white breast meat or under cook the dark meat, lay a large zip lock bag full of ice on the breast for 30 to 45 minutes before placing in the oven or your smoker. This will chill the breast meat and slow the cooking so it heats at the same rate as the dark meat. It works like a charm!

That is it! Enjoy and brine your turkeys!! You will NOT be sorry!

See, this is why I am keeping you around.

 

[kundalini]

Good thread. I've been brining and using dry rubs for a couple of years now, and the mega-mart-off-the-shelf-sauces are few and far between now. Only recently have I been writing down the ingredients of my rubs because my idea is to hand out 1oz bottles of the 'perfect' rub for Christmas handouts to family. That or use an excellent sounding recipe for an adult version of fruit cake.

I have to dash tonight, but I'll ear-mark this thread and contribute later.

BTW, I should be picking up my 18.5" WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) i.e. the Bullet, tomorrow. It'll be nice to get back to charcoal, although gas can be quite handy. I do love to cook.

 

[weepete]

Sweet, thanks for the recipies guys! I also love my bbq and have recently started smoking my own meat as the craving for proper bbq pulled pork got the better of me and it's impossible to get over here. This is my current setup:




I've got a home made baffle on the inside and extend the chimney down to get a bit more even heat. Our cuts of meat are different in the UK, so its taking a bit of experementation to get it right but so far it's went down really well. I also do a mean smoked chicken. Here is a couple of my favourites

Quick marinated Beef:

Grab a good sized tray and set it to one side for the marinade.
Pour in a good glug of home made garlic oil and add a couple of cloves of sliced garlic.
Pick a few handfuls of fresh rosemary, take the leaves off the stems and bruise them all with the back of a knife, add to the marinade and mix/bruise with the back if a spoon.
Slice your topside thin and coat in the marinade, then leave for a few hours.
Grill in a pan or on the BBQ, goes lovely with a red wine reduction


My favorite dry rub:

0.5 tsp of Spanish hot smoked paprika (the stuff used for chorizo)
2.5 tsp of ordinary smoked paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
A good pinch of sea salt
A good pinch of mixed ground peppercorns (green, black, white and sze chuan pepercorns)

 

[jwbryson1]

Good thread. I've been brining and using dry rubs for a couple of years now, and the mega-mart-off-the-shelf-sauces are few and far between now. Only recently have I been writing down the ingredients of my rubs because my idea is to hand out 1oz bottles of the 'perfect' rub for Christmas handouts to family. That or use an excellent sounding recipe for an adult version of fruit cake.

I have to dash tonight, but I'll ear-mark this thread and contribute later.

BTW, I should be picking up my 18.5" WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) i.e. the Bullet, tomorrow. It'll be nice to get back to charcoal, although gas can be quite handy. I do love to cook.

I have the 22.5" WSM and love it! I've smoked a 17 lb brisket and 5 Boston Butts at the same time. Great smoker!

 

[tirediron]

That all sounds good, but complicated; my recipe is a little simpler...

 

[bogeyguy]

Has TPF been replaced with TCF? LOL!

 

[Derrel]

J-Dubs, your brine sounds delicious. I've been smoking salmon for 20+ years, and have settled on brines that range from 1 unit of salt to 16 units water, up to about 1 unit of salt to each 24 units of water. Describing the salt to water in "units" rather than ounces or cups makes it easy to adjust a recipe for small, medium, or large quantities of raw meat or fish. Your turkey brine sounds fantastic!

 

[runnah]

1. Catch one maine Lobster. Usually can be found in the bushes or by using lobster bait (Alan's coffee flavored brandy).

2. Boil water, in a lobster pot. Throw in some lemons, cut. Salt and some leafy herbs.

3. Place lobsters into pot. Let their screams of unimaginable pain whet your appetite.

4. Melt butter

5. Enjoy. Don't eat the poop tube.

 

[leeroix]

On your Weber smokey mountain I presume? How long? what temp? Did you get the I-Grill yet?

 

[jwbryson1]

On your Weber smokey mountain I presume? How long? what temp? Did you get the I-Grill yet?

325* for about 4 hours maybe. Until the breast is 165* internal. No I-Grill. What is that?

 

[kathyt]

On your Weber smokey mountain I presume? How long? what temp? Did you get the I-Grill yet?

325* for about 4 hours maybe. Until the breast is 165* internal. No I-Grill. What is that?

It is an iPhone that heats up so you can put your meat on it. Right?