# Freakin' turkey.  Where did I go wrong?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 29, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087 "2013-11-29T17:55:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/21 "2013-11-30T18:56:03Z")

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> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> And IMVVVVHO, brining sucks and ruins a perfectly good bird. 😃

Plus a lot of turkey you buy is already “enhanced” with a solution, which essentially is a brine.

Brining changes the texture of the bird, while providing more of a fudge factor with cooking times, so a technically overcooked breast still retains a reasonable amount of moisture. It’s a good crutch. I use it from time to time if I’m just cooking breast meat, as most people seem to like it, and it also introduces flavor into the meat. I’m not a big fan of the textural change, though, so when I’m doing a whole turkey, I don’t usually brine. (I used to, but then I realized I liked the bird better unbrined.)

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**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/22 "2013-11-30T19:43:14Z")

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I’ve brined for the past several years and they all turned out well. This year I didn’t and it also turned out great. I do just breasts since nobody in our family likes dark meat. I also don’t have any temperature issues.

This year I smoked it with a combination of apple and hickory with a basic poultry dry rub. It turned out perfectly… moist and flavorful.

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/23 "2013-11-30T19:45:48Z")

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I’ve always brined mine, but then I’ve always used fresh turkeys that weren’t “enhanced” with saline already.

That was actually accidental, not to be “snobbish” or anything. The first year I was going to host Thanksgiving, my father-in-law said he was going to give us the frozen turkey from the previous Thanksgiving (or maybe 2 years prior?) that he hadn’t gotten around to using. Thinking quickly, I remembered seeing the “reserve your fresh turkey now!” signs in my local grocery and claimed I’d already placed an order for one… and did so the next day. 😃 Everyone loved it so I just kept ordering a fresh turkey when I hosted.

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/24 "2013-11-30T20:06:38Z")

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I will make a turkey breast at odd times of the year and use various tricks to get it to come out yummy, but for Thanksgiving I will only serve a top drawer fresh bird from a producer that does not muck around with the corpse. That may be the real key to getting away with simple cooking, and explain why all the extra effort is needed for the frozen and butterball birds…

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/25 "2013-12-01T17:39:48Z")

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I smoke the turkey on the Weber BBQ; start out breast downward (on a rack, in a pan full of veggies) with indirect heat; after an hour, flip the bird. After another 15 - 20 minutes, put foil on the tips of the drumsticks and wings so they don’t burn. Then wait for the breast at 160 on the meat thermom, take off the grill and let rest (which finishes cooking the thighs.) Perfecto.

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**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/26 "2013-12-01T19:39:50Z")

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Gee, the only way you could ruin a bird is to pass out drunk while its still cooking and…oh wait. :eek:

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**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakin-turkey-where-did-i-go-wrong/675087/27 "2013-12-02T04:14:52Z")

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> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> Perfecto.

So, it’s really close to perfection, but not quite there. 😛

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