Help! I need a turkey baster!

Cafe Society
1

Well, it would actually be for chicken, because I’m making a lot of chicken nowadays and I’m basting the hell out of it. I have a standard baster: long plastic tube that tapers to a point, with a thick plastic bulb that fits over the large end of the tube, and I’m about ready to commit murder with the thing. It’s nearly impossible to get the bulb onto the plastic without sweat, tears, many curse words and much wasted time. I find myself struggling with it for at least 15 minutes, and sometimes more. If I get one side on, the other side pops off. Constantly. Somehow I’ve always managed to get the bulb on, but at such a cost to my psyche.

I’ve thought about just leaving the bulb on but I’d rather take it apart to clean and not leave it greasy. Even sucking up hot, soapy water several times doesn’t seem like it would leave it clean enough for me.

Please, there has to be a turkey/chicken baster out there that’s easy to take apart to clean and easy to put back together. Where is it? Or is there some super-secret tip to putting the bulb on easily?

2

Sounds like you got a random crappy baster. I’ve got an ancient one that sounds exactly like the one you’ve got, but I’ve never had a second of trouble putting the bulb on. Since they’re fairly inexpensive, you might want to just replace it. Just be sure to check the fit of the bulb on the one you’re buying. It’s not worth this much heartache to fight with the one you’ve got.

3

Use one of these instead.

4

How 'bout a marinade injector?

CMC fnord!

5

Why are you basting to begin with? It doesn’t really do very much. What’s the end result you’re expecting?

6

[QUOTE=Athena]
Why are you basting to begin with? It doesn’t really do very much. What’s the end result you’re expecting?
[/QUOTE]

Just a bit too late. I was going to say that basting anything other than really lean meat achieves nothing at all and the presence of extra fluid in baking lowers the oven temperature but raises the conductivity and dries the meat even more.

7

Chiming in as another “Good Eats” fan who’s been taught that basting is bad.

Basting is for 1950’s housewives, babe.

How about this instead? Take your bird, put a little paring knife between the meat and the skin, fill the space between the meat and skin with herbed butter, cook.

Mmmmmmm

8

Thanks for the responses singular1, Contrapuntal, crowmanyclouds, Athena, don’t ask and ZipperJJ.

[QUOTE=singular1]
Sounds like you got a random crappy baster. I’ve got an ancient one that sounds exactly like the one you’ve got, but I’ve never had a second of trouble putting the bulb on. Since they’re fairly inexpensive, you might want to just replace it. Just be sure to check the fit of the bulb on the one you’re buying. It’s not worth this much heartache to fight with the one you’ve got.
[/QUOTE]
You might be right, it could just be this particular baster. I suppose I assumed they were all like that. I might pick up a cheap one just out of curiousity, or check one out in the store.

[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
Use one of these instead.
[/QUOTE]
A spoon won’t work for me because I put my chicken pieces (quarter legs) or less often, whole chicken, on a rack inside a foil-lined cake pan. The rack is a grid, and I’d have to take the whole thing out, chicken and all, to get to the liquid. A baster fits right through the rack holes and is perfect.

[QUOTE=crowmanyclouds]
How 'bout a marinade injector?
[/QUOTE]
It’s not something I would have thought about, but that looks great and I’m going to get one. Thanks! I’ll use it for basting and injecting.

[QUOTE=Athena]
Why are you basting to begin with? It doesn’t really do very much. What’s the end result you’re expecting?
[/QUOTE]
I don’t want hard crackly skin, I want it more juicy and pliable. Basting seems to work for me. I wash the chicken, put pepper and seasoning on the skin, cook the chicken for about 40 minutes skin side down, then take it out and baste, turn the pieces skin side up and baste some more, then cook for 30 more minutes. I take the pan out of the oven and baste the hell out of the pieces while it’s cooling off. It’s a method I’ve found that works for me to get close to the kind of skin I want. I bake several quarter legs at the same time so I can just put them in the fridge, then take out and put in a deep dish to throw in the microwave, so I don’t have to cook as often during the week. I add a little water in the dish, over the chicken, and the chicken comes out of the microwave almost exactly the way I want it, I think partially because the basting juices have solidified and then liquify as I’m heating it up. I’m not a cook, so I had to figure out what worked best for me. So far, this seems to work for me.

[QUOTE=don’t ask]
I was going to say that basting anything other than really lean meat achieves nothing at all and the presence of extra fluid in baking lowers the oven temperature but raises the conductivity and dries the meat even more.
[/QUOTE]
It’s not cold liquid from the outside. Before I put the chicken in the oven I pour about a cup of water in the pan. By the time of my first baste when I take the chicken out to turn the pieces over, the liquid is very hot. The chicken I’m ending up with is not dried out at all.

[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]
Chiming in as another “Good Eats” fan who’s been taught that basting is bad.

Basting is for 1950’s housewives, babe.
[/QUOTE]
I would like to see Alton Brown’s chicken episode since I make it so often. Basting works for me, and I don’t wear aprons or have a silly hairstyle.

[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]
How about this instead? Take your bird, put a little paring knife between the meat and the skin, fill the space between the meat and skin with herbed butter, cook.
[/QUOTE]
I often make garlic butter and put chunks between the meat and the skin. That makes the later basting liquid even better. I can’t wait to get that injector and try it.

9

And I was SURE that when I opened this thread, you would be trying to get pregnant. :slight_smile:

10

[QUOTE=Equipoise]
It’s not cold liquid from the outside. Before I put the chicken in the oven I pour about a cup of water in the pan. By the time of my first baste when I take the chicken out to turn the pieces over, the liquid is very hot.
[/QUOTE]

Unless you’re magically basting through the closed oven door, basting cools the oven. It’s not the act of basting so much as it is opening the door.

11

[QUOTE=samclem]
And I was SURE that when I opened this thread, you would be trying to get pregnant. :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

You weren’t the only one!

12

[QUOTE=Equipoise]
Thanks for the responses singular1, Contrapuntal, crowmanyclouds, Athena, don’t ask and ZipperJJ.

It’s not something I would have thought about, but that looks great and I’m going to get one. Thanks! I’ll use it for basting and injecting.

[/QUOTE]

An injector can be useful, but I wouldn’t use it as a baster. Anything that requires two hands won’t work very well when you’re reaching inside an oven.

The solution to your problem is to get a turkey baster with a metal tube. I’ve had mine for about a decade.

I’m a huge Alton Brown fan, but his rant against basting was just yet another instance of him over-thinking the problem. I very rarely baste anything in the oven, but the drop in temperature & recovery time is not significant enough to dry out your poultry, especially if you have enough juices in the oven to make basting possible. Besides, if it comes down to Alton Brown & Julia Child, I’m going with the latter every time.

More importantly, there are about 100 other uses for a turkey baster besides basting.

13

If you want a soft skin, couldn’t you just cover the chicken with foil to keep the moisture in?

14

Warning: Never buy a turkey baster used. They are hard to clean, and you don’t know where it’s been. :frowning:

15

[QUOTE=Capatalist Lion Tamer]
An injector can be useful, but I wouldn’t use it as a baster. Anything that requires two hands won’t work very well when you’re reaching inside an oven.

The solution to your problem is to get a turkey baster with a metal tube. I’ve had mine for about a decade.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll look for one. Also, MadPansy64, I take the pan out of the oven and put it on the stovetop to baste at 40 minutes, since I’m turning the pieces over skin side up anyway, so while there is a loss of heat when I open and close the door twice, I can’t imagine it would make that much of a difference. My chicken hasn’t been dried out yet.

[QUOTE=Capatalist Lion Tamer]
I’m a huge Alton Brown fan, but his rant against basting was just yet another instance of him over-thinking the problem. I very rarely baste anything in the oven, but the drop in temperature & recovery time is not significant enough to dry out your poultry, especially if you have enough juices in the oven to make basting possible. Besides, if it comes down to Alton Brown & Julia Child, I’m going with the latter every time.
[/QUOTE]
I’m glad to hear this opinion.

[QUOTE=Capatalist Lion Tamer]
More importantly, there are about 100 other uses for a turkey baster besides basting.
[/QUOTE]
Oooh, like what? (besides getting pregnant)

WVmom, I have used foil and that works, but I seem to like the taste of the basted chicken better. It’s a good tip though, thank you.

Harmonious Discord, no way would I buy a used baster. The very thought is nasty. If I saw one in a thrift shop I’d try the bulb just out of curiousity, but wouldn’t buy it. I saw some on ebay there were new in the package, but I’m not going to buy one. I’ll get one in the shop or on amazon.

16

[QUOTE=Equipoise]

Oooh, like what? (besides getting pregnant)

[/QUOTE]

I always use mine for extracting fat from a skillet full of ground beef or sausage. I’ve seen the aforementioned Alton Brown use it to gradually add liquid to a mixture (if that’s required).

17

Something I’ve tried when my stinkin’ turkey baster turn on me and I was halfway through Sticky Chicken…we got about 8 nose/ear bulb thingies when my daughter was born. In a desperate position, I opened a pack and used one of those. It worked amazingly well. Since it is one molded piece of plastic, it can’t come apart. Cleaning it took a bit before I felt comfortable with the job I had done.

18

Why don’t you try brining the bird and skip the basting?
Mix up a basic brine
1 Cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 gallon of water.
heat up about a quart of water until the salt and sugar dissolve. Add the rest of the water cold.
Add your chicken (whole or cut up, makes no difference) I use a 1 or 2gallon zip lock bag for this placed in a large bowl. Place in the fridge for 2-12 hours.
Remove, rinse, season (little to no salt will be needed)
Cook as your normally would, skipping the basting
Enjoy.

You may thank me later.

19

Auntbeast, I have a couple of those nose/ear bulb thingies (what are they called? anyone?) that have never been used. I never thought of them, but they’d come in handy in an emergency. I’m going to buy a better baster (and injector too) but if I ever need a backup, thanks for the tip.

Rick, thank you too for the brining tip, which I have tried before. The last whole chicken I brined came out way too salty. I can’t remember for sure but I think I only used a half cup of kosher salt, and let it sit in the fridge for about 6ish hours. I liked the general taste of the chicken, but not the over saltiness (which is a concern beyond the taste, since I have high blood pressure). I’ve been meaning to try again with maybe a quarter cup of kosher salt. One cup would be right out of the question, as would brown sugar (any kind of sugar is off limits to me now, sigh), though I do appreciate the brining reminder. I’m going to try it with my next batch.

20

Auntbeast, I have a couple of those nose/ear bulb thingies (what are they called? anyone?) that have never been used. I never thought of them, but they’d come in handy in an emergency. I’m going to buy a better baster (and injector too) but if I ever need a backup, thanks for the tip.

Rick, thank you too for the brining tip, which I have tried before. The last whole chicken I brined came out way too salty. I can’t remember for sure but I think I only used a half cup of kosher salt, and let it sit in the fridge for about 6ish hours. I liked the general taste of the chicken, but not the over saltiness (which is a concern beyond the taste, since I have high blood pressure). I’ve been meaning to try again with maybe a quarter cup of kosher salt. One cup would be right out of the question, as would brown sugar (any kind of sugar is off limits to me now, sigh), though I do appreciate the brining reminder. I’m going to try it with my next batch.