Is brining a turkey too ambitious for the first time Thanksgiving chef?

[Zsofia]

It is a Southern thing, but we don’t do it in the turkey gravy, just, you know, the other gravy. Breakfast gravy and stuff.

[Anne_Neville]

@Zsofia

Ditto koshered birds.

Mr. Neville has brined several kosher turkeys, and they turned out fine.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Brining is easy but there are simpler brine recipes out there than Alton’s. Try Emeril’s recipe, for instance (just suggesting this for the brine itself, not necessarily the whole procedure). Alton tends to get a little overly precious at times.

ETA, I’ve tried both Alton’s and Emeril’s brines and I prefer Emeril’s/ All the veggie stock in Alton’s recipe gives the turkey a bit of an odd flavor IMO.

[Hilarity_N.Suze]

We always brine the turkey and then cook it on a Weber grill. We do not turn it. It always comes out great, and frees the ovens in the kitchen for everything else.

The only problem is remembering to put something in to collect the juices for gravy. And the gravy tastes a bit smokey, which doesn’t bother me at all, although some family members complain. They eat it, but they mention it.

[swampbear]

@ivylass

Tell that to swampbear

I would say it’s some Southern thing, but I’m in Florida, so I can’t really say that. Suffice to say he has given me permission to make his recipe without the eggs.

You know, I ain’t all that far from Orlando that I couldn’t get in my car, drive down, knock on your door and ummm… stick my tongue out at you! Good thing for you it’s Turkey Day week and I’m real busy.

Zsofia IMHO chopped boiled aig is wunnerful in giblet gravy. However, as ivylass said, I do grant special dispensation for those who are oogied at the thought. I’m just too dang nice!
Oh, and since I’m here and all, really, brining a turkey is not all that hard and you’ll have a gooooooood turkey. Alton Brown does not lie. Go for it Elza B. Save the takeout for Saturday when you’re just sick of turkey.

[BiblioCat]

I’ve brined several turkeys and a few chickens over the years, and they always turn out great. I’ve never turned them over - I just cook them breast side up.

I’ve tweaked Alton’s brine recipe; specifically, I cut out the ginger and add a big handful of rosemary, both to the brine and to the cavities when cooking. Rosemary and poultry go together so well. The rosemary in the drippings adds to the flavor of the gravy, too, IMO.

I also use the Reynold’s cooking bags. They cut a little bit off the total cooking time, and help keep it moist. I swear by them.

Technically, I’m in a southern state (Maryland), but I’ve never added hard-boiled eggs to gravy or stuffing. That doesn’t sound good. Stuffing needs oysters.
Gravy needs to be made with the turkey drippings.
I’m in Baltimore, so sauerkraut is required at Thanksgiving. I find the stuff revolting.

[squeegee]

@BiblioCat

I’m in Baltimore, so sauerkraut is required at Thanksgiving. I find the stuff revolting.

Whoa. I’m German (well, my surname is), and I like German food, and I still find that odd.

[Baracus]

Brining the turkey is no biggie and is a good move for a first time turkey cooker.

One word of advice. If you happen to spill any brine after contact with the turkey clean your hands and anything that comes in contact with the brine VERY well. Last year my MIL and I both got a nasty case of food poisoning after cleaning up a mishap.

[Zsofia]

@squeegee

Whoa. I’m German (well, my surname is), and I like German food, and I still find that odd.

No kidding - what do you think this is, New Year’s?

[MsWhatsit]

@squeegee

Hmmph, I was going to reference the 27-page thread I started, asking what advice to give a friend cooking their first turkey, and how my spouse shanghaid me into cooking the bird myself, and I brined it.

If by “27-page thread” you actually meant “1-page thread”, then I think this might be what you’re looking for.

[squeegee]

@MsWhatsit

If by “27-page thread” you actually meant “1-page thread”, then I think this might be what you’re looking for.

Wow, that’s odd – I just looked and its 13 pages printed (I still have that copy). I realized after posting that I was thinking of the printed length, but was positive it was multiple internet pages, on the order of 4-6 or so. Sorry for the overestimate. I guess the board paginates things differently now.

Anyway, thanks for the find, that thread was really helpful to me. How come I can’t find it if I search on my own posts? Am I missing a global setting?

[Elza_B]

@squeegee

Are you sure you don’t want to stick around, so we can stress you out about the exactly right way to make gravy, and only heathens make it that other way? Huh?

Oh, SHIZNIT! (Sorry, we’re trying to cut down on the swearing since my fifteen month old can now say ‘shit’ in the proper context, so we’ve made ourselves cut out swearing everywhere.). Gravy! I knew I was forgetting something!

Okay, anyone want to tell me how to make gravy?

[squeegee]

oh boy, here it comes.

[squeegee]

From that other thread that MsWhatsit so kindly found for me, and don’t I feel foolish:

@deej

The gravy. My mother would spit nails over jarred gravy, and I can’t blame her. Gravy is what the giblets are for. The giblets are the innards (neck, heart, liver, gizzard)that come with the turkey, and they add tremendous flavor to the gravy. There are a couple ways to utilize the giblets. One is to nestle them around the turkey while it’s roasting. This seems to work the best if you add some extra liquid in the bottom of the roaster before roasting. Water, chicken broth or vegetable broth will all work. What my mother always did was to make a giblet broth on the stovetop while the turkey is roasting. Put the giblets in a small pan and cover them with water. Add some onion, S&P, a teeny bit of sage and some parsely and simmer for about an hour. Strain the giblets out of the broth. Straining is important, sometimes the neck will fall apart and it’s full of teeny little bones. You can very finely mince all the giblets except the neck and add them to the gravy if you want. Set the broth aside, this is what you want to add to your gravy. If it doesn’t look very flavorful, you can reduce it some if you think it needs it. Once the turkey is out of the roaster and “resting” prior to carving you make your gravy. First of all skim all the grease off the drippings in the roaster. Put the roaster on two of the burners of your stove and get the drippings and pan good and hot…if the drippings start to brown and stick a teeny little bit that’s ok, but don’t scorch or burn them. Deglaze the roaster with your giblet broth and get the whole works boiling. You can transfer to another small pan, but I usually just leave it in the roaster. There are several ways to thicken the broth into gravy, and chucking dry flour into the boiling broth is the absolute worst way to go about it. You need to coat every grain of flour with something (water or butter) so that when they hit the broth they can’t stick together and make lumps. Using water (about 2 parts water to 1 part flour) is called a slurry, and you drizzle it into the boiling broth while wisking. Using butter (equal parts butter to flour) is called a roux, and the traditional manner is to add the broth to the roux, not the roux to the broth. How much you need depends on how much broth you’re working with. Just remember that once it’s at a full rolling boil it will never get any thicker…until it cools. Stopp adding when it’s just a little thinner than your ideal gravy would be. Let it boil for at least two minutes to get the raw flour taste out of it, check for seasonings, and it’s done. It sounds alot more complicated than it really is, and the extra 10 minutes that go into making homemade gravy is worth it.

@Johnny L.A

6. Mix a couple of tablespoons of flour with some of the (hot) stock and stir until it’s smooth. Add milk (this is a white gravy), salt and pepper. Stir very frequently as it heats. When the turkey is done, remove it from the oven and cut open the bag. The juices and fat will be in the bottom of the bag. Use a turkey baster to suck as much of the juices out of the bag and put them into a large (4 cup) measuring cup or a large clear bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes so that the fat will rise to the top. Use the turkey baster to suck the juices up from below the fat and add it to the gravy. Stir the gravy until it’s as thick as you want

…Dang! How could I have forgotten the liver?! Go back to step 6. Chop up the liver that you cooked at the beginning. Add it to the gravy after the flour has been mixed in smoothly.

@Hello Again

Its really not too hard. The roux method tastes better than cornstarch or flour+broth imho. All that deee-licious butter.

Take a bunch of butter (4 tablespoons at least) and melt it in a pan. Whisk in several tablespoons of flour – enough so the butter+flour forms a thick paste (approx toothpaste consistency). Cook the paste, stirring it to keep it moving, until it browns to the color of a penny. Start adding turkey juice from the bottom on the pan, stirring as you add. Continue adding until gravy consistency is achieved. Add a splash of red wine, and salt and pepper to taste. If gravy seems too thick, add more liquid – turkey juice, wine or water. If gravy seems a bit too thin, wait, it will simmer down. It wil also thicken a bit more as it cools.

@OxyMoron

Oh, and gravy you make before the turkey, first roasting the back and neck (and giblets, they say, but I can’t stand 'em), adding broth, etc.

@Cheesesteak

For gravy, my mom uses a special kind of flour, Wondra brand, I think, and doesn’t need to do any fancy shmancy stuff to keep it from lumping. No roux, no shaking, no heavy duty whisking. Just sprinkle it into the drippings and stir. She does it right in the roasting pan on the stovetop adding water and flour (spices too) stirring the whole time. Works great, the flour is specially milled, almost granular, and doesn’t really lump up.

And there you have it.

[Elza_B]

Thank you!

I just realized, my mom will be here to help make the gravy, too, so that’s one thing I will count on her for.

I would NEVER use jarred gravy, but having never made it from scratch, I’ll need to learn on Thursday :).

[MsWhatsit]

@squeegee

Anyway, thanks for the find, that thread was really helpful to me. How come I can’t find it if I search on my own posts? Am I missing a global setting?

I think search results cut off after the first 500 results or so, so if you just searched on all of your previous posts, it might not have gone back far enough. I did a search on all threads started by you, and that turned it up.

(Sorry for the hijack!)

[Zsofia]

Actually, while it’s heresy to many, Cook’s Illustrated suggests just going ahead and making an all-purpose gravy now and freezing it, screw the giblets, one less thing to worry about. (I mean, they also offer several giblet gravy recipes additionally.) So if you’re feeling concerned and antsy, well, hell, go for it.

Also, if you’re making cranberry sauce, do it tomorrow and stick it in the fridge. IMHO it’s even better with a few days to sit and think about what it did wrong. (Cranberry sauce is really easy to make from scratch, but last year I felt mine was too tart - luckily I made it Monday and by Thursday everybody loved it!)

[Argent_Towers]

My mom always brines it and it’s always amazing. I’ve had non-brined and it’s just not as good! You have to do it. Especially since this is the last Thanksgiving any of us will ever get to enjoy before the Large Hadron Collider destroys our planet. The time is now!

[Elza_B]

@Zsofia

Actually, while it’s heresy to many, Cook’s Illustrated suggests just going ahead and making an all-purpose gravy now and freezing it, screw the giblets, one less thing to worry about. (I mean, they also offer several giblet gravy recipes additionally.) So if you’re feeling concerned and antsy, well, hell, go for it.

Also, if you’re making cranberry sauce, do it tomorrow and stick it in the fridge. IMHO it’s even better with a few days to sit and think about what it did wrong. (Cranberry sauce is really easy to make from scratch, but last year I felt mine was too tart - luckily I made it Monday and by Thursday everybody loved it!)

I’m actually taking off on Wednesday (just decided to do it to use up some PTO before the end of the year), so I was planning to make it then. Will a day in advance be okay?

I’d make it tonight, but I need to make cornbread muffins for the stuffing (we’re also having chili for dinner tonight, so I’m making a batch as soon as I get home so we can have some with dinner, too - not just for the stuffing), and I have a few other things to do around the house.

[Frank]

Moved from IMHO to CS.