The gravy, when done with a roux base, should reheat just fine. Just warm it on low heat on the stove and whisk occasionally.
Personally, though, it’s one of those things that I’d rather do the day of because I do rely on using drippings from the turkey for part of it. There’s other things I’ve figured out that I can do completely or partially the week before (desserts, stuffing, peeled potatoes kept in water overnight) that makes the big day go a little smoother.
If you can stand to do it, you can separate the skin over the breast from the meat (You don’t cut it, just slip your hand in there from one end), then push the stuffing into the space between skin and meat; use a sausagemeat stuffing recipe, or an ordinary one with some butter added and it will keep the breast meat nice and moist.
I make my stuffing with kielbasa(polish garlic sausage), chopped mushrooms, chopped celery, chopped sage, and french bread previously made into croutons.
We just had a great turkey dinner. We brined the turkey for the first time. We also made the Alton Brown dipping sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole. The gravy was made with a flour and turkey dripping roux with chicken stock.
Brine
2 c Morton’s Kosher Salt
1 ½ cup maple syrup
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic, halved
19 whole cloves
7 bay leaves
1 TBs peppercorns
3 cups water
Vegetable oil
Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil and then cool. Put turkey in a five-gallon bucket. Add cold water to cover turkey. Soak in brine for 12 - 16 hours or so turning once or twice. Take turkey out of brine, place on rack and coat in oil. (We used three five gallon buckets for the brine manipulations.
For the inside of the turkey
Cinnamon stick
1 apple unpeeled
1 medium onion, cleaned
1 orange unpeeled
2 cups of water
Chunk the onion, apple, and orange. Bring all ingredients to a boil and then simmer for five minutes. Place in the cavity of the turkey.
We then followed the Alton Brown instructions for cooking the bird,
Sage Dressing
½ c Butter; melted
1 ½ c Chopped onions
1 ½ c Minced celery
8 slices bread, dried - broken into small pieces
2 Tbs Minced fresh sage or 1 ½ Tbs - Dried sage leaves
1 large clove garlic
2 tsp Salt; or to taste
1 tsp Freshly ground black pepper - or to taste
½ c Parmesan cheese
1 c Broth; or less - (turkey or chicken)
Put 3 tablespoons melted butter into skillet. Add onions and celery and cook, stirring often, over moderate heat until vegetables are soft but not browned. In large bowl, combine dried bread, cheese, sage, garlic, and salt and pepper. Add onion and celery mixture and remaining melted butter. Toss until well mixed (using your hands works best for mixing). Add broth slowly, a little at a time, while tossing mixture to moisten thoroughly. Take care to add only enough liquid to moisten or stuffing will become sodden. Put in casserole dish and bake until heated through.
:mad: That suh, is an insult I will not abide. My Honor requires me to challenge you to carving knives at noon. Electric or not, the choice is yours.
Alton Brown is my second; therefore, I shall prevail.
I have to agree that stuffing the bird is not something I feel safe doing. I have never had as moist a turkey as this one. The gravy was great. The flavors from the apple and orange added a nice but subtle touch. Stuffing would have precluded the aromatics. Hubby took the meat off the bone and Kelly started the carcass boiling in the big stock pot.
Rather than start a new threat I thought I would bump this one.
So…from my understanding so far, brining is the act of soaking a turkey in a salt water solution for a day or two for the purpose of adding flavor to it? Do I have this right? And do I bring hot ater and salt together in a bowl, stir, allow to cool off, and then soak the bird or just plop it right in with cold water and a cup/s of salt? If I’m missing something here I’d really appreciate it if someone stepped up and told me more about thing “brining” thing.
Also, since I am cooking our Thanksgiving turkey this year…
What brand of turkey should I be buying? How many pounds should it weight if I expect to be serving somewhere around 8 and 10 people?
Epicurious has the ultimate turkey recipe right here
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102478
Honey brined turkey with giblet cream gravy.
Read the reviews, this recipe has delighted so many people! I have had raving success 3 times myself. It is awesome! Crispy skin, tender, flavorful meat - yumm!
The only tip I would add is that they say to use low-salt broth. I find the best way to do this is to make some chicken broth myself, which is also a money saver over buying canned broth.
I soak my turkey in red wine and rosemary for the time it takes to defrost, turning it every other day or so (because it never totally fits in the stockpot), which accomplishes the same thing as a salt brine but adds a little more kick. Pick up a nice dark wine, put the turkey in the stockpot, and fill to about a half inch from the brim with the wine (I used 1 3/4 of those jugs of wine in my large pot), add a liberal amount of rosemary, and rub additional rosemary into the exposed parts. Cover with foil, and put in the fridge. The turkey is purple by the time you put in on the roasting pan, but comes out beautifully. My extremely picky MIL, who never has a nice thing to say about me, raves about this turkey.
I believe I just read that a good rule of thumb is 2-3 lbs of turkey per person, so 8-10 people would need a 20-30lb turkey (which seems like a lot, but is probably factoring in bone and the meat that you can never quite get to without boiling the carcass.
And yes, if you stuff the breast area it keeps the meat moist. (you know, there was just no good way to say that)
The purpose of brining is to keep the turkey moist throughout the cooking process. To add flavor you need to add aromatics to the cavities before cooking.
I use rosemary, garlic, onion and celery, along with butter, all shoved into the cavity of the bird before I cook it. The rosemary adds a nice touch, as well as to the drippings which should be used for making gravy. This assumes you aren’t stuffing the bird.
My favorite stuffing is a fresh pineapple (cubed). Sweetens, moistens, tenderizes & enchances the gravy in a very subtle manner…
Thanks for the feedback. Nope, not stuffing the turkey this year, we’re making the mushy stuff on the side. Today in class another student told me that filling a black garbage bag with orange juice and then tying it closed with the turkey inside is the way to go. Sounds like a good way to go with pineapple and a few herbs stuffed inside the bird. Does this sound…er…sound?
And one more thing (for now), last time I cooked a turkey I rubbed it with butter beforehand. Now an Alton Brown recipe mentioned earlier calls for oil rub. Does it make a difference if I use butter or oil? Will there be a noticeable difference with me using olive oil rather than vegitable?
Joe, I use both butter and olive oil as a rub on roast chickens, and I’ve never really noticed a difference. Butter might make a better gravy though.
Is putting the bird and OJ in the trash bag for the brine? Where do you keep it while it soaks? It sounds a little sloppy to me.
I use a big 5-gallon bucket that I bought at Home Depot, and keep just for that purpose. You still need to keep it cold during the brining process, and the turkey needs to be covered in the cold water.
You need to make sure the water stays cool, so there needs to be enough room in the container for lots of water and some ice.
If you live in a warm climate, I guess you’d have to find room in the fridge.
If you live where it’s cold enough outside, you can put it outside or in the garage.
JoeSki Brining does three things [ol]
[li]It adds moisture to the meat, so that does not dry out during cooking[/li][li]It causes the protiens in the meat to “unwind” making the meat more tender[/li][li]It imparts flavor[/li][/ol]
Yes it does impart flavor. Apple juice in the brine imparts an apple flavor etc.
What no one has mentioned yet in this thread is using a Weber charcaol grill (or equiv) to cook the bird. Unstuffed it takes about 10 minutes per lb. and the flavor is out of this world.
did my first on the Weber almost 30 years ago. I have not put a turkey into an oven since, this includes the ones I have cooked at my sister’s house (200 miles away) I disassemble my Weber and I take it along.
So…orange juice flavored turkey with OJ brine. Hrmmm. I don’t know if that sounds good or not. I bought the juice thinking it would only leave behind the faintest taste of it, and because it meant I didn’t have to buy five seperate ingredients I don’t own. Well, here’s hopin’ it’s ok.
Thanks for the elaboration Rick.
By the way…
Is there any truth to this? Does Brining give breast meat a pink tint?
Brining is a kosher way of cooking a turkey. You brine instead of basting with butter (no mixing of dairy and meat). I’d suggest following a link and finding Alton Brown’s instructions if you’re to do it. The turkey doesn’t have to sit in the fridge while brining- the salt takes care of any bacterial danger from it sitting out.
I’m thinking 8-10 people takes about at least a 15-pounder… but I’m not positive.
If you mix the OJ with salt water it will not be overpowering. If you ploped the turkey into 3 gallons of OJ for two days, you might not. You probably will like it.
Here is the Alton Brown roast turkey