RE: Lew's Brine

[Lew Hodgett]

It's the height of the grilling season and things have been a tad slow here on the wrec, so will offer the following.

The wood content is that the grill is cleaned using my 4" wide red oak grate scraper pictured last year.

Enjoy

Lew

-------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lew Hodgett Subject: Lew's Brining Solution Date: 01-15-2014

There are many brining techniques for turkey, but I don't eat turkey so I decided to try one for chicken.

The following works for me when grilling chicken thighs.

(Will also work chicken breasts, whole chickens and/or pork chops)

"4" is the magic number.

4 Cups, Water 1/4 Cup, Kosher salt 1/4 Cup, Granulated sugar 6 Large, Chicken thighs with fat and skin attached

OPTION:

1 Tbl, Corn starch

----------------------------------------------- Add corn starch if you are going to grill boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

(It helps prevent sticking to grill grate)

----------------------------------------------- Directions:

Dissolve dry items in warm water using a whisk, then allow water to cool before using.

Add chicken pieces, cover with brine solution for

3-4 hours in the refrigerator.

Don't brine much beyond 4 hours or the chicken will turn rubbery and taste salty.

Drain chicken on a rack, pat chicken dry with paper towels.

OPTION:

Place chicken on a cooling rack, place rack in refrigerator uncovered for an hour. Works better than paper towels.

Grill pieces starting skin side down, 10 minutes per side with a gas grill closed temperature of 400F-500F.

(Adjust charcoal grills as req'd).

Thighs require 10 minutes per side, breast pieces require about 8 (4x2) minutes per side.

Test with an instant read therometer. 160F (4x40) is done.

Remove from grill and allow to drain and rest on wire rack before serving.

Remove skin when serving.

Yes I know the skin tastes good but it's not good for you.

NOTES:

Brining gives chicken a whole new flavor while retaining juices when getting rid of the chicken fat over the heat of the grill.

If you want Bar-B-Q chicken, nows the time.

Coat both sides of chicken with Bar-B-Q sauce on both sides and return to grill for 15 minutes.

Enjoy.

"4" is still the magic number.

[Swingman]

Only in CA. ;)

Thanks, Lew! Added to my recipe folder on DropBox, for those who have it.

[Morgans]

Brine is the key to the absolutely most moist turkey at the holidays time of year, also. As I recall, go at least 6 hours for something as large as a turkey, or a few hours more than that.

Throw in some hickory chips (mandatory thinly disguised wood content) in the slow cooker, and, mmmmmmm.

[Swingman]

Brine'd the Christmas turkey last year and wasn't all that impressed.

Since I was new to the process, I may have done something wrong, although I followed this to a "t":

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

1 cup kosher salt 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1 gallon vegetable stock 1 tablespoon black peppercorns 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries (?) 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

1 red apple, sliced 1/2 onion, sliced 1 cinnamon stick 1 cup water 4 sprigs rosemary 6 leaves sage Canola oil

Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

[Morgans]

"Swingman" wrote

I do the major big family meals at my sister's house, and she and BIL do the bird.

Their method produces moist, even juicy white meat, even.

I will try to get the specifics on their prep, and post it here in a few days.

[Lew Hodgett]

Some of the comments about this post leads me to ask another question.

Anybody deep fry their turkey?

If so, have another question.

How do you SAFELY get the wet turkey submersed in the hot oil without the oil foaming up and out of hot oil tank?

That's potentially a very dangerous situation.

Lew

[Puckdropper]

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in news:53e59db5$0$58661 $c3e8da3$ [e-mail]:

Alton Brown used a ladder with a couple pulleys mounted on it. That way, if the oil did overflow he'd be quite a distance away.

I think he might have used cool oil, though. It's amazing how much headspace hot oil needs when something cold and wet hits it.

Puckdropper

[clare]

Dry turkey?

[Ed Pawlowski]

I've done it a couple of times. The turkey should be as dry as practical to minimize foaming.

I used a rope tied to the fixture that went through the turkey. It should be done on a firm surface, like grass or concrete away from flammables, like your house.

[clare]

Not like the idiots who did it in the garage because the weather was nasty outside.

[Swingman]

Simple. Here, hold my beer:

Get up on the roof and drop it in.

Takes a bit of practice, but if you survive you can even charge for doing it, and think of all the adsense click bucks you can make on youtube.

;)

Seriously, I've never had trouble going slow with a dry turkey and a turkey hanger and hook. If there is ever any question, with a turkey hanger and hook/fry basket, and long broom handle, two (sober) people can lower it in and stay far enough away in case it foams up.

Trick is judging how much oil the turkey is going to displace.

Before you ever get started, and using the same pot and turkey:

~ put the entire apparatus, and turkey, in the pot.

~ fill pot with water until it covers the bird.

~ remove the turkey and mark the water level on the _outside_ of the pot.

~ Dry the pot well, fill to that mark with oil, laissez les bons temps rouler.

Make sure once again, you dry the turkey off completely before putting it in hot oil.

[Lew Hodgett]

-----------------------------------------------------

"Sw> Simple. Here, hold my beer:

----------------------------------------------------------- Mikey likes it, but have a basic problem, don't do ladders any more.

Looks like I stick with chicken.

Lew

[Puckdropper]

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in news:53e6800f$0$1676 $c3e8da3$ [e-mail]:

A cherry picker would work just fine, or maybe you could borrow a mini excavator. Clean the bucket really well before you put the turkey in it. (What? Suspend it from a rope? Hush!) A nimble touch of the controls, and the turkey will hit the hot oil just right, be safe, and you'll get to burn some diesel fuel at the same time.

Puckdropper

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------------------------- The classic brine:

1 Cup, Kosher salt 1 Cup, Brown sugar (Packed cup) 1 Gallon, Water

After that, it's whatever floats your boat for additives.

Brine unfrozen turkey about 4 hours, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.

I'll stick to chicken.

Lew