Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Brined Smoked Turkey

Our Brined Smoked Turkey has surpassed an over a decade tradition of frying turkey in peanut oil. Gathering the family early to inject birds and find a safe place in the yard for hot oil may be a thing of the past.
 
The brine comes from Alton Brown. It’s the first thing I tried and it’s worked out well for a few years.
 
• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
• 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 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water
 
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.
 
Smoking:
For a smaller bird like above plan for about 8 hours. It’s very forgiving with the brine and enough smoke early on. The general guideline is 225F-250F @ 20-40min per pound to an internal temperature of 165F. Breast side up for course. I leave the plastic pop thermometer in and also put a roasting thermometer in. (You know, not touching bone in the middle of the breast.
 
 
 

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