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Dc2123

Dc2123

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Curious to hear how people are preparing their turkey. . .


11 lb Whole turkey

I just got mine into a brine today.
Water/sugar/salt/garlic clove/bay leaf/peppercorn/coriander/mustard seed/juniper berry/clove/dehydrated poblano..


Going to take it out in 36 hours and rub it down with an herb butter. That’ll sit for almost a day until it’s roasted off.



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& for gravy.. I almost forgot to take that neck out of the pot.
I’m sautéing chicken wings / backs and turkey neck and adding mirepoix/tomato paste/then white wine/dropping that/ adding chicken stock and herbs and reducing for an hour or So/ then strain and mount with desired amount of butter that it can be stabilized by ^_^
add turkey drippings
 
We're cooking duck breasts for the wife and I. My dad is a traditionalist PITA and we invited him over, so thinking about some form of a roulade for him (and for bonus points he only likes white meat and he has had a few gout attacks but still doesn't know what triggers them) 👎 So I'm looking into going towards apples, etc. in the roulade instead of the more traditional spinach + (spinach can trigger attacks; my dad has no idea if it affects him).

And because my dad was talking up turkey so much when he was over last weekend, our 7 year old wants some as well. We are going to buy a couple drumsticks (his favorite) and will likely braise them osso buco-style.

My wife is going to make some stuffed squash and we'll also have a salad. We decided this year were don't want any of the normal mashed potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, etc. that we seem to wind up making every year for no other purpose but to overstuff ourselves for a week.
 
For me spatchcocking or breaking down into parts before roasting leads to faster, more consistent, and more even cooking, especially for a bigger carcass.
 
Our 22-pound turkey is in the oven. It has achiote seasoning which is achiote past, ground toasted pine nuts, salt. pepper, garlic, fresh time, lemon zest and then add olive oil rub all-around including under the skin. We add an orange cut in half inside less the zest which is already used.
 
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Due to waiting until yesterday, we could only secure a turkey 'breast' that was essentially an 18-20 lb turkey that had the leg quarters and wings removed. I butchered off the breasts, and I mean butchered... Made three roulades and they are enjoying a warm sous vide bath. Basically onion, garlic, panko, apple, dried cherries, dried currents, apple cider vinegar, sage, S&P, etc. Probably roasting the drumsticks for my son (not motivated enough after assembling the roulades and cleaning up to tackle braising). Took stops at 4 stores to finally score the duck breasts yesterday -- thankfully we were able to get some.
 
In the past, I’ve been most happy with a totally broken down bird, with the breasts either done SV or super low in the oven, then blasted at the end, and the legs either SV/confit or braised.
 
Butter, thyme, sage and rosemary under the skin. An onion, lemon and more herbs inside the cavity. Outside I'll apply Olive oil, salt and pepper before going in the oven. Right now it's uncovered in the fridge. Crispy skin!
 
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orangehero said:
For me spatchcocking or breaking down into parts before roasting leads to faster, more consistent, and more even cooking, especially for a bigger carcass.
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This is the way. I've done a dry brine and spatchcock the past couple years and the results are great (tender, juicy meat and crispy skin) with way shorter cooking time.
 
Spatchcocking is the best method imo because you can take out the bird when the breast reaches 150 instead of 165. 5 minutes at 150 is the same pasteurization as hitting 165, and thermal carryover will keep it cooking anyways.
 
Only three of us this year so didn't warrant a turkey. I went with a plump chicken. Spatchcocked and ~30hr dry brine of salt, brown sugar, thyme and sage.

For turkey I dry brine and break down into main parts.

I rarely cook an "intact" bird any more and am all about the dry brine. :)

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Fresh 15.5 lb. turkey, not a frozen bird.

Bread stuffing with onions, celery, mushrooms, fresh sage, thyme, parsley, garlic and rosemary, butter, olive oil, black pepper & salt, a couple of eggs and a couple of cups of turkey stock from a previous turkey (made enough to stuff bird and to fill 2 large meatloaf pans which were given an additional 3/4 cup of turkey stock each, foiled and baked in oven).

Bird exterior was slathered with melted butter and dusted with fine chopped thyme and sage, black pepper and a little granulated garlic.

Bird went uncovered into a very hot Webber BBQ kettle with a few pieces of apple wood added to the coals right before bird went in, spent about 10 minutes uncovered to brown breast and pick up a nice smoky flavor. Then was put on a rack in a roasting pan with plenty of hot water in it and covered with foil. Grill dampers tamped down and then was cooked 10 minutes/lb., 150 minutes.

Came out just right for our tastes-

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Just the two of us this year (spent a lot of time on the telephone with cooking instructions) a 11 pound turkey still in the oven so no pictures, carrots cooked with thyme and finished with parsley from the garden, mashed potatoes and gravy with dressing in the turkey.
 
Bear said:
Legs up in the smoker with apple wood, this is the first time I've tried a Turkey upright like this with the legs trussed out, it worked good, both breast and legs done to perfection but man was it ugly it's a good thing it was just me and my wife.

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Somehow reminds me of Daedalus, having flown too close to the sun and then crashed back into earth.
 
Bear said:
Legs up in the smoker with apple wood, this is the first time I've tried a Turkey upright like this with the legs trussed out, it worked good, both breast and legs done to perfection but man was it ugly it's a good thing it was just me and my wife.

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Click to expand...

That actually looks really good.
 
Really it wasn't burned, legs 165° and breast just a little over 140°, but I tried trussing with a new chefsteps method and the bird was way too big for that, after cooking there was no laying that thing down without breaking it down. :rolleyes: If you use Cherry or apple you should be getting a deep mahogany color, apple is great for birds, allot of people don't like too much smoke on their birds, obviously I do. Using a Kamoto style grill, the hottest part of the cooker is at the top, most people put there vertical birds on legs down, the breast is usually overdone, I like them legs up, breast and legs done at the same time.

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I do like a Spachcocked bird but these are better.

Thinking about it I guess I haven't had a pale bird in a long time.
 
Bear said:
Really it wasn't burned
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I'm sure it wasn't. In fact, I think it looks great!

It's just that I laughed when I saw the photo. It really looks like the turkey went into a vertical nose dive straight at the BBQ and got cooked right at the point of impact. Maybe you should call it "Sturzflieger turkey"? ;)
 
I think that turkey looks tasty. I have an old 700-pound smoker and that looks normal for smoking meat, maybe a little light on smoking. I like using pecan wood for smoking birds as it gives a nice brown color to the bird.

My favorite is chicken smoked with pecan wood. I use a beer can to hold the whole chicken up and to keep the chicken from drying out. I pour a little beer out and add spices to the beer in the can. For brisket I like oak wood. For fajita meat I like mesquite wood. The fruit woods are nice but I don't get much fruit wood. I use fruit wood for hams.

My smoker is an indirect smoker in that I have a fire on one side and a smoker on the other side. The fire is not under the meat. It takes 20 pounds of firewood or more to smoke meat.
 
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I have friend that does really nice turkeys using an Old Smokey. He builds a fire and uses the coals out of the fire in the Old Smokey until he hits the right temperature on the turkey. He lives out in the country so fires are no problem. Usually, it's a party. Dam pandemic.

He uses hard wood probably oak in his camp fire for the turkey as he has oaks all over his property. No pine.
 
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I invited 4 families from my building to join us at a buffet. I made almost all the food for a dozen people, wheeled a table out of my apartment and put it out in the hall near the elevator. The little girl next door outdid herself with decorating the hallway.

Everyone chatted in the hall pretty briefly, then took their food to their own house to eat. We had appetizers first, this is the main course, and then desserts. The full menu is here:

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/post-your-menus-here.45402/post-764638
We had a pretty international gathering, I tried to work in something from everyone's native culture.

It was one of those things that belonged in a newspaper or something. Everyone felt really safe, and everyone felt they had a real thanksgiving.
thanksgiving table.jpg

Here's a shot of me fighting with the turkey. That little honesuki was just not cutting the mustard with this bird, had to drag out the beater (there's a reason I keep that thing around!).

turkey fight.jpg


It was a rollicking success! This old jew is thinking of doing a reprise of this idea next month for Christmas.

@CiderBear I think you'll like this post, I remembered you liked the menu
 
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