Brine the turkey?

[Spy Car]

Yes, and my technique for dealing with that is when the breast is nearing temperature then I cut the legs so they flop away from the bird and cover the breast tightly with foil leaving the legs exposed. It kind of slows down the cooking of the breast so the legs can get up to temperature without the breast being overdone.

 

Another option is to take it out when the breast is done, cut off the legs and throw them back in. By the time I have everything set and done they are done.

 

 

Another variation on this, and if memory serves it was Julia Childs' technique, is to bifurcate the Turkey prior to cooking so the breast portion can be removed in one whole piece, while the dark meat cook longer. Then the bird is reassembled for presentation. I've never tried it.

 

Bill

[justLisa]

I like that idea. I don't present the bird so that's not an issue. The idea of having it already kinda ready to go at the end sounds good though. Although I stuff mine (yep I'm going to hell). So I wonder how that would work out. Maybe I'll try it anyway.

 

 

It's just not T day without stuffing slime :leaving:

 

Kidding. We do it anyways. I always eat a bit, but then we always end up saying it's not as good as the baked stuffing. It's just one of those things we can't get over.

[justLisa]

Interesting. I don't like the baked one. Mine isn't slimy. My favorite part is the piece of bread used to cover everything up. It's like this greasy buttery crusty crunchy heavenly prize. LOL

 

 

I let my mother stuff the turkey. I don't think she is doing it right :lol:

[PeterPan]

I don't like it because I like to make a vat of gravy and have you ever had brined turkey gravy? ACK. Too salty for me.

 

What you need to do is wrap the e ntire thing in bacon.

 

I made gravy off my brined bird last year just fine. It was super good in fact. But the bird started off organic, not injected.

[somo_chickenlady]

There is no reason to brine unless one is intent on over-cooking turkey and/or one likes the taste of salty processed food.

 

But properly cooked unbrined turkey is much better tasting IMO.

 

Bill

 

Everyone has different tastes. I happen to think that unbrined turkeys are flavorless. As I said before, we always brine our turkey and it never tasted salty or processed, nor do we over cook it b/c we don't stuff it so it is able to cook from the inside as well as the outside. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house multiple years in a row b/c everyone preferred our turkey, and we are the only ones we know that brine it first.

[Abigail4476]

Generally, I don't care for brined turkey if it's being roasted in the oven. However, my husband usually smokes our turkey and the two processes seem to complement each other, so I can handle it. I can still taste it though, and I prefer it unbrined. If you brine, it is very important to start with a fresh bird, and not one that has already been processed or injected.

 

Bill is correct that the key to a good bird, no matter how you pretreat it or cook it, is to not overcook it. My husband removes ours from the smoker at 165. USDA finally changed the guidelines for cooking poultry, but for some reason people continue to insist on that crazy old 180 degrees mark. Cooking to that temperature will always produce a dry bird. If you're roasting, you can also try cooking the turkey breast-down and covering it with cheesecloth to retain moisture. If you stuff the turkey, you will have to cook it longer to make sure the juices that get into the stuffing reach the correct temperature, so it's better to make dressing separately and stuff the turkey after it is cooked (if you must--we serve ours as a side dish).

 

No one should use the pop-up thermometers that come with the bird. Invest in a good meat thermometer and remove the bird from the oven when the thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 162-165. Let the bird rest for about 10 - 15 minutes, and then slice. Don't cook your turkey for a set amount of time; it should be cooked until it reaches a certain temperature and then removed from the oven. One of the worst mistakes novice cooks can make is read a turkey recipe that says "cook at 350 for 4 hours" and take it as law and gospel. Use a meat thermometer; your turkey might be done at 3 hours, 53 minutes. :thumbup1:

 

ETA: my husband's correction - he removes the turkey from the oven at 160-162ish, because the temperature continues to rise after removing it from the oven.

[nmoira]

No one should use the pop-up thermometers that come with the bird. Invest in a good meat thermometer and remove the bird from the oven when the thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 162-165.

 

 

I wasted more money on meat thermometers than I would care to divulge, before finally buying one of the Thermapens recommended by Cook's Illustrated. Worth every one of the considerable amount of pennies it cost and is now an indispensable part of my kitchen.

 

I thought it would only get used a handful of times a year, but did you know that potatoes are perfectly baked at 210F?

[Abigail4476]

I wasted more money meat thermometers than I would care to divulge, before finally buying one of the Thermapens recommended by Cook's Illustrated. Worth every one of the considerable amount of pennies it cost and is now an indispensable part of my kitchen.

 

I thought it would only get used a handful of times a year, but did you know that potatoes are perfectly baked at 210F?

 

LOL!!!! I did not know that! That's all I need--another reason to use my handy dandy thermometer! :thumbup:

[Spy Car]

 

 

I wasted more money meat thermometers than I would care to divulge, before finally buying one of the Thermapens recommended by Cook's Illustrated. Worth every one of the considerable amount of pennies it cost and is now an indispensable part of my kitchen.

 

I thought it would only get used a handful of times a year, but did you know that potatoes are perfectly baked at 210F?

 

I like the Polder brand dual-thermometers. They have a probe (on a braided) metal lead that gives both the internal temperature of the meat and the oven temperature. The probe goes in the bird, and the lead goes from the probe to outside the oven door and connects to a digital readout that displays the temps and has selectable alarms to let you know when you've reached the desired temp.

 

Bill

 

 

[justLisa]

I wasted more money on meat thermometers than I would care to divulge, before finally buying one of the Thermapens recommended by Cook's Illustrated. Worth every one of the considerable amount of pennies it cost and is now an indispensable part of my kitchen.

 

I thought it would only get used a handful of times a year, but did you know that potatoes are perfectly baked at 210F?

 

That was the best investment I've made for cooing anything.

[Slartibartfast]

I brine my turkeys. :)

 

I don't eat processed foods because I cannot tolerate many of the preservatives. I don't generally prefer the taste of processed food as a result. I don't feel that brined turkeys taste more processed, I have to assume that they were not well rinsed or something.

 

I own a meat thermometer and I use it. :)

[creekland]

It's just not T day without stuffing slime :leaving:

 

Kidding. We do it anyways. I always eat a bit, but then we always end up saying it's not as good as the baked stuffing. It's just one of those things we can't get over.

 

We are definitely different when it comes to preferences... My family LOVES the "cooked in the bird" stuffing, but is generally "meh" about baked stuffing. It can get into heated fights if one were to take more than their fair share of bird stuffing. My mom complains every year that one of her sisters made another sister try it eons ago. ;)

 

I've found it very interesting reading about the variety of preferences on here! We're not changing anything in our house though... I've tried other people's turkeys (as has my family), and they just don't match... :D There's no way we could ever go out for Thanksgiving dinner (note, this is not always on Thanksgiving pending what's happening) because even the most expensive places don't cook like home. We can have turkey there on other days.

 

But I love reading about variety. ;)

[amy g.]

We raise our own free range turkeys, and just butchered 4 of them yesterday.

 

They are good brined or un brined. I will never eat another injected turkey again... Not as a guest... Not in a restaurant..... Not ever.

 

To me, the quality of the bird matters more than how it is prepared.

[jennyradmer]

Brining absolutely makes the turkey juicier . We do it every time we cook turkey. It is a pain to brine and then dry overnight, but it is worth it.