Thread: Hips Turkey Bag Recipe

Originally Posted by luvzig

This year, though, I am trying Williams Sonoma's apple-cider brine. Will let you know how that compares.

Hey luv, we are going to use their apple-cider brine as well. We saw it at our WS a couple of weeks ago and just need to go get it. We bought our turkey tonight to allow it to defrost in the garage frig and we should be good to go. Using my dad's great stuffing recipe and I think I will try Hip's herb butter (another great call on the firming it up Luv!).

Got lots of familly here in Washington who are coming to our house, since we have the biggest pad now, so it will be fun and a bit nerve-racking entertaining everyone by ourselves. We usually have our parents around to help/supervise but not this year. Oh well. As long as I don't run out of propane on my bbq (and I have an umbrella just in case it rains - oh Seattle is just lovey this time of the year!).

Good luck everyone and thanks for all the advice/tips both in the thread and PMs!

Easiest way to get that butter under the skin...

http://www.ekitchengadgets.com/kapac...0=kapacrsywi5t

Good idea about cooling the butter Zig.

Originally Posted by BleedingPurple

Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey

I swear by this recipe from AB. It's from the All Star Thanksgiving show. He uses a honey brine. You need to watch the show though. There are a few things that didn't make it to the recipe. One being the heat-shield, and another is the smoke packets. He adds cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, & rosemary to the pouches.

I have done 5 birds this way, and it is awesome.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29147,00.html

Originally Posted by roenick

Thanks Hip. ...Has anyone ever brined a bird before? Wondering how it turns out. Does it make the bird too salty??

..Thanks in advance for any info.

Like Zig, I have used brines for over 10 years. It doesn't leave the meat salty.

The salt first draws the moisture out of the meat because of the unbalance between the meat & the brine. Then the meat draws the moisture back in bringing along the other flavors in the brine.

This process repeats itself over & over until a balance is achieved. Another benefit is that the moisture is locked in to the meat because of salt molecules.

Ok the results are in. And what a success they were! Brined the bird starting last night and did it over night. Pulled him out and then used a herb butter that I mixed up myself (don't have a food processor so I couldn't use Hip's recipe). I took some rosemary out of my garden, oregano flakes, parsley and sage and mixed with a stick of unsalted butter with a fork. Rubbed it on the bird and put him on the bbq.

During cooking it smelled incredible. Cook time was just at 3 hours as the last 1/2 hour was for browning. The 15 lb. bird was very popular with my 11 guests. The brine worked just like everyone said it would. Held the moisture in and made the bird very good.

Went to Williams-Sonoma and got the Apple Cider brine and their brining bags. I would wholely recommend both. The brine was very good and the bag was great with no threat of spillage.

Really, really good day. Thanks to Hip, Eddie and luv for all the tips (and one more huge shout out to a former lgk member who PM'ed with tips - thanks man!).

Glad your bird was a success...heres a pic of my bird. I went with the Wild Turkey Whiskey as planned and it was very good although any booze you put in the bird is a symbolic gesture only. There are some other pics on the blog.

I'm glad it went well. I'm trying a new recipe for an apple cider & honey brine this week. Last year, I bought a cooler just for brining.