“Good Eats” Brining Recipe by Alton Brown

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 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

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.

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.

Our notes: Let the turkey stand for 15 minutes to release excess liquid. Pat dry.

Your turkey is ready for frying!

Want a Moist and Flavorful Turkey? Brining is the answer!

Whether you grill, roast or fry your turkey, brining always makes it better. Brining adds moisture and flavor to poultry and helps to keep it from drying out. A turkey can be a serious investment in time so you want to make sure it is perfect, especially if you’re entertaining.

Supplies: To properly brine a turkey you need to start the night before you plan to cook. You will need at least 10 to 12 hours (plan on 1 hour per pound of turkey), a container large enough to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it. You’ll also need salt, water, sugar, seasonings, and enough room to refrigerate it. A large stainless steel stock pot or even a 5 gallon clean plastic bucket would make excellent containers. Whatever container you choose the turkey needs to have enough room to be turned so it should be big. Both Reynolds (Oven Roasting Bag for Turkeys) and Ziploc (XL Storage Bag) make very large food safe sealable bags that are great for brining.

Turkey: Now let’s get to the turkey. The turkey should be cleaned out, completely thawed, and should not be a self-basting or Kosher turkey. Self-basting and Kosher turkeys have a salty stock added that will make your brined turkey too salty. Make sure you check the ingredients on the turkey before you decide to brine. A fresh, “natural” turkey works best, but a completely thawed, previously frozen turkey will work just as well.

Brine Ingredients: To make the brine, mix 1 cup of table salt in 1 gallon of water. You will need more than 1 gallon of water but that’s the ratio to aim for. One way of telling if you have enough salt in your brine is that a raw egg will float in it. Make sure that the salt is completely dissolved before adding the seasonings you like, making sure not to add anything that contains salt. Brines can be spicy hot with peppers and cayenne, savory with herbs and garlic, or sweet with molasses, honey and brown sugar.

Sweetening the Brine: Sugar is optional to any brine, but works to counteract the flavor of the salt. While you may choose a brine without sugar, it is recommended that you add sugar (any kind of “sweet” will do) to maintain the flavor of the turkey. Add up to 1 cup of sugar per gallon of brine. Like the salt you need to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.

Set-up: Place the turkey in a container and pour in enough brine to completely cover the turkey with an inch or two to spare. You do not want any part of the turkey above the surface of the brine. Now you put the whole thing in the refrigerator. Making enough room in the fridge is the hardest part of this project. The turkey should sit in the brine for about 1 hour per pound of turkey. Brining too long is much worse than not brining enough so watch the time.

Keep it Cool!: Don’t have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler. A cooler big enough to hold your turkey makes a good container for your turkey and brine. The cooler will help keep it cool and allow you to brine your turkey without taking up precious refrigerator space. If the weather is cool, but not freezing you can put the whole thing outside until you need the turkey. If the weather is warm fill a a zip top bag with ice. Place this in the cooler with the turkey and brine and it will hold down the temperature during the brining process.

Rinsing: When you are ready to start cooking your turkey, remove it from the brine and rinse it off thoroughly in the sink with cold water until all traces of salt are off the surface inside and out. This is the single, most important step. If you don’t get the brine rinsed of thoroughly you could get a very salty bird. Safely discard the brine and cook your turkey as normal.

You will notice the second you start to carve your turkey that the brining has helped it retain moisture. The first bite will sell you on brining turkeys forever, and after you’ve tried this you will want to brine all your poultry.

Turkey Injection Marinade

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup light oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• pinch ground clove

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for a few minutes while stirring. You want to make sure the mixture is well mixed and that any herb is small enough to fit through your needle.

Remember to get it spread out evenly so you don’t end up with pockets of the marinade in the meat.

D. Riches

Steps and Recommendations to Fry a Turkey

Part 1 – Safety Recommendations

Warning: ALLOW POULTRY TO THAW COMPLETELY – Very important!

Warning:  Never insert partially thawed or frozen turkey into oil.

Doing so will cause a violent boil over and grease fire!

Before each use always test the thermometer to insure it is working properly!

Part 2 – Measuring the Oil

Warning:  FAILURE TO PROPERLY MEASURE THE OIL USING THIS PROCEDURE MAY RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY AND/OR FIRE DAMAGE

Place thawed turkey on poultry rack and place in empty, cold pot. Pot should be completely empty. Do not add oil.

Fill pot with water until turkey is covered.

Remove turkey and rack from pot. Mark the water level. This is the amount of oil you will need to fry this particular turkey.

Repeat above steps for each turkey you fry. Since each turkey is a different size, the amount of oil needed will be different.

NEVER INSERT A TURKEY INTO A POT BEFORE PROPERLY MEASURING USING THE STEPS ABOVE.

Part 3 – Turkey Preparation

Clean and dry poultry inside & out, removing giblets and neck, and trimming away all excess fat and skin.

Make sure opening around the neck cavity is wide and clear. Very important!

Make a 1-inch cut in the skin at the leg-thigh joints. This allows oil to drain when poultry is done.

Rub poultry with seasonings(Recipe to come on next posting). Use poultry seasoning, Cajun seasonings or salt & pepper

Push plunger down slowly while pulling injector out of meat to give even distribution of seasoning.

Place turkey upside down on rack, with legs facing up, no batter required. Remember, poultry legs facing up.

Hint: If using a liquid marinade, inject into poultry at various points on the breast, thighs, and drumstick.

Hint: When using a dry powder marinade, mix with orange juice instead of water. The acidity in the orange juice enhances the marinade plus acts as a meat tenderizer.

Hint: Try injecting your favorite beer, wine, or sherry mixed with worcestershire into chickens prior to frying or grilling. The results are spectacular!

Part 4 – Frying the Turkey

Warning: When poultry is lowered into hot oil, it will cause the oil to splatter from a furious boil. This can cause severe burns; therefore, we recommended wearing gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, shoes and safety goggles.

Pour peanut oil into pot and attach thermometer to the top edge, making sure the stem of the thermometer is in the oil at least one inch… very important!

Typical oil amounts are:

26-Qt. – - – - – 2.75 Gallons

30-Qt. – - – - – - – - 3 Gallons

34-Qt. – - – - – - – - 4 Gallons

Following instructions, light the gas cooker and set at a low flame.

Carefully place the pot on the cooker and adjust the flame higher.

Heat oil to 325 – 350°F. Depending on the amount of oil used & weather conditions, it may take from 15 to 25 minutes for the oil to reach 325°F. Optimum frying temperature is 350°F.

When oil reaches 350°F, reduce heat by turning regulator valve.

Attach grab hook to the top loop of the rack. Wearing gloves, very slowly & carefully lower poultry into pot. It may take 60-90 seconds to completely lower poultry into the oil!

Warning: DO NOT DROP THE TURKEY INTO THE OIL! This could cause a boil-over resulting in a serious grease fire! SLOWLY lower the poultry into the oil.

Warning:  After passing 450°F, cooking oil can heat up rapidly to its flashpoint of spontaneous combustion, which is a serious grease fire! Therefore, never leave cooker unattended!

After cooking temperature is achieved, reduce the flame in order to maintain a constant temperature while cooking.

Control frying temperature by turning the valve on the hose & regulator assembly.

Warning:  Constantly monitor the thermometer!

When poultry is done, turn cooker off at the tank. Leaving pot on cooker, place grab hook through top loop of the rack and very carefully remove rack with poultry from pot.

Place rack with poultry on absorbent paper and allow to drain for few minutes.

Carefully remove poultry from rack and place on platter.

WARNINGS WORTH REPEATING:

- Make sure poultry is completely thawed!

- DO NOT insert frozen or partially frozen poultry into hot oil!

- Slowly lower poultry into the hot oil. This may take 60 to 90 seconds.

- DO NOT DROP poultry into the hot oil!

- Cooking must be monitored at all times. Do not permit cooking temperature to exceed 350°F.

- DO NOT leave pot and cooker unattended! Always monitor the thermometer!

- Always test thermometer prior to cooking!

- DO NOT use lid when frying. Use lid only when the pot is being used for other types of cooking such as boiling soups, stews, gumbos; or steaming vegetables and seafood.

- This unit gets very hot! DO NOT TOUCH! Keep children and pets at a safe distance while cooking and afterwards during the cool down period.

- Allow 2 hours for the oil to cool down before handling or cleanup.

After turkey is completely in the oil, remove grab hook from rack. Inserting the poultry will reduce the temperature of the oil. Slowly increase the heat so that the temperature of the oil will come back to 325-350°F This will take several minutes. Monitor the thermometer to maintain this temperature. (Chilly conditions may prevent the temperature from returning to 350°F If so, just add 3-4 minutes to overall cooking time.)

Fry turkey for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes per pound or until golden brown. (Ex: a 15 pound turkey will take between 45 and 50 minutes to cook.) Turkeys over 18 pounds typically take 60 minutes.

Fry a single chicken for about 18 minutes. When using Bayou Classic detachable Skewer Set, fry up to 3 chickens in about 20 minutes. Cooking time begins when poultry is completely inserted into the pot.

Deep Frying your turkey with a Bayou Classic Turkey Fryer will awaken your senses

The conventional way to cook our whole turkey is to roast it. I consider myself to be the queen of roasted turkey. My parents recently went to dinner with a friend and my father told me that he had tasted the juiciest turkey ever. I thought mine was! So I decided to dazzle him and bought myself a Bayou Classic Turkey Fryer. The one I got was the 32-qt. stainless steel stockpot. It came complete with a vented lid, a perforated basket for steaming and boiling, a poultry rack and grab hook, a thermometer, a seasoning injector, an outdoor patio stove, a braided hose and an adjustable regulator.

It was complete success. Not only was it delicious, but using this cooking technique it cut down my cooking time in half! Of course I added my own touch to the traditional recipe for fried whole turkey, but I guarantee you that once you fry your turkey, it will be difficult to go back to just roasting it.

Easy Source Grills Recipe of the Day

Grilled Lobster with Champagne Sabayon

For the grilled lobster:

• 2 lobsters
• 2 1/4 oz of salted butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste

For the Champagne Sabayon :

• 3 1/2 oz melted butter
• 2 sprigs of tarragon
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 oz champagne brut
• 1 TBsp lime juice
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Preparation:

1. Bring salted water to boil
2. Place lobsters in boiling water for 3 minutes then remove.
3. Place them on a cutting board (bottom side down). Cut each lobter in half from head to tail.
4. Brush with melted butter and salt.
5. Place them on the grill for approximately 5 minutes until slightly golden. Be careful not to burn or overcook them.
6. Remove from the BBQ grill and wrap in aluminium foil to keep warm and prevent from drying.

For the Sabayon :

1. On the stove top, clarify the butter on low heat.
2. Wash the tarragon and remove the leaves for use.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the white
4. In a stainless steel bowl, using a whisk mix the yolks, champagne and lime juice.
5. Cook using the technique bain-marie, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and becomes a smooth sauce.
6. Remove from the fire and incorporate the clarified butter.
7. Add the tarragon leaves.
8. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

To serve:

Place a half of lobster on each plate and drizzle the sauce on top. Serve with the side dish of  your choice.

Sabayon sauce: (a cousin of the light, egg-based Italian dessert zabaglione). A sabayon is made by beating egg yolks with a liquid over simmering water until thickened and increased in volume. ( the liquid can be water, but champagne or wine is often used for a savory sabayon.) The sabayon must not get too hot during cooking or it will become grainy: if it begins to feel warmer than body temperature, remove the pan briefly from the heat, beating continuously, until the mixture cools. Then return the pan to the heat and continue cooking. Sabayon may be served warm or cold; a cold sabayon is beaten off the heat until cooled.

Sabayons may be sweet or savory. They may be served simply as a sauce, often flavored with an alcohol, or they may form the base of some mousse mixtures. Corn flour is sometimes added for stability.

Ceramic BBQ Grill

Bayou Classic is proud to introduce the Cypress Series Ceramic Grill.

While this 2,000 year old cooking method has always enjoyed a strong following, the tools remained unattainable for most people. Through innovation, Bayou Classic has made this specialty grill affordable without sacrificing the quality you’ve come to expect from the brand name.