On 15-Jan-2008, Tutall wrote:

X-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:22:05 EST (nwrddc01.gnilink.net)



On Jan 15, 7:10*am, "JohnO" wrote:
So, could you tell how to do it right.

Step #1, and the most important of all....do not buy a turkey that is
sold
in a solution of liquid and sodium and all the rest.

The rest is hard to do wrong.

-John O

Yep, brining a brined Turkey is for the birds.

Bob, try brining a couple of chix, they are never pre-brined. Not that
I've ever seen anyway, but I don't shop at Sam's Club either, who
seems to be a prime culprit at selling water weight at meat prices.

Worst experience I've had is mushy meat from too much citrus + time.

What Tutal said. Hound's brine is the bomb, but it leans heavy on the fresh
citrus. Twenty-four hours in Hounds brine is good, but 48 is a bit of an
over-
kill. TFM's brine isn't quite as volatile and 48 hours makes a pretty good
chicken. In any case, thorough rinsing before cooking is a good idea. I
can't say as I've ever had a salty chicken. I've never brined turkey. I
don't
even like turkey.
--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

"Brick" wrote in message
news:Ltajj.32661$Zo3.18624@trnddc02...

On 15-Jan-2008, Sqwertz wrote:

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:58:11 -0800 (PST), Tutall wrote:

On Jan 14, 7:28 pm, "No Spam Please" wrote:
Amen. All brining does, IMHO, is give you salty meat.

Then you're doing it wrong.

I'll second that.

-sw

Anybody need a third? I'm in.


when I remember chciken and pork chops will get brined--shrimp too darn near
makes them taste like they just got off the boat!

buzz


--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

"Tutall" wrote in message
...

, try brining a couple of chix, they are never pre-brined. Not that
I've ever seen anyway, but I don't shop at Sam's Club either, who
seems to be a prime culprit at selling water weight at meat prices.



shopping at maybe 5 markets in the middle of Wis can never find unenhanced
chicken other than the occasional'smart' chicken which are darn nice---fwiw
Sam's is the same--supposedly antibiotic free also. At least the beef and
pork are better than the other stores in our area
ymmv

Buzz

Once again, thanks to the group.

I did rinse "well", maybe not well enough. I'll try soaking in fresh
water as suggested. The texture and moistness were perfect, it was
just too salty. I may cut back on the salt. Probably, I'll skip the
brining next time just to get a comparison.

Again, thanks a heap,

-Zz

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:49:12 -0800, Zz Yzx
wrote:

OK, so I read this group religiously, I've followed the recipes, and
I'm having bummers.

I've been buying cheap, small (~10-12 lb) turkeys from the local
Safeway, spatchcocking/splitting them, and slow-cooking them a half at
a time on my WSM. I've perfected the cooking process.

BUT, the turkey comes out ..... SALTY... TOO salty. I'm using 1/2
gallon water, 1/2 cup salt, lemon juice, pepper, garlic, other spices,
as the brine. It's just WAY too salty.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks a heap,

-Zz

"Sqwertz" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:11:05 -0500, Big Jim wrote:

Quit wasteing your time. Skip the brine. Rub it and cook it.

I'll stick with brining, especially when I'm smoking a turkey.

-sw

Me too, Sqwertz. I just finished a 25lbs bird for Christmas on the K. 12
people sat down and inhaled it.

Harry

On Jan 15, 4:26*pm, "2fatbbq" wrote:
"Tutall" wrote in message

...

, try brining a couple of chix, they are never pre-brined. Not that
I've ever seen anyway, but I don't shop at Sam's Club either, who
seems to be a prime culprit at selling water weight at meat prices.

shopping at maybe 5 markets in the middle of Wis *can never find unenhanced
chicken other than the occasional'smart' chicken which are darn nice---fwiw

That sucks. I guess we're lucky here in Cali that the primary Chicken
processor is Foster Farms and not whoever that humungous one is in
Arkansas.
http://www.fosterfarms.com/products/chicken/chicken.asp

"Brick" wrote
%
In any case, thorough rinsing before cooking is a good idea.

Good point, and you beat me to it. I kept wondering as I read this thread
whether that was the problem, not giving the bird a good rinse after it
comes out of the brine. The way I learned it, its a necessary part of the
technique.

MartyB in KC

"Nunya Bidnits" (me) wrote

Good point, and you beat me to it. I kept wondering as I read this thread
whether that was the problem, not giving the bird a good rinse after it
comes out of the brine. The way I learned it, its a necessary part of the
technique.

Guess I should have read the last few posts of the thread too before
replying, since it looks like *everybody* beat me to it.

Oh well...

MartyB in KC

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:58:26 GMT, "Brick"
wrote:

Hound's brine is the bomb, but it leans heavy on the fresh
citrus. Twenty-four hours in Hounds brine is good, but 48 is a bit of an
over-kill. TFM's brine isn't quite as volatile and 48 hours makes a pretty good
chicken.

I've seen the recipe for Hound's brine several times, and I know I
could find it again; don't recall ever seeing the same for TFM's.

Anyone feel like posting it?

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-
(not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:05:11 -0800 (PST), Tutall
wrote:


That sucks. I guess we're lucky here in Cali that the primary Chicken
processor is Foster Farms and not whoever that humungous one is in
Arkansas.
http://www.fosterfarms.com/products/chicken/chicken.asp

Yeah, Foster's not bad at all. I'll buy their chicken, else I look
for the 'Grown in Washington' label.
(that humongous one you mean is --ick--Tyson)

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-
(not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)

On 17-Jan-2008, Denny Wheeler wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:58:26 GMT, "Brick"
wrote:

Hound's brine is the bomb, but it leans heavy on the fresh
citrus. Twenty-four hours in Hounds brine is good, but 48 is a bit of an
over-kill. TFM's brine isn't quite as volatile and 48 hours makes a
pretty good
chicken.

I've seen the recipe for Hound's brine several times, and I know I
could find it again; don't recall ever seeing the same for TFM's.

Anyone feel like posting it?

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-

I found these in my archive. Don't know who posted them. I seem
to have omitted such notes. I've used both brines and give both
high points. I prefer Hound's brine in a reduced citrus form.
The one time I followed his recipe to the letter, it produced a
bird that tasted more like the citrus then anything else. Building
the recipe from bottled juices resulted in a bird more to my liking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Many of us have heard of TFM's brine. This is hounds brine.
Enjoy!!!!!!

Happy Q'en,
BBQ

Hound's Citrus Brined Chicken

Prepare the brine:
1 gallon water
1 cup Kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt
juice of 3 oranges
juice of three limes
juice of three lemons
rinds from same
1 sliced white onion
1 head of garlic, crushed
stems from a bunch of cilantro, chopped
serranos to taste, minimum of 4
rough ground cumin and coriander 2 Tbsp each
1/4 cup chili powder or any ground chile you prefer
(1/4 cup onion powder is optional)
(1/4cup garlic powder is optional)

Place the bird(s) and plenty of brine solution in a ziploc bag(s) and
leave refrigerated overnight prior to cooking. A cooler works fine also.
I use a 5 gal beverage cooler for all but the biggest turkeys. Frozen
soda bottles, or ice can be used to keep the cold. {8 lbs of ice= 1
gallon of water} An hour before cooking take the bird out and
thoroughly wash it down with cold water for at least 30 seconds. You
can place aromatics like garlic heads, apples, citrus in the cavity of
the bird for the cooking. I like also to place orange slices between
skin and meat. Smoke rear end of chicken toward the fire for 45
minutes/lb @ 225°F until the thigh is about 170°F. You can rotate as
necessary to avoid charring. Cooking this way will result in inedible
skin, but juicy chicken. If you like the crispy skin then place the
chicken near the firebox. This works for either chickens or turkeys.
If you eliminate the brine (salt and water) the rest of the recipe makes
an excellent marinade for grilled chicken.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TFM's Brine

Ingredients:
1 gal water
5/8 cups pickling salt.
1 1/2 tbs light brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tbs chili powder
1/2 tbs ground sage
1 tbs crushed red pepper
1/2 tbs fresh black pepper
2 whole bay leaves
1/2 tbs old bay seasoning
1 tbs italian seasoning

Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients in a stock pot. Bring to a
boil, turn heat down to a simmer. Simmer and stir
frequently until all the ingredients are dissolved.
Allow to cool to room temperature before immersing the
meat. Use for 2 chickens

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

"Denny Wheeler" wrote
On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:05:11 -0800 (PST), Tutall
wrote:

That sucks. I guess we're lucky here in Cali that the primary Chicken
processor is Foster Farms and not whoever that humungous one is in
Arkansas.
http://www.fosterfarms.com/products/chicken/chicken.asp

Yeah, Foster's not bad at all. I'll buy their chicken, else I look
for the 'Grown in Washington' label.
(that humongous one you mean is --ick--Tyson)

Ick... Tyson....so true. You won't know ick till you drive through Arkansas
and get within, say, ten miles of one of their gigantic chicken farms. The
smell will peel the paint right off your car.

For some reason my grocer isn't carrying any Tyson chicken any more... oh
happy day. On the other hand I wish they could get over pricing chicken
wings in the same range as breasts. Last week they had Smart brand chicken
wings at $2.75 a pound! I love me some traditional style buffalo wings,
(will share my blue cheese dressing recipe if anyone wants it) but not at
that price for chicken pieces that are mostly bone and gristle. They are
also carrying the Foster Farms brand as their standard line..... much
better. All this talk of chicken.... now I'm hungry for wings. Guess I will
head for Sam's for the 10 pound 15 dollar frozen wings.

Barbecue content: The KCBS Kansas Speedway/Oklahoma Joe's BBQ Contest
features a people's choice (judging) wings contest. If you enter, they
provide the wings. Trouble is, they hand out wings about 4 hours before turn
in, and they are still pretty much frozen. Its fun just getting them thawed,
much less warmed up enough to get much flavor from a marinade, and still get
them cooked through. In typical inbred fashion, this open unsanctioned side
contest must still use KCBS turn in rules, therefore, no side sauces or
dips. Anything that even pools under the meat will DQ the entry. At
competition we cook on a Cookshack FE100 and Weber charcoal grills. (And a h
omemade WSM knock-off). So far our wings entries have sucked. Last year the
Cookshack decided to go tits up 40 minutes before turn in because it got too
hot, even though theoretically its supposed to be able to handle 375-400
degrees. (It won't. Above about 340, it shuts down. "Safety" switch. That's
on the newer improved version they replaced the first one with.) We had a
little table top grill started for finishing and had to suddenly dump it
into a Weber and add fuel, which of course was too hot, and needless to say
the result wasn't too hot. The year before that, we cooked them at a little
lower temp, but they never crisped up very well, even though they were
cooked through. Now we've got more theories than wings floating around the
team, and I would like to hear from completely outside sources. There are
time when democracy is not the best policy. Any ideas? (We cant use electric
cookers, except for temp control, and fuel feed, but no electric or
wood/electric heat sources.)

MartyB in KC

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:43:11 GMT, "Brick"
wrote:

I've seen the recipe for Hound's brine several times, and I know I
could find it again; don't recall ever seeing the same for TFM's.

Anyone feel like posting it?

I found these in my archive. Don't know who posted them. I seem
to have omitted such notes. I've used both brines and give both
high points. I prefer Hound's brine in a reduced citrus form.
The one time I followed his recipe to the letter, it produced a
bird that tasted more like the citrus then anything else. Building
the recipe from bottled juices resulted in a bird more to my liking.

recipes snipped

Thanks, Brick!!! You're a good guy, and I don't care what they say
aboutcha. g

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-
(not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)

On 18-Jan-2008, Denny Wheeler wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:43:11 GMT, "Brick"
wrote:

I've seen the recipe for Hound's brine several times, and I know I
could find it again; don't recall ever seeing the same for TFM's.

Anyone feel like posting it?

I found these in my archive. Don't know who posted them. I seem
to have omitted such notes. I've used both brines and give both
high points. I prefer Hound's brine in a reduced citrus form.
The one time I followed his recipe to the letter, it produced a
bird that tasted more like the citrus then anything else. Building
the recipe from bottled juices resulted in a bird more to my liking.

recipes snipped

Thanks, Brick!!! You're a good guy, and I don't care what they say
aboutcha. g

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-

Glad you feel that way denny because I don't much give a damn either.
I lurked and learned from the group for a number of years before I was
able to give even a little bit back. I still don't know much, but I do know
a few things that work for me. Those brines are a good example. I don't
know from turkeys, but I never got a salty chicken from either of those
brines. I don't brine all the time, because it's more work, but I don't
knock it either because it's damn good.
--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)