Just pulled my turkey out of the bourbon maple brine. It's now resting comfortably in the refrigerator.

Bill

Bill, glad to see that you liked it enough to do it again!

quote:

Originally posted by LarryR:
Orange Homer's Bucket is Keri's Apple Brine. Happy Thanksgiving!

Is that an actual "Homer" bucket? I didn't think those were food safe?

Anyone think air drying in the fridge for 14 hours will be too long?

quote:

Is that an actual "Homer" bucket? I didn't think those were food safe?

LMAO!! Yep, it's a HD Homer Bucket. The kid at HD said it was fine Actually, I've been using it for years with no ill effects. However, come to think of it, my SO did eat a bird that was brined in it while pregnant and our son has 3 eyes . . . nah, just a coincidence.

I'd keep her in the brine longer a couple of extra hours vs. air drying and let her soak-up all the goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good to know Larry. I've got a few of those around.

I'd love to keep her in the brine a couple more hours, but am exhausted and am afraid I'd fall asleep here on the couch, waking up at 5am in a panic. Then again, that's when I had planned to take the breast out of the JD/Maple brine. If I did that, they'd have almost 7 hours to dry. I guess that'd be enough.

That would mean my full bird will have been in the apple brine for 29 hours. Is that too much?

heh, mine started out in a roasting bag in the homer bucket. i think one of the cloves cut the bag and brine started leaking out. since i had no more apple juice or brown sugar, i said to hell with it and cut the bag and took it out. at least it is a new bucket and i did clean it before using it.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony C.:
heh, mine started out in a roasting bag in the homer bucket. i think one of the cloves cut the bag and brine started leaking out. since i had no more apple juice or brown sugar, i said to hell with it and cut the bag and took it out. at least it is a new bucket and i did clean it before using it.

Ha! I had mine in a brining bag originally. Same problem, and I ended up just cleaning the heck out of a small cooler and putting it in there with a quarter bag of ice on top.

Jim, depending on the size of your bird I don't think a brine of 29 hours will be a problem. I have a 22 and 19 lb bird that will have brined for 36 hours when I pull them out tonight.

Thanks for all the help, Larry. My bird is 17.7 pounds, so I think it'll be OK. I'll pull them both out of the brine at 5am. That'll be about 29 hours for the full bird, and 11 hours for the breast in the JD/Maple. They'll have 5-7 hours to air dry.

Larry - I couldn't make up my mind between your Jack & Maple brined bird and my usual Maple-Smoked Turkey Breast from Steven Raichlen. So I combined the two.

I brined a 12 pound turkey using your recipe starting on Monday. Last night I removed it from the brine, dried it and patted Raichlen's rub both under and over the skin. I left the bird uncovered in my refrigerator overnight to dry out.

I'll smoke the turkey with apple wood today, and baste it with a modified basting sauce. I'm going to add whiskey to the maple and butter recipe for the breast.

I'll post my results later today.

DAMN!! Jeff that sounds great! I may have to pick-up a bird on sale after today and give it a shot myself, thanks for the link. Please let me know how it turns out and if you have any pictures . . .

Got to go start my coffee, mix-up some bloody marys and start my birds!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's the finished product. It was delicious and everyone loved it. Thanks for a wonderful recipe Larry!!

Larry - This may have been my best turkey ever. It was very moist and flavorful. I know your brine made a difference, because it was never this good before. Here are a few pictures of my progress.

This is the back, thighs and drumsticks from a 23 pound turkey that were left after my wife removed the breast to cook in the oven. I smoked those on my lower WSM rack. My wife salted her turkey breast this year instead of brining. It was really good, too.



I loaded the 12 pound bird that I brined and rubbed on the top rack of my WSM. I placed it breast side down, which is supposed to result in moister meat.



This is my turkey after I flipped it. The rack marks on the breast were not too bad.



Unfortunately, my flash misfired on the pictures of the finished bird, so the colors are off on this one.



Overall, my turkey was a huge success. I hadn't done a non-Minion start of my WSM in a long time. It came up to 300 degrees quickly, and stayed between 300 & 325 for over 4 hours.

The basting liquid I made was good enough to drink. I melted a half stick of butter with 2 TBSP maple syrup and 2 TBSP bourbon. It gave the turkey's skin a nice shine.

Jim

Larry:

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I nominate it for a "Best Of" award. I've done a few birds, but this is the best one yet.

Food grade container: free 5 gallon mayo bucket discarded by a local Italian restaurant.

Bourbon: Are you kidding? Jack Daniel's, of course!

REAL maple syrup from Trader Joe's.

I threw a pear into the brine, but next time, I'll squeeze an orange and toss in the rinds instead.

I buttered the bird and applied the creole turkey rub from Whole Turkey - Basic Brine.

Wood smoke: plum.

Placed the bird on an upright turkey stand and fired up. The smoke took about 3 hours. I removed the bird at 185 degrees, then let it rest uncovered for 30 minutes. Nice color and the skin was crunchy and savory. Tasty stuff! I sealed most of the turkey and froze it for later. Best of all, I've got the carcass for some spicy turkey soup!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: C. Howlett,

quote:

Originally posted by C. Howlett:
Bourbon: Jack Daniel's, what else?

REAL maple syrup from Trader Joe's.

I threw a pear into the brine, but next time, I'll squeeze an orange and toss in the rinds instead.
Wood smoke: plum.

Forgot to mention I quartered an orange and threw that in the brine. Used real maple syrup as well. Used two chunks of cherry and one apple.

I think Jack is the way to go for this brine, as opposedt to some other bourbons - it's on the sweet side, so it blends well.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JimK,

Larry - I didn't see your gravy recipe. Did I miss it? Here is a bourbon gravy recipe that may be worth trying next time - ingredients are listed, but not instructions.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to make my gravy yesterday. I dumped my drip pan on my deck when trying to open the back door.

Jim

WOW, so great looking birds! Glad you guys liked the recipe. Mine turned out great also. Cooked Keri's Apple Honey brined bird too, excellent!

As good as the birds were the hit of our party was the gravy. I was nominated as Gravy God, LOL! It was exceptional this year, don't know what I did different other than there seemed to be some extra "goodness" on the bottom of the pan.

I'm so hungover, this is a two day hangover for sure, bloody marys in the morning, Sam Adams all afternoon, great reds with dinner and Macallan Scotch and a big fat stogie after dinner. I'm getting too old for that kind of drinking . . . my SO ended-up putting my butt to bed at 10:30 p.m. and the party raged on without me. My job was done full bellies all around.

Didn't get to many pictures this year, a bit too much of the sauce and forgot to take them Here's what I have - PICTURES

quote:

Originally posted by LarryR:
LMAO!! Yep, it's a HD Homer Bucket. The kid at HD said it was fine Actually, I've been using it for years with no ill effects. However, come to think of it, my SO did eat a bird that was brined in it while pregnant and our son has 3 eyes . . . nah, just a coincidence.

I'd check the bottom of that bucket to see if it's food safe. If it is, it'll have a triangle of arrows with a 2 in the center.

I brine my turkey on our back porch. I use one of those drink dispenser/coolers just like Alton Brown recommends. It worked really well. I did a 22lb bird for about 40 hours and it came out great.

Bill

Great pics of the turkey Larry, looks fantastic. I want that Bloody Marry with the shrimp in it. Yum!

larry... Can you please clarify something for me?

As per your recipe:

Per a couple of requests here's the recipe:
Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Turkey
Container large enough to brine your turkey in (a 5 gallon food grade container works well for large birds)
2 cups maple syrup
1 cup bourbon
1 tablespoon pickling spice
Remainder of container filled with salt water mixture with ½ cup table salt per gallon of water (you can also add apples oranges etc.)


If i need 3 gallons of brine.. do i need to triple this recipe? or just use the ingredients and then add additional water/salt? Wont this dilute the brine?

Please advise.. thanks!