Tag: ribs

How To Brine A Turkey

brine– brīn/noun 1. water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.  verb  2. soak in or saturate with salty water.

You can enhance a turkey’s flavor  with a salt and water brine…or you can knock your guests’ socks off with an amazing brine recipe and an understanding of the process. There is absolutely no reason to settle for anything less than the best turkey EVER. Let’s talk about why it is important to use a brine, a world class turkey brine recipe, and what kind of timeline you can expect when using a brine.
The most common complaint about turkey is that it is often served way too dry. Turkey is a very lean meat and will typically loose around 30% of its moisture during the cooking process. A well executed brine can cut that in half, rendering a much moister, juicier bird that will have the table choir singing. When a turkey is submerged in a brine, the water soaks into the turkey with the help of the salt, arming you with a more moist turkey to start with. You will still lose moisture when cooking but the end product is moistly memorable.
As previously mentioned, a basic brine is just salt and water. We don’t do basic, and you won’t either ever again once you taste the effect of the amazing brine we are about to make. A good rule of thumb for salt ratio is about 1 1/4 cup of sea salt per gallon of liquid (1 cup of iodized table salt).  Lets make our brine.
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 Terminally Grill© Best Damn Brine Recipe
1 gallon water
3 trays or equivalent of ice
1 64 oz  apple juice
2 cups sea salt (or 1 1/2 cups table salt)
1  32 oz container of low sodium vegetable broth
1  tbs ground cloves
1  tbs ground ginger
1  tbs onion powder
1 tbs allspice
2  cinnamon sticks
2 tbs ground red pepper (optional)
Add all ingredients except water to a large non- reactive stock pot  and bring to a boil, occasionally stirring. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat, add ice, and let stand for one hour, or until room temperature. After brine has cooled to room temperature, place turkey in the stock pot. Make sure that you have removed any bags or extra parts from turkey cavity as we want the brine solution to have as much contact with the bird as possible. In the sink, place bird in solution and be cautious of overflow depending on the size of your stock pot. If your stock pot isn’t big enough for the bird, a five gallon food grade bucket available at your local hardware store will also work. Once the turkey is in the solution, you want to make sure it is fully submerged in the solution. If you need more liquid, top off with water. I like to take a small mixing bowl, opening up and place it on top of the turkey and put the lid of the stock pot against the top of the bowl. To hold it in place I tie the stock pot lid to the stock pot using the handles. This keeps the bird submerged and the lid on. Place stock pot in refrigerator for at least 18 hours prior to cooking, preferably, but not more than 24 hours.
After the turkey has soaked in the brine, remove turkey from solution and wash thoroughly. Everything you need from the brine is inside the fibers of the meat and you want to remove excess solution from the skin of the turkey.Your turkey is now ready to be cooked. Keep in mind that a brined turkey will cook 20-35 minutes faster than usual. Use a meat thermometer to determine when turkey is fully cooked. Serve your bird and prepare yourself to be flooded with raving reviews!

Fuel Freak

Technology is a great thing. Medicine, computers, research and education have advanced in ways greatly beneficial to this great expanse. Technology, however, has not been so favorable to  the Grill. Electric, gas, and infrared abominations have found their way into the culinary culture with promises of quicker prep time, juicer results, unsurpassed flavor, and head turning looks. To this I say horse poop. Terminally Grill© operates under the LAW that grilling is done with charcoal or hardwood, anything else is just heating the food to an edible temperature.images (1)

I feel certain that in a blind taste test, charcoal or hardwood grilled or smoked food would smash all others. There is a depth of flavor, color, and texture that can only be obtained by grilling the RIGHT way, with charcoal or hardwood. All of the chains
advertise accordingly. You never see a commercial bragging about “Gas Roasted Ribs”, “Infrared Baked Steak”, or “Electric Smoked Chicken.” It is always “Wood Smoked” or “Charcoal Kissed.”

Now they say “I use gas so I can really control the temperature. Charcoal grills are so uncontrollable.” Bull butter! It is ok to say you haven’t learned to control the temperature or conduct the flame masterfully, but it is untrue to say it is uncontrollable. Controlling the temperature is as simple as controlling the airflow.

So to all you gas loving, convenience seeking, flavor lacking media believers , GET BACK TO THE BASICS! Pick up the technologically advanced charcoal chimney, some hardwood chunks or briquettes, and an unattached grill and give your food, family and taste buds something to remember.