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Turkey/Ham Tips and Tricks
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ceeeeg
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Nov 02, 2012 01:25PM
a place to detail your techniques
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For the past few years I always try to think of some new turkey recipe to make. It's just me and my husband and we don't need a whole turkey. I scour about the Internet for a new turkey breast recipe.
i will be adding several ideas here for you to check out...i like to try new techniques too...i also plan on other ham and turkey related info, like how to pick out the best for your needs, thawing, etc...i hope you'll add some of your past methods for us to see, jennbunny!
I just saw something on pinterest about a cranberry glazed crrock pot turkey breast. I thought that it looked really good. I will try to track it down.
yes, do, Pam!...get it in here...that sounds wonderful....i get to the point where i think i need to just do a turkey once a week in order to try it all out...
laughing...
if i do not manage anything else, i think i am going to get some tip stuff in here today in prep for Thanksgiving...
Here ya go, from pinterest:Turkey Breast Of Wonder (Crock Pot)
Time: 5 min. prep + 8-9 hours cooking
Yield: 12 servings
***NOTE: Make sure you buy a turkey breast small enough to fit in your crock pot.***
1 (5-6 pound) turkey breast
1/2 C orange juice
1 (14 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce
1 (1 ounce) package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
salt and pepper
1. Make sure your turkey is completely thawed. I let mine hang out in the fridge for a couple of days after I purchase it frozen. Set it on a pan, so you don't have juices running all over when you open up the bag. Cut a hole in the top of the bag and remove the packaging. Some turkey breasts come with a gravy pouch inside, be sure to remove it if yours happens to come with one.
2. Place the old bird in the crock pot.
3. Pour yourself 1/2 cup of orange juice. Add one can whole berry Cranberry sauce and one package Lipton Onion Soup mix.
4. Mix the ingredients together and pour them over the top of the bird.
5. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the top. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours,
or until a meat thermometer stuck into the center of the bird reads 180 degrees. Remove the turkey breast to a plate and cover it with tin foil. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then carve it (or shred it) up and enjoy.
My mouth is watering...this group is going to make me hungry!
That does sound good Pam but Tom would just turn up his nose. No imagination, no sense of the experimental and plain old-fashion taste buds.
I haven't tried it yet, however, I may do it with a whole chicken...
LOL SJ......when I get in the mood to cook, I experiment and my husband has to eat what I make.
i think i may try this out on a whole chicken too...i bet it would even be good on ham, actually and would probably do up really nicely in a roasting bag....thanks for finding it and posting it here, Pam....
here y'all go....an excellent! article on all things turkey prep...an invaluable and straightforward resource....http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/11/tu...
gonna have to go through and see what's new here...maybe there's a corresponding guide for ham...
and JB and SJ...chuckling.,..
my hubby is a straight up meat and potatoes, no frills keep it simple eater too, but like you, JB, if i decide on something different, you'll eat it or fend for yourself!
whether or not to brine is something of a Thanksgiving controversy, but personally, i really love the way this particular recipe adds to the overall brightness in flavor that i try to achieve by stuffing my turkey with citrus wedges and fresh herb bundles....Ingredients
*6 qts. water
*1/2 cup sugar
*1 cup kosher salt
*4 bay leaves
*2 lemons
*2 oranges
*1 cup celery
*1 med. onion
*1 cup carrots
*7 sage leaves
*4 sprigs rosemary
*4 sprigs thyme
*8 cups of ice
Directions
Place 3 qts of water in a large stockpot.
Zest the fruit rinds over water and then squeeze juice into the pot.
Rough cut all veggies, fruit and add them and the herbs/salt/sugar to the pot.
Bring to a boil, remove from heat.
Add 3 qts cold water and 8 cups of ice.
When brine is cold, submerge turkey into it and cover.
Refrigerate for 12-24 hrs, or one hour per pound.
Remove from brine and fully rinse, then prep to cook as desired.
TIP: i actually pour the cold brine into a turkey sized oven roasting bag, then drop the whole turkey into that, and zip tie it closed, removing as much air from the bag as i can so that only liquid and turkey remain. Then i place this bundle into my stockpot for a catch basin in case of disaster and chill it that way....
NOTE: This post, as many of mine will be, has been cut and pasted from another site where i did something similar to what i am doing here with this group, back a couple of years ago...in this case, i was asked a question and made a lengthy response that i think is worth tacking onto the end of this recipe...
Q: My daughter prepared turkey this way. She said it tasted like salt lick.
Any hints for a young cook?
A: i can only think it must have been about the ingredients used in her brine recipe...there is a goodly portion of salt in mine, yes, but the sugar and citrus work to offset that....
and for a young cook, semi inexperienced, i would probably counsel to keep it very simple...skip brining altogether and go classical...
poultry, whether large or small, is really very easy to do well, provided you follow a few simple guidelines to keep things from getting dried out...most of them you will find listed under the turkey tips page i linked on another thread....
butter or oil and then salt and pepper your bird, inside and out...give it a good rubbing, but careful not to tear the skin....
truss it!...an important step too often overlooked...a tight bird will usually result in a juicy bird....
use a roasting pan big enough to fully accommodate your bird, with room under the lid between it and the turkey itself to prevent overcooking at the breast...when the turkey is close to done, you can uncover to allow for browning.....
if you are making do with foil, tent it to allow for that bit of space and be sure to seam your foil sheets together tightly so no heat/air/moisture escapes...
try to keep the bird up off the bottom of your pan, on a rack, and add a lil water or broth in the bottom to help get those juices flowing....
try to keep from opening your oven door too often....however basting is also essential for a juicy, flavorful bird, so some opening is necessary in order to accomplish that (usually...i will be posting a method that will allow your turkey to self-baste once i am done on this thread, as well as a traditional basting liquid, should that be the preferred method)
also, another method i have tried on smaller birds and i have found works very very well, are the aforementioned oven roasting bags...almost impossible to dry a bird out using them and you can remove at the end to achieve any additional browning you might prefer...
and perhaps my most important tip!
do NOT pull that bird out of the oven and start hacking into it with a knife the moment the timer pops....let it rest!....the best turkey ever can be ruined in moments by not heeding this warning....let the internal juices cool down a bit before carving and they will seal into the meat, rather than running out into the pan...
i hope this helps!...
Here is Tricia Yearwood's No Baste No Worry Turkey recipie ... If we stay home next week this is what I'm doing ... Total Time:
7 hr 10 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
7 hr 0 min
Yield:
10 to 12 servings
Level:
Easy
Ingredients
1/2 stick salted butter, softened
One 12-pound turkey, completely thawed and all giblets removed
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 stalks celery, cut in lengths to fit turkey cavity
1 medium sweet onion, such as Vidalia, cut in half
1 large carrot, cut in lengths to fit the turkey cavity
2 cups boiling water
Directions
Adjust the oven racks so the covered roasting pan fit easily inside. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Rub the butter on the outside and in the cavity of the turkey. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on the inside and the outside of the turkey. Put the celery, onion and carrot in the cavity. Place the turkey, breast-side up, in a large roasting pan. Pour the boiling water into the pan. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and put the pan in the oven.
Start a timer when the oven temperature returns to 500 degrees F. Bake for exactly 1 hour and turn off the oven. Do not open the oven door! Leave the turkey in the oven until the oven completely cools; this may take 4 to 6 hours. Reserve the pan juices and refrigerate the turkey if it will not be served soon after roasting.
hmmmmmm....now that is a really interesting approach, Steph....kinda like my oven bag go, which i am seriously considering this year to keep down the dish scrubbing and keep it simple and no brainer...
Basting method #1-Traditional basting stock
this is a quick and easy....
Ingredients
*1/2 stick real butter
*4 bay leaves
*1 cup dry white wine
Directions
Melt the butter, add in the bay leaves and wine and heat slowly to just less than a boil.
Use to baste your bird approx. every 30 mins or so.
NOTE: i actually use this in conjunction with, rather than instead of, basting method #2 (next thread), but i limit the basting a bit, concentrating more on my last hour of roasting as i am checking more closely for the bird to be done, as a means of offsetting opening the oven door. Up to that point, i baste regularly in the first hour til the juices get rolling and then every 45 mins to an hour.
if not using basting method #2, follow this schedule for basting throughout your roasting process.
i discovered this lil trick a few years ago, and i will never do a turkey again without it....requires a lil ahead of time prep and some extra time spent on readying your bird for the oven, but well worth the effort! This will have Your turkey basting itself, requiring less manual basting during the roasting process, which cuts down on opening that oven door and fluctuating the temps (this temp fluctuation can wreak havoc on the juicy of your bird).Basting method #2-Herb Butter Log (self-basting method)
*2 sticks butter, softened
*3 slices bacon, fat reserved
*1 tsp. thyme
*2 tsp. kosher salt
*1 tsp. black pepper
*1-1/2 tsp. rosemary
*2 Tbsp. sage
*2 tsp. dried minced onion
Directions
In a ziploc baggie, combine all ingredients and knead well to mix.
Press butter mixture down into the end of the baggie, roll up and refrigerate until hardened.
Once hard, slice chips off one end of the log.
Very carefully use your fingertips to separate the skin over the breast of the bird from the breast meat itself, forming a pocket over the top and along the sides without tearing the skin itself.
Again carefully, using your fingertips, slide the butter chips into the pocket.
Use the reserved bacon fat to grease your bird gently, salt and pepper inside and out, stuff as desired and truss tightly.
Roast til done.
NOTE: see my note about manual basting and how i combine these methods, posted on the 'Basting method #1'
