It’s not for this weekend but I really want to brine and smoke a medium-sized turkey. If I can prove to my wife that I can do it successfully in a trial run then maybe I can do it this Christmas or next Thanksgiving. Any advice before I go searching for recipes and techniques?
Only completed it once so far but 100% sit down and plan it out on a piece of paper - working backwards from and hour or so before the expected dinner time (in case the smoking takes long for some reason).
It’s not for this weekend but I really want to brine and smoke a medium-sized turkey. If I can prove to my wife that I can do it successfully in a trial run then maybe I can do it this Christmas or next Thanksgiving. Any advice before I go searching for recipes and techniques?
Start with a turkey leg before graduating to a full turkey.
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I really wish we could get Virginia style hams up here. They seem to be non-existent in western Canada.
For the most part hams in Canada are atrocious.
Agreed. The best ham I've found is the spiral hams Wal-Mart brings in at Easter. I buy a few and use them over time. It sounds ridiculous (and that's the only meat product I buy at Wal-Mart) but I haven't found anything better.
I find these ham's at Costco are far better than the football shaped ones. It's not just pressed together ham pieces. For the price, and ease of cooking, they are great.
It’s not for this weekend but I really want to brine and smoke a medium-sized turkey. If I can prove to my wife that I can do it successfully in a trial run then maybe I can do it this Christmas or next Thanksgiving. Any advice before I go searching for recipes and techniques?
I have never brined a turkey but I did inject it this year. I used a bottle of cherry hefeweizen, some hot sauce, homemade poultry rub, garlic butter, and some Worcestershire.
I smoked at 275 for about 5 hours, internal temp of 140F. After that i kicked it up to 350F for an hour.
It was so tender throughout and the taste of injection sauce was amazing and present through the whole bird. Nice and crispy skin as well.
Alternatively, you can smoke at 350F until internal temp is 165F. Only takes 3-4 hours total. I have done both methods.
I find these ham's at Costco are far better than the football shaped ones. It's not just pressed together ham pieces. For the price, and ease of cooking, they are great.
Yeah, thats what I buy when it isn't Easter. For reasons that aren't clear to me we've had better luck with the smaller sizes.
I find these ham's at Costco are far better than the football shaped ones. It's not just pressed together ham pieces. For the price, and ease of cooking, they are great.
These are great, look for more fat/marbelling when you buy them. The smaller sizes are better for this. Then slice into strips and fry them over residual heat in a cast iron pan until the sugars start to char. It makes the best affordable bacon replacement for breakfast or adding into any dish.
These are great, look for more fat/marbelling when you buy them. The smaller sizes are better for this. Then slice into strips and fry them over residual heat in a cast iron pan until the sugars start to char. It makes the best affordable bacon replacement for breakfast or adding into any dish.
I like to toss one in a pan with apple cider, and wrap in foil. BBQ or oven for an hour or so, remove the ham, and simmer down the juices to pour over after slicing. Chop up all the leftovers and freeze the cubes for easy additions to omelets, fritatas, and ham alfredo pasta. Sometimes I keep some thin slices to add to egg breakfast sandwiches.
You know why people go on about the joys of putting bacon, cheese, lime, etc on Brussels sprouts? Because Brussels sprouts are ####ing disgusting, so they need to be slathered in stuff that actually tastes good in order to be edible.
100%. My whole wife and kids absolutely love them, I can't stand them. They are disgusting and nothing I have ever witnessed can change that, and I've tried them periodically in order to appease them. They just are plain awful regardless of how they are done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizaro86
Brussel sprouts have to be cooked at a super high temperature. They can be crunchy and delicious, but often are skunky and terrible when improperly prepared.
They can never be delicious, they are always terrible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I've always been told not to trust anyone who doesn't like brussels sprouts, because they have poor taste and their opinions are bound to be wrong.
100%. My whole wife and kids absolutely love them, I can't stand them. They are disgusting and nothing I have ever witnessed can change that, and I've tried them periodically in order to appease them. They just are plain awful regardless of how they are done.
They can never be delicious, they are always terrible.
Ha, I did laugh at this one.
I used to dislike brussels sprouts until I found a good recipe for them. But I grew up with, "Like it, eat more. Dislike it, must still eat, but OK to eat less." I will say that the amount of "foodies" I have met who love brussels sprouts no matter how badly they are prepared blow my mind.
I went to some restaurant once and split some "amazing roasted brussels sprouts" that someone (A self declared foodie) had had before. OK sure, I'll give them a try. They came out and the person gushed they were even better than they remember.... the problem was that they damn things were charred to nearly cinders, the ingredient mixing was so damn off you had ranges of flavourless ones, super sour ones and dry brined sprouts. It was absolutely horrific and disgusting. I'm a garbage can that consumes basically anything, but I had to say no to chowing down on that ####. I split the cost to be polite and foodie chowed down nearly the whole thing. It was at that point I believed I had met a foodie who basically had no taste buds.
I was going to try and deep fry a turkey this year but we ended up going with beautiful marbled rib eye steaks, so delicious and way better than turkey anyway.
If you cut back on red meat consumption it can become a real treat on special occasions like Thanksgiving.