Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well, even though it's Thanksgiving night and most are done with the festivities, my girlfriends' parents are doing their deal on Saturday so I am smoking a 19.5 pound turkey for the dinner. Here is my take on a recipe I found on the Web:

DRY INGREDIENTS:
25 bay leaves
3 TBSP Zatarain's Blackened Seasoning
3 TSP thyme
3 TSP oregano
2 TSP garlic powder
1 1/2 TSP black pepper

1 can (16 oz.) of cranberry sauce


Grind all of the DRY INGREDIENTS, in a small blender or Cuisinart mini-processor, into a powder.

Pour cranberry sauce into a bowl, add dry rub and use an electric mixer to combining the two together, making a jelly-like mixture.

Place the suace in the fridge for about 10 minutes to let the spices and cranberry splendificate..........

Now................ what I did with the turkey is I washed it really good, inside and out. Then I took my hands and stuck them between the skin and the breast, separating the two. Kind of like reaching under the carpet............

I didn't remove the skin at all but just made it a blanket so the meat will stay tender and use it to keep the rub close to the meat. It's in the fridge now and will be put on my smoker tomorrow around Noon.
I'll post pics before and after.................

Jeff

DAYUMMMMMMMMMMMM, Jeff, that sounds good enough to get arrested for ....................

that really does sound good. let us know how it turns out. Have you used this recipe before?

keneunice wrote:that really does sound good. let us know how it turns out. Have you used this recipe before?

No, I haven't. I used a similar recipe where I mixed some spices in the cranberry sauce and added some butter with it. It was really good!!! I think this will turn out good, too. I'll add some pictures later this afternoon.

Jeff

Jeff:

I like your innovation:

I wouldn't have thought the Cajun and Cranberry would go together but
liking both .... am very curious and may have to try this on a chicken first
and then see how it goes.

I smoked a turkey yesterday.

The way you are doing the rub will be good.

Next time you may want to try brining it.

Check out the recipe here.

http://virtualweberbullet.com/turkey3.html

We smoked 3 turkeys on Thanksgiving. I brined them for 24 hours using Alton Brown's method. They were soooooooooo good.

Barbara

I brine and smoke mine every year, and my brine is real heavy on the maple syrup and honey. I don't use a rub though.

However, this year I tried something new--letting a stick of butter get to room temperature and making a mush of that with chopped garlic (the jarred stuff), rosemary and sage. There's a French word for this "thing," but dang if I can remember it. (Breu Marie?)

It's a standard technique that I thought never made a difference--getting your whole hand under the breast skin and getting it all in there--but it really added nice extra flavors.

All this talk about turkey makes me want to get start cooking another one! There are lots of recipes that call for adding flavoring between the skin and the breast. When I smoke a turkey I always lift the skin and put the dry rub directly on the breast meat. Another I'd like to try is to put thinly sliced orange, lemon and lime in between.

I have even heard of once recipe that calls for putting a layer of dressing between the skin and meat. The goal here is to slow the cooking of the white meat so it will be done at the same time as the dark meat, therefore not drying out.

Joanne

Joanne,
I stole, from Emeril back in '96 or '97 (and wtf is foodtv thinking, eighty-sixing Emeril Live?) a technique for cooking turkey that is little short of paradisaical.

Get turkey pan-ready then quarter a couple big sweet onions, a couple of lemons and a couple of oranges (don't peel the citrus fruit). Stuff the quartered onions and fruit into the cavity of the bird. Under the skin of the breast and thighs apply a mix of butter, with sage leaves, thyme leaves, fresh rosemary and a little minced roast garlic. Lay three or four strips of bacon over the turkey breast and roast. Remove bacon about 45 minutes before roasting is complete to facilitate browning.

Self-basting. Yummy. Golden. The herbs under the skin make a really beautiful visual addition. The onion/citrus in the cavity flavors and moistens (as does the bacon!).

That does sound really good!

I had not heard that they were going to dump Emeril Live. They already dumped Mario Batali. It will be interesting to see how their changes play out.

Joanne

Laredo wrote:Joanne,
I stole, from Emeril back in '96 or '97 (and wtf is foodtv thinking, eighty-sixing Emeril Live?) a technique for cooking turkey that is little short of paradisaical.

Get turkey pan-ready then quarter a couple big sweet onions, a couple of lemons and a couple of oranges (don't peel the citrus fruit). Stuff the quartered onions and fruit into the cavity of the bird. Under the skin of the breast and thighs apply a mix of butter, with sage leaves, thyme leaves, fresh rosemary and a little minced roast garlic. Lay three or four strips of bacon over the turkey breast and roast. Remove bacon about 45 minutes before roasting is complete to facilitate browning.

Self-basting. Yummy. Golden. The herbs under the skin make a really beautiful visual addition. The onion/citrus in the cavity flavors and moistens (as does the bacon!).

Personally, I don't like anybody they've added since Paula Deen.
Rachel Ray is overhyped.
Sandra whatever her name is ... yuk.

I love me some Alton Brown, Emeril Lagasse, Tyler Florence, and the Barefoot Contessa. Paula Deen is OK. The rest of it? Eh. I predict they'll "Iron Chef" themselves out of existence in another season or two; people are sick of that shtick already, and the lack of good basic info in the "new" shoes -- challenges about decorating with edible ornaments? Come on, is this FoodTV or DIY?

well I am still looking for pictures of the bird.

You girls are right. Imagine getting rid of Emeril and adding some of the flakes they got. They need to stick to basics and what real people like to eat.

Miriam C. wrote::lol: well I am still looking for pictures of the bird.

Jeff

Miriam said thanks for the pic's.


And from me, THANKS ALOT, now I'm hungry.


Did it taste as good as it looks ?