Could you please give me instructions on how to brine a turkey?

leeslady1:

Could you please give me instructions on how to brine a turkey?

1 gallon of water

2 cups  apple cider                                                               2 cups Kosher Salt                                                                 

 2 Cups Sugar  white or  Brown  to taste

1 15 Lb  Turkey

This is the Brine

Pour  Brine in to a  Turkey Bag With  Turkey and Put in Fridgeator

when sealing the bag make sure ya get  all the air out as Possible  and brine for 24  hours

Dump out the brine   and  coat   the turkey with  your  Favorite   Rub

Cook as normal

I'm looking for a turkey recipe that uses a turkey bag and cooked slowly in the oven.  It takes about 6 hours and I don't know the tempature.  The turkey literally falls off the bone and can't even be sliced.  My son has taken over the turkey cooking for about 7 years now.  I want to do it the way my family has use to have it, but he has lost the recipes.  Please help!!!  I don't know how to do this blog stuff yet.  So if I'm not doing this right, please forgive me.

leeslady1:

Could you please give me instructions on how to brine a turkey?

Hi Leeslady!

We have a great recipe for brined turkey here. The sugar in this recipe will make it just a bit sweeter too if you prefer that.

You can also add more flavor if you replace half of the water with apple juice or apple cider.

Brining is my favorite way to prepare turkey! It's actually very easy but I was really intimidated when I first tried it too.

I think the biggest challenge with brining is that the turkey needs to be refrigerated in the brine for 12 to 24 hours. But, if you think ahead you can scoot things around in your fridge to make it fit. It is so worth it!

Good luck!

Sharles:

I'm looking for a turkey recipe that uses a turkey bag and cooked slowly in the oven.  It takes about 6 hours and I don't know the tempature.  The turkey literally falls off the bone and can't even be sliced.  My son has taken over the turkey cooking for about 7 years now.  I want to do it the way my family has use to have it, but he has lost the recipes.  Please help!!!  I don't know how to do this blog stuff yet.  So if I'm not doing this right, please forgive me.

Hi Sharles,

My family also has several of those traditional recipes that we enjoy year after year!

There are a few recipes for turkey that is roasted in an oven bag. The basic recipe can be found at...

http://www.reynoldsovenbags.com/RDetails.aspx?id=689&cat=4

Hope that helps

I need a good recipe for baked mac-n-cheese. Please help

trojanmomof2:

I need a good recipe for baked mac-n-cheese. Please help

We have a few great ones:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/family-favorite-macaroni-and-cheese/4533ea52-0194-4fce-b30f-9516a74c0628

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/1/

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/homemade-baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/1/

Also, I just found this post the other day!

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2009/07/everyday-macaroni-and-cheese.html

Hope this helps and inspires!

Sincerely, Cate

Would I need two boxes of Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix to make the Praline Pumpkin dessert? It seems to me that 1 box of the gluten free mix makes an 8/8 pan. Is that correct?

linwik:

Would I need two boxes of Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix to make the Praline Pumpkin dessert? It seems to me that 1 box of the gluten free mix makes an 8/8 pan. Is that correct?

You're right on target knowing you'll need two gluten free mixes if you're comparing with using a regular cake mix. Let us know what you think.

Several Questions:

1.) How do I go about cooking a 29lbs Turkey? Yes that's right I said a 29 lbs turkey. Long story short my spouse's company gives them out and I am going to attempt to cook it. YIKES!!  It's is in the process of thawing.

2.)How do I keep from drying out the breasts? Do I need to flip this monster turkey?

2.) Can or should I stuff the turkey? I love cornbread stuffing, but I'm afraid it won't be cooked all the way if I stuff it inside the Turkey.

First off it's the first time I've cooked a Thanksgiving meal for my spouse and our friends. I have never cooked more that a small 8 lbs turkey before. I am at a loss with this monster. I have a roasting rack that is big enough to hold it surprisingly. Any tips or suggestions would be most appreciated.

I brine my turkey every year. One more tip, rinse the turkey off so it won't be too salty before you coat with butter or a rub.

Also, pan drippings from the brined turkey are too salty to make gravy. I've tried. So you will have to either make gravy from the unbrined giblets or buy canned gravy or a dry gravy mix. 

Can I roast a Turkey that's been brined , in a Turky bag ?

PattiPost:

Can I roast a Turkey that's been brined , in a Turky bag ?

The easy answer to your question is that is OK to  roast a brined turkey in a roasting bag.

Brining a turkey will result in a slightly more moist turkey after baking. And so does cooking a turkey in a bag. Usually after brining, you should rise off the salt and wipe the surface dry. I've even seen recipes where you let the bird sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two to make the sure the skin is really dry so that you will get better browning. If you roast a brined turkey in a bag it may not brown very readily but it will definitely be moist.

Andi

linwik:

Would I need two boxes of Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix to make the Praline Pumpkin dessert? It seems to me that 1 box of the gluten free mix makes an 8/8 pan. Is that correct?

I just got on this blog as i was going to try the Praline Pumkin Dessert with the gluten free yellow cake mix and needed to know if i had to adapt anything from the regular cake mis.  I'm glad i read your question, now i know to buy two boxes.  If you make this prior to Thanksgiving, let me know how it turns out - i love pumpkin and wanted to make something that i hoped everyone would like, also.

Lmccaul1:

Several Questions:

1.) How do I go about cooking a 29lbs Turkey? Yes that's right I said a 29 lbs turkey. Long story short my spouse's company gives them out and I am going to attempt to cook it. YIKES!!  It's is in the process of thawing.

2.)How do I keep from drying out the breasts? Do I need to flip this monster turkey?

2.) Can or should I stuff the turkey? I love cornbread stuffing, but I'm afraid it won't be cooked all the way if I stuff it inside the Turkey.

First off it's the first time I've cooked a Thanksgiving meal for my spouse and our friends. I have never cooked more that a small 8 lbs turkey before. I am at a loss with this monster. I have a roasting rack that is big enough to hold it surprisingly. Any tips or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Hi Lmccaul1,

Let me start by saying... WOW. That is an enormous turkey and a very brave undertaking for your first Thanksgiving. I would do a few things...

Because your turkey is enormous it will take about 5 1/2 to 6 hours to cook. Baking that long it has a pretty high risk of drying out and not being a very tasty turkey but there are a few things you can do to prevent that. I would start by brining it. You can put it in a garbage bag (clean of course) in a large pot or bucket then pour the brine over it until you have it fully covered. You may need to double or even triple the brine recipe. (Remember you can add all sorts of things to your brine to add flavor. Whole black pepper, and sprigs of herbs are always fun. You can also replace half the water with apple cider, and use brown sugar instead of white.)

Normally I would suggest you start with the turkey breast down so that the juices end up in the white meat but i think you would have an extremely difficult time turning that beast. So, I would bake it breast up for about 3 hours at 325F then loosely cover it with foil for the remaining bake time. You can use this recipe as a guide but change the bake time to fit your big bird.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/brined-whole-turkey/db56ea6f-f484-439c-9e6d-90bd11d30042

Because the turkey is so big and will have to bake for such a long time, it would be a little risky to stuff the turkey. The internal temperature would take so long to get to a safe level that you would be at a food safety risk. Here is a great cornbread stuffing recipe that you could try...

http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=45886

Hope that helps! I'd love to see a photo of your larger than life turkey!

Kristen

mstoiber:

linwik:

Would I need two boxes of Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix to make the Praline Pumpkin dessert? It seems to me that 1 box of the gluten free mix makes an 8/8 pan. Is that correct?

Hi Linwik,

I just got on this blog as i was going to try the Praline Pumkin Dessert with the gluten free yellow cake mix and needed to know if i had to adapt anything from the regular cake mis.  I'm glad i read your question, now i know to buy two boxes.  If you make this prior to Thanksgiving, let me know how it turns out - i love pumpkin and wanted to make something that i hoped everyone would like, also.

Hi Mstoiber,

We haven't tested the Praline Pumpkin Dessert with gluten free cake mix in the kitchens. But, we are very interested in how it works out for you. Be sure to let us know if you give it a try!

-Kristen  

If a recipe calls for whipping cream, can you use whipped topping instead? It seems like it would be so much easier. What would be the difference in the two?

Thanks,

Joni Rondeau

My grandmther made a sweet potato pie that was the best.  I have the recipe in my head only because she never wrte it down.  My only question is should I use allspice or cinnamon in the pie?  None of us remember what spice she put in it.

Joni1Rondeau:

If a recipe calls for whipping cream, can you use whipped topping instead? It seems like it would be so much easier. What would be the difference in the two?

Thanks,

Joni Rondeau

If the recipe calls for whipped cream, then whipped topping will work in most cases. Sometimes when you fold ingredients like melted chocolate into whipped topping, it will develop a curdled apperance.