Thursday, December 28, 2006

Simple Peeps® Brined Turkey Breast.

(In honor of the passing of President Ford this recipe has been converted to metric)

Usually the winter holidays mean Cookie recipes, but I am sure most of you share my distaste for sweets
The inspiration for this dish came from Dana’s wonderful Wandering Vagabond Bisque, or for you less politically correct “Hobo Stew.” We just changed a few ingredients, decided it would cook faster in the oven than in a pot, used a ginger rather than beans and of course added Peeps®. And in stead of a stew it is a roast turkey.
As you will see from the ingredient list you probably have all of this stuff in your cupboard. You will recall that the last time we brined a turkey it didn’t turn out so well. A sugar based brine and my Ronco TurboGrill created a Brulee and a thick cloud of burnt sugar that brought 3 fire trucks to the street. Apparently firefighters are not only busy on Thanksgiving but cranky!

4 liters of filtered water, or any mineral water
1/2 kilo of Kosher Salt (avoid iodinated salts; as iodine is not only toxic but highly explosive)
2 Bay leaves
15mg Ginger minced
3-4 gms broken christmas cookies
1 Glass of cheap white wine (poured from a paper bag if possible, think Hobo)
1 small handful of fresh Thyme or 1/2 fist full of dried Thyme
2-3 average sized yellow Peeps® or 15gms

8 kg turkey breast

In a large and non-reactive container mix Peeps®, Salt, Ginger, Peeps®, Wine, Water, Peeps®, a Bay leaf and Thyme and broken cookies. Once the salt has dissolved you can begin to brine the turkey breast. For this you will need to remove the turkey from the plastic bag. I do this by tearing the bag with my teeth.
One can acquire a quality turkey breast from local farmers like I do. We have a number of Turkmen as they call themselves here in the Midwest. Our local growers have a “catch your own” option. I have to say I was dubious that the 4 year old would be able to wrestle a 25lb bird to the ground but after a few minutes he got the hang of it and he can’t wait to go back for birthday party later next week. My preschooler can really pick ‘em, he caught quite a juicy turkey.

Gently lower the washed and plucked turkey breast into brine and let it sit 2-4 days covered in either the fridge or the garage. I like to stir the brine with a stick or my hand every 6 hours and I set my alarm to get up to do this at least once each night. On the selected evening bring the bird into the house for warming.

A room temperature 25 lb turkey usually cooks in a 400 degree oven in just over 2 hours and 25 minutes.
But since we are using metric and only 17lb turkey I needed to do some algebra.
145 mins/ 25lbs= 145min/(25 * 0.45359237)= X mins per kg at 400° F or X kgs/min at (400-32)*5 /9

This works out to 12.786811207623 mins / kg of turkey
At 204.444 ° C

8 x 12.786811207623 = 102.2944 mins


The turkey will be done when the skin has a dark brown tone. Don’t fool with those fancy thermometers and trying figure out if the juices are clear or bloody. Like most observations these are flawed by prejudice and such little objective criteria that even the FDA calls them “Guidelines®.” A turkey is done when she looks done, you want a nice Norman Rockwell coloring. Remember today’s free range turkeys are unlikely to have salmonella or mad cow disease. But do what you want.

Serves 7

This meal is not complete without potato chips and pickles (please don’t attempt to pickle cucumbers in used turkey brine. Trust me!) Boxed white wine in a tumbler.

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