Food and Beer (Holiday Version)

[Okie Boarder]

Brining practice run today...

Thick cut pork chops soaked in an apple cider and brown sugar brine. I put a brown sugar and savory spices rub on them and we're grilling them at a friend's house. I'll try to get some pictures. The brine smelled soooooo good!

[Ed G]

When you smoke a turkey, which end do you put your lips on?

Deep frying an 18 lb bird here...right after the traditional thanksgiving wakesurfing

Brrrrr, it might go down to 73 degrees

[rludtke]

When you smoke a turkey, which end do you put your lips on?

And how do you keep it lit?

[Okie Boarder]

Either end works find, but it is tough keeping it lit. Also, it's hard to find papers large enough to roll it in. But, solving the challenges is well worth it.

[sybrmike]

Here's 3/4 of the Thanksgiving meat ready for the smoker - two wild hog hams and 1 of the two birds (the other was traditional oven roast). The "after" pics are on another camera.

The hams were treated to a wild game brine, dry rubbed, seared, then smoked for 8 hours. Musta been good, cause only enough leftovers for 5 chopped bbq sandwiches tonight.

This bird was brined with Cranberry/Pomigranite juice (thanks for the link tg). Yes, the skin was a scary pink, but smoked up just fine (no papers - just a good ole Brinkman water pipe) & looked "normal" when done. No, the meat wasn't pink - just real tasty.

[Okie Boarder]

I've been slacking on posting my pictures and write up. I promise they're coming. How bad is it that I start thew thread and haven't contributed...LOL!

[tg0824SSVGG]

Wow - that cranberry brine really did turn that bird pink. Glad it worked out, you say it tasted great?

[sybrmike]

Yup, the cranberry bird was the favorite. Here's the "after" pics of the meat: roasted turkey (note the parsley, garlic, etc under the skin), smoked wild hog hams, and smoked cranberry bird.

[sybrmike]

One more of the serving table (see, the cranbery bird meat wasn't pink afterall). Plenty for 16 family members from 3 yr old neice to 96 year old great aunt.

[Okie Boarder]

OK, here's my pictures and the scoop on the set up. I brined with the same brine as last year. The bird was then filled (not stuffed) with some apple, celery, carrot and onion all coated with olive oil and savory herbs. The drip pan is set up with similar items plus some chicken stock and white wine. The dripping are used for gravy after cooking and can be done as an aus jus style or thick gravy style. The bird was brined for about 14-16 hours, then cooked on the smoker. It turned out very good. Of course, no meal would be complete without some good beer and wine.