Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

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ArcherFish
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Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:15 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by ArcherFish »

As thanksgiving approaches here in Canada, I thought I would share my likker brined turkey recipe that I have been using since I started the wonderful hobby of homedistilling. It takes quite a lot of prep work, but it is really worth the work :thumbup: ! This recipe was originally found and then modified from Uncle Jack's Whiskey Brined Turkey. I don't have the link to the original anymore, but maybe google has it.

Ingredients:

7kg (15 lbs) Turkey (Any size will do, just scale up or down the recipe accordingly. I do fine that this size turkey cooks nicer.)

Brine

250mL - 750mL of your own oak aged likker ( I use about 500mL of my barrel aged rum, but how much you use really depends on how much flavour is in the spirit, and how drunk you really want to get that Turkey)
1 Tbsp Candied Ginger
1 Tbsp allspice
1 Tbsp crushed peppercorns
4 Bay leaves
2 Sticks of cinnamon
3 Sprigs of fresh rosemary
1/2 Tbsp dried thyme
~10 leaves of fresh sage Or 1tbsp dried sage (Fresh is better)
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Cup Molasses (leftover from your rum wash)
1 Cup of Fresh Rum Dunder (optional)
4L Chicken Stock
1/4 Cup Honey
1 1/4 Kosher Salt

Glaze
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Stick of unsalted butter
250mL homedistilled oaked likker


Roasting flavouring


1 Galla Apple
1 Red Onion
2 Sticks of Cinnamon
2 STEMS of sage
3 Sprigs rosemary
3 stalks of celery

Prep work

1. Making the brine, combine all ingredients except the liquor and half of the apple cider in a large stock pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and stir constantly until sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to completely cool to room temp.

2. Add liquor and remaining apple cider to sugar/salt mixture and stir.

3. Remove giblets from thawed turkey, and rinse well in the sink.

4. Place the turkey in a large bucket ( I use a stock pot) breast side down.

5. Pour sugar/salt/liquor mixture over the turkey. Top up with water until the turkey is 2/3 covered. Allow to brine in the fridge for 12 hours. If your fridge doesn't fit your turkey, you can use ice instead of water. Just make sure it is completely covered and new ice is regularly added.

6. After 12 hours has passed, flip the bird over and allow to brine for another 12 hours.

7. After brining, remove turkey from brine and place it into your sink. Make sure to to rinse it very well, making sure that all the peppercorns and allspice has been rinsed off.

8. Preheat your oven to the highest setting that it will go. (Mine goes to about 500F)

9. Place all flavouring ingredients into a microwaveable bowl with 1 cup of water, and nuke it in the microwave for 5 minutes.

10. Pat turkey completely dry with paper towel and then stuff the turkey with all of the microwaved turkey flavourings.

11. Place turkey in a large roasting pan and brush it with canola oil.

12. Place turkey into preheated oven for 30 minutes.

13. Take the turkey out of the oven, cover it with foil, place it back into the oven with a reduced oven temp of 350F and cook for 2 hours.

14. While the turkey is roasting, take 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 250mL of likker and place into a saucepan. Heat until the brown sugar and butter are melted.

15. In the last 30 minutes of roasting the turkey, brush glaze over the whole turkey.

16. Ensure turkey internal temp has reached 160F, after which remove the turkey from oven and let stand for 30 minutes before carving.

17. Stuff your face with turkey!

I have made this recipe 4 times, and it has turned out quite good. Sometimes I don't add the glaze, and it turns out just as good. Glazing is really up to you. If you make this recipe, let me know how it turned out! I'd love to see some thanksgiving turkey photos of this recipe :)

AF
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Fart Vader
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Location: Canada eh!

Re: Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by Fart Vader »

Sounds pretty tasty.
My smoked, brined chicken always turns out great.

I'll have to give this a try.
Thanks for posting.
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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ArcherFish
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Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:15 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by ArcherFish »

Fart Vader wrote: My smoked, brined chicken always turns out great.
I don't have a smoker, but if I had one, I would definitely smoke it using oak! I think that it would definitely add to the "Barrel Aged" characteristic. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
freefall
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Posts: 199
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 12:57 am

Re: Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by freefall »

ArcherFish wrote:As thanksgiving approaches here in Canada, I thought I would share my likker brined turkey recipe that I have been using since I started the wonderful hobby of homedistilling. It takes quite a lot of prep work, but it is really worth the work :thumbup: ! This recipe was originally found and then modified from Uncle Jack's Whiskey Brined Turkey. I don't have the link to the original anymore, but maybe google has it.

Ingredients:

7kg (15 lbs) Turkey (Any size will do, just scale up or down the recipe accordingly. I do fine that this size turkey cooks nicer.)

Brine

250mL - 750mL of your own oak aged likker ( I use about 500mL of my barrel aged rum, but how much you use really depends on how much flavour is in the spirit, and how drunk you really want to get that Turkey)
1 Tbsp Candied Ginger
1 Tbsp allspice
1 Tbsp crushed peppercorns
4 Bay leaves
2 Sticks of cinnamon
3 Sprigs of fresh rosemary
1/2 Tbsp dried thyme
~10 leaves of fresh sage Or 1tbsp dried sage (Fresh is better)
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Cup Molasses (leftover from your rum wash)
1 Cup of Fresh Rum Dunder (optional)
4L Chicken Stock
1/4 Cup Honey
1 1/4 Kosher Salt

Glaze
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Stick of unsalted butter
250mL homedistilled oaked likker


Roasting flavouring


1 Galla Apple
1 Red Onion
2 Sticks of Cinnamon
2 STEMS of sage
3 Sprigs rosemary
3 stalks of celery

Prep work

1. Making the brine, combine all ingredients except the liquor and half of the apple cider in a large stock pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and stir constantly until sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to completely cool to room temp.

2. Add liquor and remaining apple cider to sugar/salt mixture and stir.

3. Remove giblets from thawed turkey, and rinse well in the sink.

4. Place the turkey in a large bucket ( I use a stock pot) breast side down.

5. Pour sugar/salt/liquor mixture over the turkey. Top up with water until the turkey is 2/3 covered. Allow to brine in the fridge for 12 hours. If your fridge doesn't fit your turkey, you can use ice instead of water. Just make sure it is completely covered and new ice is regularly added.

6. After 12 hours has passed, flip the bird over and allow to brine for another 12 hours.

7. After brining, remove turkey from brine and place it into your sink. Make sure to to rinse it very well, making sure that all the peppercorns and allspice has been rinsed off.

8. Preheat your oven to the highest setting that it will go. (Mine goes to about 500F)

9. Place all flavouring ingredients into a microwaveable bowl with 1 cup of water, and nuke it in the microwave for 5 minutes.

10. Pat turkey completely dry with paper towel and then stuff the turkey with all of the microwaved turkey flavourings.

11. Place turkey in a large roasting pan and brush it with canola oil.

12. Place turkey into preheated oven for 30 minutes.

13. Take the turkey out of the oven, cover it with foil, place it back into the oven with a reduced oven temp of 350F and cook for 2 hours.

14. While the turkey is roasting, take 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 250mL of likker and place into a saucepan. Heat until the brown sugar and butter are melted.

15. In the last 30 minutes of roasting the turkey, brush glaze over the whole turkey.

16. Ensure turkey internal temp has reached 160F, after which remove the turkey from oven and let stand for 30 minutes before carving.

17. Stuff your face with turkey!

I have made this recipe 4 times, and it has turned out quite good. Sometimes I don't add the glaze, and it turns out just as good. Glazing is really up to you. If you make this recipe, let me know how it turned out! I'd love to see some thanksgiving turkey photos of this recipe :)

AF
This sounds great...Thank you I did a similar brine but no likker for my wild turkey last year. But used bacon instead of a glaze. I will experiment with this.
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Bushman
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Re: Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by Bushman »

This recipe does sound interesting, I think I would use either booze I made that didn't turn out top shelf or some someone left at my house. Hate to use good sippin booze on food! :D
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Oldvine Zin
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Re: Barrel Aged Turkey Recipe

Post by Oldvine Zin »

Bushman wrote:This recipe does sound interesting, I think I would use either booze I made that didn't turn out top shelf or some someone left at my house. Hate to use good sippin booze on food! :D
A question that I get all the time at the winery is "what should I do with bad wine, cook with it?" My usual reply is what makes you think that it will taste better in your food - garbage in garbage out! I always use good ingredients in my cooking

OVZ
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