Brine with neck still inside?

NO!...I've not had good results doing this.

Quick thaw in cold water before starting the brining. Make sure you change the water every 20-30 minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
NO!...I've not had good results doing this.

Quick thaw in cold water before starting the brining. Make sure you change the water every 20-30 minutes.

What do you mean, not had good results. What happened?

It just doesn't work(osmosis) and it takes much longer to thaw. I'm not a chemist and never took it in school, but ice and salt seems to make it a lot colder, maybe that has something to do with it?

The time I tried it, it never brined.

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
It just doesn't work(osmosis) and it takes much longer to thaw. I'm not a chemist and never took it in school, but ice and salt seems to make it a lot colder, maybe that has something to do with it?

The time I tried it, it never brined.

Interesting. Well, I'm kinda stuck then as I'm out of time and it's probably 95% thawed so it's in the brine now. Hopefully it'll work. Fortunately, it's the second 'let's try this for the helluva it' attempt. The main bird is fine.

Good luck and make sure you leave a post on how it came out, so the next member will have something to think about!

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
Good luck and make sure you leave a post on how it came out, so the next member will have something to think about!

Will do. It's a buttermilk/rub/salt (duh) type brine so really looking forward to the 'let's see what happens' turkey.

Cal is 100% correct.

My "fresh" turkey was partially frozen inside, but by the time I thoroughly rinsed it (which I always do), it thawed. And I also couldn't find the neck till it did thaw.

Also, nothing wrong with brining the neck. And 95% thawed shouldn't be a major brining setback.

It was so funny. Watched Food Network and a CHEF say "sure it's okay to brine a frozen bird, what a good idea..."

Really?

It doesn't work on a frozen bird.

But it' all about adapting. If the outside of the bird is fresh and down deep is frozen, it will work, I just don't know how well.

I'd rather put it in the brine and let it work somewhat than not.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
It was so funny. Watched Food Network and a CHEF say "sure it's okay to brine a frozen bird, what a good idea..."

Really?

It doesn't work on a frozen bird.

But it' all about adapting. If the outside of the bird is fresh and down deep is frozen, it will work, I just don't know how well.

I'd rather put it in the brine and let it work somewhat than not.

Everything I could touch through the turkey's plastic was soft and thawed. It was only after I opened it up to rinse it did I realize the inside cavity was still somewhat frozen. Enough I couldn't see much less get the neck out.

Not anticipating this, I didn't have a bag big enough to hold the turkey for more sink thawing.

And just enough googling said the turkey will absorb the water if you just put it back in the sink uncovered for more full water immersion.

Which may be true or not. Since this is the first time *ever* I've had a turkey that was supposed to be totally thawed not be, I was kind of fumbling around with what to do.

I guess in hindsight I could have either just run it under the faucet or maybe used a kitchen garbage bag, I just didn't think of it at the time.

A little more Googling found that others had put a partially frozen bird in the brine (because they too had run out of time waiting for it to thaw) and they claimed it was 'fine.'

So.... I crossed my fingers and threw the thing in. Turned it at 2am when I couldn't sleep and the neck pulled right out.

Here's hoping.

You're good. Enjoy.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
You're good. Enjoy.

As I expected, it came out totally thawed. Stuffed a garlic/butter/chive mixture under the skin against the breast (VERY GROSS TO DO). In the smoker with apple. Expecting 4.5-5 hours or so for the 12lb bird.

But no matter what, it's the second bird, so this is an experiment anyway. No downside.

Thanks all for the help.

Turned out really really good. Not a thousand percent sure I got the full advantage of the brine, but the buttermilk brine plus the garlic butter/chive under the skin plus apple wood made for a really cool flavor.

Might have overcooked it a bit as the temp got to 162 in only two hours at 240ish. I assumed I goofed the probe insertion so not wanting to open the door, I let it go until a little over three and a half hours and thermapenned it in a bunch a spots. All came up about 165 in the breast and 180 in the thighs. Breast closest to the skin was a little warmer. Deeper breast was 162 so I pulled it.

Dumped a lot of melted butter all over the deck when transferring it to the tray. Whoops. FTC'd for a few hours as the other oven turkey wasn't done yet. Was still too hot to the touch when carving.

Was very tasty. A little firm in the breast. A very interesting non traditional taste. Probably not for Thanksgiving (it was the 2nd turkey after the traditional oven one) but definitely a keeper if we did a party any other time of year.