Spicy Turkey Brine

I like that idea! I am trying a new spicier rub paste to be placed under the skin right before smoking. Lot's of garlic, onion and peppers.

I've made the brine today so it has 24 hours to let the peppers flavors meld with the brine evenly and I'll start brining tomorrow.

Don't know if it will work, but the family ones one of the two to be "spicy" so here we go

I know you're not supposed to experiment on the Holiday but I'm allowed... I'm a professional

So, report.

I used 10 Jalapenos, 3 Serrano's and 2 Habaneros (1 without the seeds)

made the brine up. Let it sit for 24 hours.

Brined a 12 lb bird for 48 hours and let it air dry overnight.

Results:

There was a "hint" of spice but I wouldn't call it spicy. I knew going in this wasn't enough peppers. It had a nice "what is that taste" flavor, but not so much I'd even call it slightly spicy.

One thing I worried about is that the capsicum is not water soluble. That's why when you mouth burns drinking water doesn't dilute it.

I could inject the brine next time, get better disbursement of the spices (but would have to strain the peppers out).

I'll do some research and experimenting and come back with further tests.

Curious if drying peppers first then grinding them before using it in brine would work.

Personally I have not had much luck infusing very nuch flavor into turkey by brining. I have tried all sorts of flavoring including soy, cajun apices, apple juice etc. I get a good moist turkey but the flavor seems to come mostly from the smoking and not so much the brine. I do apply compound butter under the skin. I wonder how much cayenne you would have to put in to get the turkey to be spicey hot.

Not a smoker recipe, but I've stuffed it with hot tamales and rubbed it with hot red chile powder. It was indeed "spicy hot"!

I'm thinking I need to start with alcohol.

quote:

In 1912, Wilbur L Scoville, a pharmacologist developed the Scoville Organoleptic test. This test is one of dilution and involved a brave panel of five people tasting increasingly diluted samples of solutions made from exact weights of Chile peppers dissolved in alcohol and diluted with sugar water. Several dilutions were tasted until the capsaicin (heat) could no longer be detected. One part capsaicin per 1,000,000 drops of water (about 1 gram per 7000 gallons of water) is rated at 1.5 Scoville Units.

quote:

Originally posted by Jay1924:
Not a smoker recipe, but I've stuffed it with hot tamales and rubbed it with hot red chile powder. It was indeed "spicy hot"!

I've got plenty of rubs to make it hot, but I'm looking for the spicy flavor in the meat itself.

quote:

Originally posted by RangerDF:
... but the flavor seems to come mostly from the smoking and not so much the brine.

If you want, start a new discussion and let's talk about brine flavors. It's a good question.