SSBourbon1 Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Well, last year I tried a very simple marinating of my turkey with bourbon soaked cheese cloth inside and out, cooking on a rotisserie with the cloths in the cavity and it came out great but did not really notice any bourbon influence. This year I am going to attempt another bourbon turkey but I plan to inject the turkey with a combination of AAA 10 year and broth to see how the influence of bourbon is on the turkey. Last year I think that I used Old Crow as that was a cheap mixing one for me. But the AAA has my eye for good possibilities. Any thoughts on this let me know. I will surely post how it comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 I can be of no help but it sounds like a good plan.My thoughts on cooking with bourbon are simple, If it's good enough to cook with , surely it's good enough to drink. Some go for the cheap-o bourbon for the cooking, while I don't get too high I use a better grade. I did have some Stagg bourbon balls last year and a whiskey cake with VanWinkle10-107. Just my thoughts. You can go Barton and get good and inexpensive in 1 fell swoop.Awaiting results, it should be very good. <font color="brown"> Good God Give Patrick Moraz Some </font> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 I agree with Bobby, use the best bourbon you feel comfortable with when cooking. I would recommend something like Weller 7 or 12. I think the sweetness of these bourbons helps to caramelize whatever you are cooking and I think they would go great on a bird. BTW, I also made Stagg bourbon balls last year and I think they were the best I have ever had. I really enjoy mine with a stong bourbon flavor. Those were some happy pecans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSBourbon1 Posted November 26, 2003 Author Share Posted November 26, 2003 I was thinking about the sweetness issue as well, I have a little Weller Centenial left and Some others, I gues I am going to have to sample alllll of the collection tonight to decide which one would be best. Hopefully I'll leave some for the bird! Thanks for your input on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paradox Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Recently they had a Martha Stewart episode on Food TV where they soaked the turkey in a brine solution with 2 cups of Wild Turkey 101. Try Food tv for the recipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleblank Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 I've brined many a turkey and duck over the years and they taste great. I've used both bourbon and beer in the brining solution. My Brines are basically 1/4 cup salt +/-, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup molassas, minced garlic, black pepper, one dark beer or 1 cup bourbon and 2 cups water (or more to cover the bird in question). You can scale this up for a large turkey. Let it soak at least three hours and keep it cold while brining by putting some ice cubes in the solution. Makes me want to brine a duck for tomorrow.DoubleBlank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepcycle Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Try concentrating the bourbon by carefully (repeat carefully) heating and reducing down to 25% volume. This will concentrate the flavors and reduce the water and alcohol content. Use the reduced bourbon to add to your marinade. I've done this will several bourbons and it works good on poultry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbutler Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 You can minimize the risk factor for such an operation by placing your container of bourbon inside a container of water. Heat the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 I once tried this for a different reason. Since aging is partly the result of evaporation and "concentration", I thought if I reduce the volume of the whiskey by half I could add another ten years or so of aging. True, the oak factor wasn't the same, but I thought adding oak chips would handle this aspect. To say the experiment didn't work would be an understatement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSBourbon1 Posted November 26, 2003 Author Share Posted November 26, 2003 Many a time I have reduced a bottle of wine to a cup's worth through boiling for a sauce on Fillet Mignions. And that tasted quite good. I think that I may use some of these brining ideas and reduce but still inject it into the turkey. I will surely be cooking some good brew tonight. Probably AAA 10yr molassas, broth. These are at least my initial thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSBourbon1 Posted November 27, 2003 Author Share Posted November 27, 2003 OK here's what I have done. I took about 1 1/2 cups AAA 10year, i can of chicken broth, about 1/3cup brown sugar and about 4 tablespoons of salt, mixed it all and boiled it dow to about 1 1/2 cups. I have injected it into the turkey (which is a free range one, not additives that's why I chose to use a slightly salty mix). This marinade smelled and teasted wonderful a good addtion to the large pour of AAA I made for myself. As the Cajun Cook used to say " <font color="blue"> A little for the pot and a little for me, and a little more for me and just a little more for me" </font> " Turkey looks good, feels good and is getting pickled as we speak. I'm going to butter it up tomorrow, throw it on the rotisserie starting with charcoal (lump wood coal) and if I don't to get too lazy, I won't turn on the gas when the initial set of coals burn out. the wood coals have always given my chickens a good flavor so they can only make this drunken turkey taste better as well.If I have not passed out after eating it tomorrow, I will let you all know how it tasted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 Scott, It sounds like it should taste awesome. Enjoy & Happy Thanksgiving! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSBourbon1 Posted November 28, 2003 Author Share Posted November 28, 2003 It sounds like it should taste awesome That was it. The turkey did well. The grill got a little hot due to putting too much wood on it, but I managed to cook the bird mostly using the wood charcoal. It did give it a great smokey flavor. Enough about the cooking of it...the taste was great. Surpisingly enough, the dark meat took on more of the sweetness and the white meat took on a little more of the smokiness. This is a definite repeat for me and I highly recommend making a turkey this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Scott, throw it on the rotisserie starting with charcoal (lump wood coal) and if I don't to get too lazy, I won't turn on the gas when the initial set of coals burn out. the wood coals have always given my chickens a good flavor so they can only make this drunken turkey taste better as well If you get to next year's Festival, remind me and I'll try and scrounge up some fresh Bourbon barrel pieces. They'll burn down to really nice coals. We've used staves and barrelheads for years to do whole hogs. They're just harder to get now, I've gotta wait for a barrel to get damaged... Bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSBourbon1 Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 Bj,Thanks for the offer and if I can get over to Bourbon Fest you had better believe I will remind you!Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Scott, Glad the turkey turned out tasty (say that 10 times real fast... ). I've had really good luck marinating fruit (oranges, cherries, etc) in Bourbon for a couple of days, and then using it to stuff the turkey. We deep fried our's this year. And shazaam...this year we could actually eat it... Here's what you can do with some of those leftovers: Kentucky Hot Brown Later, Bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts