Smoked Turkey in a Brinkman Water Smoker

Here we go again but without pictures this time. Will have to wait till Thanksgiving for photos. As you may already know, I love to smoke meats in the Brinkman Water Smoker. I have been smoking Turkey for Thanksgiving for the last 4 years and I can safely tell you that this is the best way to cook a Turkey. The key is to find the right size Turkey that will fit in the Smoker and the time you take to Brine the Turkey for 12-24 hours before cooking. I have used Diestel Free Range Turkey which has not been frozen. A 12lb Turkey fits nicely in the smoker but you could go up to 14-15 lbs. You can also safely use this recipe for brining chicken, just reduce the amount of water and salt and other ingredients appropriately.

Ingredients:
One 12-14  lbs Turkey (don't use Kosher or self basting turkey since they already contain salt.)

2 Gallons Non Chlorinated Water
1 Bottle Reisling
2 Tablespoons Juniper Berries
4 Tablespoons Black Peppers
2 Tablespoons Colored Peppers
1 Celery Stalk Coarsely Chopped
1 Yellow Onion Coarsely Chopped
4 Medium Carrots Coarsely Chopped
4 Bay Leaves
1 1/2  Cups Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Bunch Sage

Directions:

The hardest part for me to brine the turkey every year is how to store the Turkey. Fortunately, last year I found a large pot similar to a clam bake pot that I can fit inside the fridge. If you don't have a large pot, you could try to put the turkey in a large cooler or a 5 gallon paint bucket but make sure you can fit that in your fridge.

Pour the water and the Reisling in the pot. Mix salt in the water until completely dissolved add sugar and mix it well. Wash and clean the Turkey and get rid of the giblets. Dump all of the chopped vegetables in the pot along with the other ingredients. Drop the Turkey carefully into the brine and put it in the fridge for about 12-24 hours.

Remove Turkey from the brine at least 30 minutes prior to putting it in the smoker to bring it close to room temperature. When your smoker is hot and ready to go, simply place the Turkey on the top shelf of the smoker and cook for 4 hours. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer for a reading around 160 to 165 degrees. Remove the Turkey and rest it for 10 minutes prior to cutting it. Enjoy the most delicious, moist Turkey you would have ever had. The day after Thanksgiving, you can wear gloves and remove the meat from Turkey by hand and shred it with your hands or chop it with a knife. Mix some mayonnaise and chopped red onions, cilantro and seeded green chili's. Season with salt and pepper and put the mix on a Crostini or Crackers and enjoy with a nice glass of Pinot Gris.

Happy Smoking

Smoky Glazed Asparagus

I used this marinade of this recipe on other veggies as well. If you like you can substitute Mayonnaise with Sour Cream and you will get pretty much the same result.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup mayonnaise
2. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3. 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4. 1 garlic clove, crushed
5. 1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
6. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
7. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (I like to lightly crush them in a mortar pestle or coffee grinder)
   
8. 1 pound thick asparagus, trimmed
9. 2 tablespoon Mustard (gray poupon) or 2 tablespoon Black Mustard Seeds Crushed ** Added by me*** Not in the original recipe

Directions

1. Light a grill. In a shallow dish, whisk the mayonnaise with the oil, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, salt and cumin. Add the asparagus and toss; let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Grill the asparagus over moderately high heat, turning, until tender and blistered in spots, 6 minutes; serve.

Chicken Tikka Recipe

Ingredients

6 Pounds Chicken Thighs (Boneless) (Do Not Substitute with Breast meat)

¾ Cup Minced or Shredded Ginger

½ Cup Minced Garlic

1 Pound Sour Cream

50g Shan Tandoori Chicken Masala (available at all Indian Spice Stores)

100g MDH Tandoori Chicken Masala (available at all Indian Spice Stores)

3 Tablespoons Garam Masala (available at all Indian Spice Stores)

4 Tablespoons Amchur (Dry Mango) Powder (available at all Indian Spice Stores)

3 Tablespoons Black “Kalonji” Seeds (Optional)

4-5 Tablespoons salt or according to taste

3 Tablespoons Red Chili Powder according to taste

4-5 Tablespoons paprika for color or you can use red/orange color instead

DIRECTIONS:

Wear Gloves. Soak wooden skewers in water. Wash and pat dry chicken thighs. Drying the chicken is an important step as it allows the marinade to bond to the chicken. Cut chicken into bite size pieces that will fit on the skewers (not too small otherwise they fill fall off the skewer). Leave some fat on the chicken as it contributes to tenderness of the meat.

Put chicken pieces in a large bowl. Mix all ingredients together in the bowl with the chicken. Skewer the pieces of chicken and marinate overnight (at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours).

Grill the skewers on either a gas or a charcoal grill until the chicken is cooked through.

Please control the heat level of the Red Chili Powder according to taste. If you want your chicken spicier, you can increase the number of teaspoons of chili.

KJ Salsa Rojo Y Verde

KJ Salsa Rojo Y Verde


8 Roma Tomatoes (not too firm)
6 Cloves Garlic peeled
I bunch green onions
1 Large White Onion
½ Can Organic Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth
3 Anaheim Peppers
2-3 Jalapeno Peppers
1 Tsp Cumin Powder (roasted if possible)
2 Limes
Salt to taste
1 tsp red chili powder (optional)
½ Bunch fresh cilantro

Light a grill. Put 6 Roma tomatoes stem side down on the grill. Wrap garlic cloves in aluminum foil and throw on the grill. Put the Anaheim chili’s and jalapeno’s on the grill. Char the tomatoes, chili’s and put the green onions on the grill for 5 minutes before you take out all the ingredients as the green onions cook really fast and tend to burn instead of char if left on grill too long.

Let the entire grilled items cool for a bit and remove stems from the Anaheim Chili’s and Jalapeno’s and add all grilled items to a blender once cooled. Blend and add chicken stock intermittently. Use caution to prevent salsa sauce from overflowing out of the blender. Pour the sauce in a large container. Chop white onions and the remaining 2 tomatoes. Add to the salsa sauce. Chop cilantro and add to the salsa sauce. Add salt, cumin powder and squeeze lemon juice in the salsa. Add salt and taste to make sure that the salsa is spicy enough. If the Jalapeno’s are not spicy enough, add red chili powder according to your taste preference. Let cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to serving.

You can use Tomatillo's instead of tomatoes. Make sure you soak the Tomatillo's in water (with the husk) before you put them on the grill.

You can add grilled corn to this recipe as well.