Beer Brined Thanksgiving Turkey

I love this season. Food, food, food, and more food. Plus, so many winter warming beers. Pumpkin beers, dark ales, strong ales, spicy ales, etc. Heavy beers. Heavy foods. More family time. More naps. Eh, you get the idea. Fall and winter are fantastic.

Turkey is pretty much on every plate across America on Thanksgiving. Simple salt and pepper, stuffed, herbs, fruits, smoked, brined, fried....the list goes on. Not many do a beer brine. Lets face it, turkeys are huge, and in my opinion, to do a successful brine with beer, you need a lot of beer. I've done this turkey the past few seasons at my house. And it seems I get more guests as the year goes on just for my turkey. So, I'm here to share with you my recipe. Its the season of giving afterall.

Beer I always choose for this brine is Sierra Nevada's seasonal beer "Celebration Ale" IPA. A wonderful, dry, fruity, and mildly hoppy IPA. And, coincidentally, it just happens to hit Oklahoma shelves every year in November.

Ingredients for Brine
One 12-14 lb turkey
1 gallon of Sierra Nevada "Celebration Ale" IPA (1 gallon equates to 12 12oz bottles)
2 tsp whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
6 bay leaves
2 bunches thyme
1 bunch rosemary
3 yellow onions, rough chop
4 celery sticks, rough chop
4 carrots, rough chop
5 tangerines, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 gallon water (ice cold, preferably)

Ingredients for Aromatics
1 bunch Rosemary
1 bunch Thyme
1 cinnamon stick
1 tangerine
1 lemon

Other utensils
1 5gallon food-grade safe bucket
(or)
small cooler with an xlarge turkey oven bag and ice

Not going to lie, this is a long process. But the work is minimal. Its really just sitting around and waiting for the most part.

As easy as it sounds....put everything in the brine list (minus the turkey and water) in a large stock pot. Bring to a simmer for 15 min, stirring. Then turn off the heat and let cool.

The brine in the making

Once room temp, add in the gallon of ice cold water. You want the brine to be extremely cold so it doesn't raise the temp of the turkey once placed in the brine. Set brine in fridge to let cool even more. Maybe an hour or so.

Now, you have one of two options....1) set turkey in brine in the 5 gallon bucket and place bucket in fridge to keep cold Or 2) set turkey in brine in an x-large turkey oven bag, tie it off, and then place in small cooler and surround with ice. Then we wait. 36 hours, to be exact. Make sure the turkey is COMPLETELY submerged in the brine.

When time is up, you take turkey out of the brine, rinse the turkey, pat extremely dry with paper towels, and set on counter to allow to rise to room temp.

Preheat your oven to 475. Season with a little salt and pepper in the cavity. Stuff the turkey with aromatics if you like. Truss the turkey. Season the outside with a little salt and pepper. Place in a roasting rack and into the oven. Cook at 475 for 30 min, then reduce heat to 350 for roughly 2.5 hours. Cook until internal temp in the thigh reads 164 degrees, and done!

Beautiful!

One of the most important things for meat is to allow for rest. With this size of turkey, simple lay a piece of foil over the top on the counter, and allow to rest for about 30mins before slicing it up.

Oktoberfest Pork Chops

I've posted these before, but hey, it's the season for it. Oktoberfest. An awesome time full of beer and food and dancing and silly music. Speaking of beer and food....Marshall's Oktoberfest is one of my favorites and it has a natural affinity for pork. So, lets brine some tasty chops with it!

Ingredients:
4 bone-in pork rib chops (1 to 1 1/4 inches thick)
2 cups of warm water
2 cups of cold oktoberfest/marzen beer (plus 1/4 cup for later use)
1/4 cup of kosher salt
1/4 cup of brown sugar

Fresh sage leaves
Fontina cheese (thin sliced)
2-4tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup of oktoberfest/marzen for deglazing
2tbs of butter
Juice of half a lemon
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Yield: 4

As simple as it sounds….Put the rib chops in a large plastic bag. Mix the salt, sugar, and warm water in a bowl and mix well until the sugar and salt dissolved. Then add in the cold beer. The cold beer will obviously drop the temp and prevent it from cooking or raising the temp of the pork. Pour all over the pork. Seal and toss in the fridge for 4 hours. May need to flip the bag one time. Simple as that.

When done, take the chops out of the fridge. Rinse them off and pat them dry. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place a large cast iron skillet, or other oven proof skillet, on a burner on med-high.

Cut a small pocket in the chops and stuff them with the cheese and 1-2 leaves of fresh sage. Add olive oil into the pan. Sprinkle chops with a tad bit of salt and pepper on both sides. Pan sear one side for 2 minutes. Flip the chops over in the pan and place in oven. Continue cooking for another 5-6minutes.

When done, take out of the oven. Place chops on a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Put skillet back on stove. Deglaze with the beer and scrape bottom of the pan. Add in the butter and lemon juice. Let reduce a bit and pour over the pork chops. Serve with some wilted greens to be simple. Or maybe a big hunk of mashed taters to sop up those juices. 

Pair this dish with your favorite Oktoberfest brew.

Beer Brined and Smoked Chicken

I love a tasty roasted chicken. But what can beat that? A SMOKED chicken! Nothing like a tasty smoked chicken and a good beer. Brining is a good way to insure moisture stays in the chicken and the brine also imparts it's own flavors too. This simple beer brine adds some great moisture and flavor.

Marshall Brewing's pilsner is a great brew that's true to the style. Earthy tones, grassy hops, and floral aromas make for a great brew to brine this chicken. Also, as a great beer to drink while your dinner is smoking.

Ingredients For Brine:
1 whole chicken (about 4-5lb range)
4 bottles of Pilsner
1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper corns
1 small bunch of sage leaves
2 quarts of water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup salt
1 turkey bag

Ingredients For Smoker:
Mustard
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp black pepper
2 tbsp granulated garlic
Pecan and Mesquite wood (50/50 mix)


Put the pilsner, water, peppercorns, sage, sugar, and salt in a bot. Heat and stir till sugar and salt is all dissolved. Take off heat and completely let cool down. Place chicken in a oven roasting turkey bag and carefully pour the brine in the bag. Seal and place in fridge. Brine for 12 hours.

When done brining, take out of fridge. Rinse off the chicken very well and pat completely dry with paper towels. Let chicken come to room temp. Now is time to prep your smoker. Get temp regulated to around 225 degrees and smoking with a 50/50 mixture of pecan and mesquite wood.

Rub the bird with a light coating of mustard. Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic. Truss the chicken then rub the seasoning all over. Place in smoker and cook for roughly 4 hours or until internal temp of chicken is 165 degrees.

Take chicken out when done, place on a cutting board and cover with foil. Let rest for about 20-30minutes before carving.

Pair this delicious bird with a pilsner or an american amber ale. Rauchbier is supposedly a great combination as well, but I've never been one for smoked beers with smoked foods.

Beer Brined and Roasted Chicken

Nothin like a simple, roasted chicken with crispy skin....unless, of course, it's gone through a brine first. Brining is a great way to pack moisture, and flavor, into meats. Try it with a whole chicken. You will definitely not be disappointed.

Ingredients for Brine:
1 whole chicken (3 to 4lbs)
3-4 bottles of pale ale (I used Sierra Nevada)
2 quarts of water (or 1 quart of water and 1 quart of ice reserved)
1 orange, halved
5 sage leaves
5 bay leaves
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp black pepper corns, crushed
couple sprigs of thyme

Ingredients for Roasting:
Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper
fresh chopped thyme
pinch or two of ground sage

Here is the really hard part! Put all the ingredients for the brine, minus the chicken, into a pot. Bring to a simmer for 10min. Take off heat and let it cool to room temp. Or, do what I do, and add in the other quart of ice to help it cool faster.

I like to put the brine and chicken in turkey bags, set back into the cooled pot, and surround the bird with a little ice before I set in fridge. Seems like work, but it's not, and it's a good way to keep the balance of beer and water in check by not letting the extra ice melt into the brine. Let sit in fridge for 12 hours. For super duper hoppy beers like Stouts and IPAs, I’d cut the brining time down to 6-8 hours. You don’t want the bird to taste like a stout or a pine cone.

Take bird out of brine. Rinse. Pat extremely dry inside and out with paper towels. Let sit 30-40min so it can come to room temp. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Dry outside of the chicken again. The paper towel method is good way to ensure crispy brown skin. Season with salt, pepper, thyme, and sage. Truss the bird for even cooking. Place on a roasting rack or a skillet. I like the skillet. Pop in oven on middle or lower-middle rack. Roast for about an hour till the bird reaches 164 degrees.

When done, take the chicken out and let rest for about 15min to allow juices to redistribute. Carve that thing up and done. Look at that skin!