Accidental Turkey
9 years ago
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did i accidentally compost?
Comments (9)Laura, I think composting would only be complex in 2 situations: #1. You want compost fast. In which case you need to really watch your ratios and make sure the compost gets real hot. You'd need to turn more often and make absolutely sure theres the correct moisture balance. #2. You want it to be complicated. Some people get really excited about the little details so they go through all the #1 stuff and really get into it. In fact you put stuff in a pile and it rots, thats composting... I've pretty much broken every rule there is. All our food waste goes in the compost, from lettuce leaves to the Christmas turkey. It gets mixed with leaves and paper and whatever (sod from the garden, old tee-shirts, etc) and then rots. I turned the resting pile Saturday and found a turkey bone and some leaves that I should probably have shredded last fall but thats it. No paper, no other bones, nothing. I had put some grass clippings a couple weeks ago so the working pile wouldn't get overloaded. They're breaking down well but needed better mixing. I figure by the end of July this'll be useable compost. Still since I mixed in so many "non-compostables" (meat, milk, fat, etc) I may let it sit out this season and mix it into the soil in the fall. Then any potential bad stuff will get a good winter freeze. We'll see, if I'm dead next year the anti-meat composters can say "I told you so"....See MoreRachel Ray's Turkey Tip (share yours too!)
Comments (33)Alton Brown has had a show on brining for a long time and he explains it well. A pail is fine if you have a walk in cooler like the 4time felon, but for normal people, a cooler is a better option. You still need to keep the bird cold. Be warned: do NOT brine an "enhanced" bird, like a "Butterball" or the like! They're already injected with a lot of extra salt, extra fat and other fluids and if you add more, ugh. (shudder) Also, many have opted for the pre-salting method rather than brining. (Same caution applies.) You can also dry rub the turkey for a different taste. Frankly, AFAIC, basic is often better with turkey. If it's a decent bird and cooked properly (and of course assuming you like poultry) it's virtually always good. Sometimes you can mess up a good thing by trying to do too much with it. Seriously give some thought to an electric roaster as a second oven. That's what it is. They're fabulous for the holidays and can be used year round for a variety of things. Social gatherings, picnics, BBQs, graduations, block parties, baking, warming, making chili for a crowd, there's a bunch of uses and they're inexpensive. They cost less than a crockpot and a far more useful!...See MorePuffed air --ground turkey package?
Comments (11)Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)[edit] Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is a technique used for prolonging the shelf-life of fresh or minimally processed foods. In this preservation technique the air surrounding the food in the package is changed to another composition. This way the initial fresh state of the product may be prolonged. It is the shelf-life of perishable products like meat, fish, fruits and vegetables that will be prolonged with MAP since it slows the natural deterioration of the product. MAP is used with various types of products. The mixture of gases in the package depends on the type of product, packaging materials and storage temperature. Meat, fish and cheese are non-respiring products needing very low gas permeability films and so-called high barrier films are used. The initial flushed gas-mixture will be maintained inside the MA package. Conversely, fruits and vegetables are respiring products where the interaction of the packaging material with the product is important and so low barrier or so-called high permeability films are used for these. So long as the permeability (for O2 and CO2) of the packaging film is adapted to the product's level of respiration, an equilibrium modified atmosphere will be established in the package and the shelf-life of the product will increase....See MoreIs slow roarting a turkey worth the effort?
Comments (43)Like annie, I have done turkeys a number of ways (including fried here) and hardly had a bad one. The worst was the night before my mom passed. I was with her a lot and my DH was trying to keep Thanksgiving on track at home. When he "brined" the turkey, he forgot to put in any salt. We had a watered down turkey with no flavor that wound up undercooked. I got the call that it was time to come back just as we finished eating what we could. We threw most of that turkey away. No one wanted any more of that. I cooked another one a few days later and we reset the good turkey mojo. The first year in this house, I had one overcooked and dry. The convection roast setting on the oven cooked much faster and some of my guests arrived more than an hour and an hour and a half late. But every other turkey I have cooked has been great and we wind up wondering my we don't cook turkey more often....See More- 9 years ago
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