Tag Archives: turkey

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Slow Cooker Jalapeno Chili

This slow cooked chili ambushed many at a workplace potluck lunch with its heat. The secret is leaving the seeds intact on 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers. Cumin powder lends a distinctive aroma to the chili. Additional heat furnished by chili powder, red pepper and a dash ghost pepper chili added to meat while browning in a pan.

  • 8 oz, Angus Ground Beef Chuck 80%/ 20%
  • 8 oz., Ground Lamb
  • 8 oz, Ground Pork – Fixed
  • 9 oz(s), Onions, raw
  • 56.00 g, Garlic, raw
  • 4.50 oz(s), Peppers, jalapeno, raw
  • 6oz can (10 tbsp ea.), Tomato Paste
  • 14.5oz can (1 4/5 cups ea.), Fire Roasted Diced Garlic Tomato
  • 6 fluid ounce, Water – Municipal
  • 1 tbsp, Spices, chili powder
  • 2 tbsp, Spices, cumin seed
  • 2 tbsp, Spices, paprika
  • 1 tbsp, Spices, cinnamon, ground
  • 0.50 tbsp, Spices, pepper, black
  • 1 tsp, Spices, pepper, red or cayenne
  • 8 oz, Fresh Lean Ground Turkey With Rosemary Extract
  • dash of ghost pepper chili

Over medium heat, lightly brown the meats in a skillet, season with spices to taste. Add to a preheated slow cooker. Using the fat/grease left over from the cooked meats, saute garlic and onions until aromatic, about 2-3 minutes, then add to the slow cooker. Toss in the remaining ingredients, then cook low and slow for 4 hours. Or cook on high for 2 hours.

Serving suggestion: serve warm over hard boiled eggs or egg bake. For my potluck lunch, it made for a spicy, meaty topping on burgers and hot dogs.

IMG_20160707_JalapenoChilionEgg

Yields about 78oz of chili.

MPF calculation per 2oz serving:
71 calories
Total Fat 4g
Total Carbohydrate 3 g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 1 g
Protein 5 g

Dining, Recipes

Best. Turkey. Ever.

11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (1) 11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (2) 11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (3)

My 2011 Thanksgiving turkey turned out to be a winner. I thought I wanted a fried turkey this year, but ended up throwing this bird onto the Weber grill to smoke for nearly 3 hours. Initially, I started with one bank of coals; but when I saw that temperatures weren’t rising after the first hour, I fired up a second bank in the second hour and that’s when things started cooking. I also included a pan of water in the grill to catch the drippings and keep the turkey moist.

This is a 14.5 pound Jennie-O turkey brined for 20-21 hours. It came off my trusty Weber 22″ grill smoky and succulent; perfect moisture, texture and color. I didn’t have to cover it to achieve that beautiful golden brown–it arrived at that color without drying out. It came off the grill when I determined temps to be in the 150-160 range, estimating that it would rise another 10 degrees when removed from the grill. After cutting into it, we marveled at the tenderness and juiciness of the bird from white meat to dark. It even boasted a smoke ring on the bottom half.

The taste was complex. Under the smokiness we detected all the garlic, pepper, salt, rosemary, and sugar from the brine. What also cut across all those complex flavors were the lemon wedges I stuck into the cavity; the meat nearest the cavity had a light smoky taste accentuated by lemon. Just wonderful.

2011 Turkey Brine recipe:

  • 2 gallons of water
  • 40 cloves of garlic, chopped (if not more)
  • 6-8 sprigs/branches of rosemary, chopped (should come out to handful or quarter cup)
  • 1.5 cups of salt
  • half a cup of brown sugar
  • quarter cup of coarse ground black pepper
  • quarter cup of garlic powder
  • 1 medium lemon or lime, sliced (optional)

I love garlic and rosemary; I chopped enough of both to result in about 1-2 handfuls of each. Meanwhile, I add salt and sugar into a huge stainless steel stockpot (large enough to brine the turkey in). Turn the heat on high, then add 2 gallons of water. I boiled the brine until salt and sugar were dissolved before adding rosemary, garlic, garlic powder and black pepper.  Stir then cover the stockpot, and turned off the heat. Throw in the lemons and let the mixture sit overnight, at least 6-8 hours, to let it steep. Remove the lemons before dunking the turkey into the brine the following morning.

Clear out some space for the stockpot brine and refrigerate for 20-21 hours. This brine may result in a salty turkey for some, so I suggest trying 16-18 hours brine time, or reduce salt measurement to 1 cup.

Dining, Recipes

Vinegar-brined Turkey pt 2

The turkey brined in vinegar for 14 hours bottom side first then another 12 hours breast side. On the morning before roasting, I also brined in a soy-water solution, which in my opinion didn’t really accomplish much. I then stuffed the cavity with garlic cloves and roasted the bird in the oven at 375 for 3 hours.

Suffice to say, the turkey turned out palatable, not out-of-this-world good. Next time I am going to stick to a salt brine for 18-24 hours, depending on the size of the turkey. Or even an apple juice/cider brine.

As for the rest of the Thanksgiving meal, it turned out that a roux is a great ally for thickening gravies and creamed corn. Two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour makes the fixins work out every time. Well, in the case of the creamed corn, perhaps a little too well, since the additional milk made the side dish incredibly thick.

Oh…and when will I learn that chopped turkey innards just don’t taste well in gravy? I had the fiance chop them up really fine but I still couldn’t appreciate the taste of it. At least adding a chile garlic sauce spiced up the gravy, giving it a good bite.

Mental note for next year: apparently the fiance doesn’t like garlic or cheese in his mashed potatoes. Not even rosemary! Nothing but plain, bland potatoes. Yuck.

Dining, Recipes

Vinegar-brined Turkey pt 1

My 12-pounder brined breast up in the fridge for the past 14 hours. I turned it breast-down for the next 12-14 hours. The vinegar brine I’m risking this year is an apple-cider vinegar brine, with chopped garlic, garlic powder, black powder and a little salt. It is generally the same brine I use for frying chicken. The difference here is that I’m roasting the turkey, instead of frying it, which will impart a different flavor to the meat altogether.

I’m concerned that the salt content of this brine will not be enough. I’m pondering putting the turkey in a second brine of just plain salt-sugar water. Depending on what I marinade the exterior with (leaning towards soy-sweet chile sauce), I may leave out the sugar.

I’m also thinking about stuffing the turkey cavity with garlic cloves, which I plan to use in mashed potatoes. I just have to make sure that the turkey is completely dried of vinegar brine so that the garlic won’t flavor the potatoes with vinegar.

Now what to do with those turkey innards…?