My plan is to cut my turkey up into parts to cook the breasts, thighs, and legs separately...

My plan is to cut my turkey up into parts to cook the breasts, thighs, and legs separately. I also want to injection brine the turkey. Should I cut it up then inject the individual parts, or should I inject it while it's whole, let it rest, then cut it up?

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I'd suggest avoiding injection brining. It creates more holes in the skin which only causes moisture loss later on. The only reason to injection brine is if you're in a huge rush because you're an idiot who didn't thaw the turkey in time. That's not a problem here because there is plenty of time until thanksgiving.

Cut the turkey up first. Then brine it normally.

Why do you want to cook them separately? You can just put some foil covering the breast if you are worried about it being dry.

Inject the bird since brining fucks with the skin.
Roast the bird like you would until the breast measures your desired temp. Show it off and prance it around for ooohs and awws then cut it up and place it in the oven with chicken stock (homemade)

Injecting it is the best way to "brine" a bird.

Wouldn't the dark meat be undercooked?

Nope, you braise it in the stock and it becomes tender. Good tender turkey thighs/legs are cooked until about 180F otherwise they are tough and stringy.

Yeah, you can braise it, but then you have disgusting soggy skin.

Just stick the dark meat back into the oven, (or foil-cover the breast earlier in the cooking process).

No,

No.

you're a dumbass

Those don't look like braises at all. Those look roasted with a little liquid left in the pan.

You just defined a braise, retard.
liquid doesn't cover the shit in a braise.
You were thinking stew.

Enjoy your punctured skin, user.

You do know you inject from within the cavity.

>You just defined a braise, retard.
Nope. "a little liquid" isn't sufficient for a braise. And the temp is usually a lot lower.

>>You were thinking stew.
That's one example of a braise, yes.

I'd prefer not to inject at all. Yes, you can minimize skin holes (for certain parts of the turkey, at least) by injecting from the cavity or from the cut end of the drumsticks, but I doubt OP would be doing that. Just look at all the puncture holes that would be result from the OP pic.

I just don't see the point. People think it's cool to play with a syringe I guess?

>Nope. "a little liquid" isn't sufficient for a braise
yes, you're retarded. You DO NOT cover the meat with liquid in a braise.

one small hole in the skin is near-imperceptible, but you don't have to inject through the skin anyway.

it's a more effective form of brining that doesn't result in nasty skin.

learn.
youtube.com/embed/QKrBqN4jl8I?rel=0

It's not like you don't dry off the skin and rub some type of fat on it after brining it anyway. I'm more concerned with the meat than the fatty skin anyway.

braises reduce, you dingus. you put in liquid about two thirds up the meat and it can reduce down lower than a third. then you use it as a sauce or combine it with the shredded meat or whatever.

that's because your method makes for shitty skin. the skin is good if you dry brine or injection brine. when you brine the skin it retains water as you cook it just like the meat. drying it off superficially is insufficient. the skin is tougher, less brittle and less flavourful.

This.
Soaking the skin in the brine softens it, sure. But who doesn't dry the skin out before roasting the bird anyway, rendering that totally moot? Making sure the skin is thoroughly dry is babby's first step in roasting poultry. You can leave the bird in the fridge, uncovered, and let the fridge do the work for you, or you can take it out and hang it in front of a fan.

How much "reduction" do you think we'd be getting here? user said to braise the legs after the breast meat was properly cooked. That only takes a few min of additional cooking. There's not going to be much reduction taking place there.

you're brining the turkey so it retains more moisture as you cook it. you think the skin is any different?

i don't know about the logistics of user's scenario, i'm just clarifying what a braise is. a stew is not a type of braise.

I eat such little skin in relation to meat it would hardly matter. Dry brine would be good, but injection is just unacceptable.

Where's that user who Frankenstein's his turkey every year with meat glue?

>How much "reduction" do you think we'd be getting here?
enough, look at the fucking pic. It's nearly impossible to overcook thighs in a braise. you only add the breast back in to warm it and crisp up the skin.
The salt in the brine fucks up texture, it's not about "dryness"
watch the video in the the thread.

>but injection is just unacceptable.
your reasoning for that doesn't hold, though.

>you think the skin is any different?
Yes. It absorbs far less moisture than the meat does. And what moisture it does absorb will be removed when you dry the bird prior to roasting it.

>>i don't know about the logistics of user's scenario, i'm just clarifying what a braise is
What's the point of talking if not about the matter at hand?

>>a stew is not a type of braise
Any cooking textbook will disagree with you, as will Wikipedia. A stew is a perfect example of a braise. Dry heat + covered cooking with moisture present.

The pics you posted were roasting, not braising.

You DO NOT fucking cover the meat in a braise.
you goddamn retard.

you're pulling 100% of this shit out of your ass

Cut it up into the parts and then dry brine them. They will fit into the fridge easier than whole bird. Use the rest of the carcass to make stock for gravy etc.

Liquid brines will do close to nothing for actually flavoring the meat more than just straight salt.

Roasting a whole intact turkey is a normal rockwell meme that doesn't produce good food.

that's me, I'm going to brine the turkey tonight and make a thread tomorrow. the plan this time is to do a breast loaf again, flatten out the thighs and roll them up with ham to make a roulade, and de-tendon the legs and fry them. the breast loaf and roulade are going to be for sandwich meat, I got all the ingredients for turkey club sandwiches (breast) and cuban sandwiches (thigh/ham roulade)

>The pics you posted were roasting, not braising.
>roasting
They are simmering in stock dingus, roasting is a dry heat so you wouldn't put in stock.

a classic braise is sort of part roasting and part stewing, that's why americans often call it a 'pot roast'. sometimes when people make 'roast chicken' they put some stock or water in the bottom of the pan to circulate heat around the legs and get a gravy going. you're more right than he is though.

>Roasting a whole intact turkey is a normal rockwell meme that doesn't produce good food.
it's not completely impossible to make a great whole roasted turkey.

>it's not completely impossible to make a great whole roasted turkey.
not him but it just isn't worth it. I like my thighs above 180F and my breasts below 160F. Way too fucking hard to cook it together. I even tried jacque pepin's boiling method.

Roasting is direct heat from a flame.
You're describing baking.

heh, that's actually discussed in culinary school. The consensus was modern baking is roasting and classical roasting on a spit is called rotisserie.

You attended a shit culinary school.

Aren't they all?

Don't inject, just use a dry brine (see Seriouseats + dry brine) and don't over cook.

Brining doesn't do anything to the skin. Skin is mostly water resistant (you don't gain weight when you swim). If you want crispy skin, just start the oven at a really high temp and drop immediately and use a salt + baking soda rub.

Yes, the skin is different you fucktard. It's not muscle tissue! Jesus fucking christ this board is dumb.

i didn't say it was muscle tissue, user.

The skin is no different, it absorbs water just as much as the tissue.

A little early, don't you think?

Unless none of that is for TG.

it's just for fun, my mom usually takes care of the actual thanksgiving turkey