Tips and Tricks: Turkey, To Brine or Not to Brine

That is the question. Some people swear by brining and say it can add delicious flavor and moistness to meat. Others don’t want the hassle of brining-the pans, the fridge space and the time. The truth is brining can make a delicious bird and so can skipping the brine. Here are two ways to make turkey.

If you want to brine:

This will require time, so plan ahead. You need to start your brine the day before you plan to cook your turkey.

Basic Brine Ingredients:

1 cup sea salt or kosher salt

1 gallon filtered water

1 cup raw sugar or honey (optional)

1 bunch fresh sage (optional)

1 bunch fresh thyme (optional)

3 tablespoons black pepper (optional)

Brining Method:

Bring all ingredients to a boil; remove from heat and cool.  I place the hot pot outside in colder months to help it cool down quicker. Place thawed turkey in a deep roasting pan that is large enough to allow most of the turkey to be submerged in the brine, or use a commercially available brining bag. We use a 5 gallon food grade plastic bucket so the bird is fully submerged and I don't have to deal with the task of repeatedly turning it so that it gets evenly brined. The downside to this method is that substantial extra refrigerator space is needed during the day long brine.  We have used our extra refrigerator for this purpose, but before we had one, this method would have been ruled out due to lack of space.  If you use just the pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (or put in an ice chest if your refrigerator is full, just be sure to change out the ice blocks as needed). Turn the turkey in brine every few hours if it is not fully submerged. Keep turkey in brine for 12-24 hours.

Preparing the Brined Turkey for Cooking:

When it is time to cook the turkey, lift it out of the brine, rinse with cold water and dry with paper towels. Slide a small rubber spatula between the skin and the meat to separate them or use your hands. Insert half of the herbed butter mixture (recipe below) under the skin and spread evenly. Either put the remaining herbed butter mixture under the skin as well or on the outside of the skin. If you wish, fill the body cavity with stuffing (recipe below).

If you skip the brine:

Prepare the skin to protect the tender meat by making an herb butter. Blend the components together and carefully spread between the skin and the meat in a nice thick layer. Do not pierce the skin.

Herb Butter: Use the highest quality, organically grown ingredients available.

1 lb butter at room temperature

½ to 1 cup bacon fat

Several bunches of fresh poultry herbs chopped*

½ to 1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh-grated is best)

3 Tablespoon sea salt (skip this entirely, or reduce to ~1 Tablespon if applying this herb butter to a brined bird) 

1 Tablespoon black pepper

1-5 cloves minced garlic

*What are poultry herbs? Traditionally they consist of sage, rosemary, thyme or marjoram (I like them all). I also like to use parsley and sometimes savory or tarragon. In this recipe each bunch equals about 1 – 2 Tablespoons of each chopped herb. The more herbs you use the more flavorful and rich your bird will taste. You may substitute dry herbs. Generally 1 teaspoon of dried herbs equals 1 Tablespoon of fresh.

Prepare the cavity to boost flavor by rubbing with salt and pepper and any leftover herb butter. Lightly stuff with the following aromatics:

Aromatic Stuffing: Use the highest quality, organically grown ingredients available.
Using room temperature ingredients is best, so the core of the bird is not too cool, which allows for more even cooking. 

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 large carrots, chopped

3-4 celery ribs, chopped

2-3 medium apples, chopped (I include the cores, and then discard after cooking)

1 lb pork sausage, lightly browned and cooled (Lightly browned means there is still some pink. Use sausagewith sage if available)   

Fat drippings from sausage

1-2 Tablespoon rubbed sage

2-4 cloves garlic, chopped

Mix aromatic stuffing ingredients in a bowl until combined or just alternate handfuls of the various ingredients as you stuff.  Lightly stuff the bird cavity. DO NOT tightly pack. We want everything to cook completely. Use leftover aromatic stuffing in the pan around the turkey.

Salt and pepper the exterior of your turkey. Now comes the trussing. Frankly, I’ve trussed and not trussed. In my opinion it really isn’t worth the time unless you have a bird with sprawling legs, in which case, trussing is needed to keep the drippings in the pan and avoid making a mess of your oven.

Roasting the Turkey:

Whether you brined or not, once the herb butter has been liberally applied, it is time to cook your bird. Roast at 475o to 500o for 30 minutes. Cover bird with a layer of parchment paper covered with aluminum foil. Turn the oven down to 325o to 350o and continue roasting until thermometer reads 165 degrees. Remove parchment and foil for the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking.  Yum!

This article appeared in the December 2014 Savor Your Health Newsletter. Sign up in the Sidebar to get more tips, tricks and delicious recipes delivered to your inbox every month.

This or That: Roasting Pans vs. Turkey Bags

Now that you've prepped your turkey, it is time to put it in the oven. Have you considered whether you ought to use a roaster or a bag?

I love the text convo above a friend shared with me. It captures how perplexed I am (as was she) by the idea of cooking in a plastic bag. I decided to share the benefits of baking in a roasting pan versus a bag. 

This: Turkey Bags

Everyone I’ve talked to who is a fan of turkey bags like them because it means they have one less dish to wash. I get it, doing dishes isn’t generally my favorite activity. But let's put the one extra dish aside and consider…

Oven bags, also known as roasting bags, are typically made of food-grade polyester or nylon. They are generally BPA-free, phthalate-free, and approved by the FDA for cooking. However, despite this they are not toxic free. Several studies have confirmed that chemicals leach from them at high heat. This study said the highest concentrations of leached chemicals were in the skin and juice. Which means you won’t be able to use those delicious juices to make your gravy, unless you want some extra toxins with your meal. Breastcancer.org recommends against using roasting bags precisely because of the leaching issue. And another study points out that when it comes to plastic household items, BPA-free doesn’t mean risk-free: “Most plastic products release estrogenic chemicals.” Beware, too, “nonstick” roasting bags, which are treated with Teflon, also known as PTFE.

That: Roasting Pans

The old fashioned roaster. Yes, someone will need to wash the roasting pan. I suggest this task be delegated to someone who did not spend the day cooking in the kitchen - a win-win for everyone.  You can elevate your turkey on a rack, which will also need to be washed, but you won’t eat chemicals that can store in your body for long periods of time or that can alter your endocrine function. A simple roasting pan is a great tool to utilize in your kitchen throughout the year.

This article appeared in the December 2014 Savor Your Health Newsletter. Sign up in the Sidebar to get more tips, tricks and delicious recipes delivered to your inbox every month.

3 Easy Tips for Healthier Holiday Meals

The holidays are busy and my three tips are small changes you can make while preparing and enjoying your holiday meals to improve your health.

1. Use healthy fats. You hear me say it all the time, but it is vital to your health. Ditch margarine and use butter on the table and baking. Ghee is an excellent fat for cooking and baking. I use it in my chocolate almond pie crust. For those of you using shortening or crisco in your pie crusts, switch to palm oil which will give you the same flakey goodness. Coconut oil adds an extra level of depth in the flavor of your cakes.

2. Buy Pasture Raised and Grass-Finished Meats. Whether your family enjoys turkey or roast beef on the holiday table, go for animals that have been raised on diets their bodies were intended to consume. The meat will have a better Omega- 3/Omega-6 ratio, higher levels of minerals and vitamins and will taste better. For more on the nutritional superiority of  grass-finished and free-range click here.

3. Savor each bite. This means taking the time to enjoy the preparation of the food, sitting down in good company with good conversation and taking time to eat. Slow down, as much as you may think you need to hurry there is time. When you take a bite, do it thoughtfully and thankfully. Notice the textures and flavors, reminisce about your grandmother's deviled eggs, notice the crunch of the greens in your salad. When you slow down and pay attention to your food, it becomes less about quantity and more about satisfying your body. Your body will tell you what you need to eat and you will be aware of the cues that say , "I'm full." Over-indulgence, whether of sweets, savories or beverages is what makes us feel physically unwell and emotionally guilty the next morning. By savoring each bite, from preparation to eating, you will find your body and soul satisfied.

This article appeared in the November 2014 Savor Your Health Newsletter. Sign up in the Sidebar to get more tips, tricks and delicious recipes delivered to your inbox every month.

This or That: Grain Finished v. Pasture Raised

 I always recommend pasture raised animal products to my patients. When I suggest pasture-raised, I am doing so for multiple reasons. One significant factor I want my patients to understand is that pasture-raised products have a different nutritional profile than grain-finished meat products.  The National Institutes of Health, a government agency, which funds health and medical research, has published studies verifying the superiority of grass-fed meat products in terms of nutritional value. Grass finished meats have 2-5 times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain finished meats.  They contain beta-carotene, conjugated linoleic acids, and also contain significantly more of the antioxidants vitamin E, glutathione, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase than grain-fed beef. These antioxidants play an important role in protecting our cells from oxidation, especially delicate fats in the cell membrane such as omega-3 and omega-6. You can wade through the analysis here.

This reason alone is enough to help most people switch to grass-finished products whenever possible, but sometimes we need to consider an even larger picture than our personal health. Consider this or that:

This: Grain-Finished

Whether we know it or not, when we choose grain finished animal products we are supporting practices unhealthy for the animals we consume, the land on which they are raised, the watersheds surrounding their feedlots and the planet at large. As Michael Pollen, noted author of Omnivore’s Dilemna,  said:

“The feedlot’s ecosystem, I could see, revolves around corn. But its food chain doesn’t end there, because the corn itself grows somewhere else, where it is implicated in a whole other set of ecological relationships. Growing the vast quantities of corn used to feed livestock in this country takes vast quantities of chemical fertilizer, which in turn takes vast quantities of oil—1.2 gallons for every bushel. So the modern feedlot is really a city floating on a sea of oil.”

When we choose grain-finished products, which account for 97% of the meat products sold in the US, we are supporting the extraction of fossil fuels and their attendant greenhouse effects.

When we choose grain-finished we are supporting the GMO corn industry. You can see my posts about GMO here, here, here and here to consider where you stand on genetically modified organisms in our diets.

British photographer Mishka Henner’s arial photo series of confinement animal feedlot operations (CAFO) in Texas are stunning. Without words, they show us the terrible toll feedlots take on the land. The manure ponds produce unhealthy algae blooms on the pond surface. These vast ponds contain manure at toxic concentrations that can seep into the groundwater, run-off into the local watershed causing higher concentrations of pollutants. Biting into that burger, your mind isn’t picturing this terrible view.

Feedlot cows, the land around them and water downstream are sick and flavorless. Left photo by Mishka, Henner, Right photo from Hawaiian Libertarian.

American meat products are loaded with antibiotics, which contribute to antibiotic resistance and may alter our guts’ micro flora. Many producers use large amounts of antibiotics in their meat production because animals are not meant to consume large quantities of grain. Their bodies are adapted to digest grasses. They have specialized digestive systems with multiple stomachs where grasses are fermented by their unique gut flora and broken down by enzymes that target the structure of grasses. When these animals are fed a grain-based diet, they get sick. The problem is made worse because such large numbers of animals are kept in such small spaces and live their lives surrounded by their shared manure. You can imagine just how easy it is for the cattele to get ill.

That: Grass-Finished or Pasture-Raised

Grass-fed cows and the land and watershed are happy, healthy and tasty.

When you choose to eat grass-finished products, you are supporting healthy animals. These animals are living in grass-covered pastures, in numbers sustainable by the vegitation in pasture. The herds do not require antibiotics because there are not large populations of cattle living in a small confined space.

When you choose grass-finished, products, you choose healthy land and water usage. We support keeping natural waste products in low enough concentrations that nature can effectively utilize or detoxify them.

When you choose grass-finished, you are choosing to support food as nature makes it, not as it is in engineered in the lab. Sustaainable meats are not produced with GMO feed.

When you choose grass-finished, you choose to support practices that do not contribute to global warming on a massive scale. We choose to allow nature’s carbon cycle to work as it was intended.

Grass-fed cows are happy cowsThis article appeared in the November 2014 Savor Your Health Newsletter. Sign up in the Sidebar to get more tips, tricks and delicious recipes delivered to your inbox every month.

Healthy Sleep on the Road

Many of us have trouble sleeping on the road. I’m a light sleeper and the past two weeks of hotel living have been tough. Here are some quick tips to improve your sleep:

1. Essential Oils can be an excellent way to enhance your sleep at a hotel. My go to oil for sleep on the road is lavender. An open bottle of oil on the nightstand or a few drops on the pillowcase can help ease you into sleep as you inhale the soothing fragrance.
2. Take your own pillow. Many of us have a pillow that feels “just right.” If you are pillow firmness and shape sensitive then its worth it to take your own pillow. Don’t sacrifice your sleep, most pillows can be readily squashed to fit in your luggage.
3. Ask for a hypoallergenic pillow or room. If you aren’t taking your own pillow, ask for a hypoallergenic one or for an entire room. These pillows/rooms are laundered differently and less likely to have mites that may make breathing more difficult.
4. Use the blackout curtains.
5. If you need white noise, download a few tracks to your phone or portable device and play on repeat throughout the night.
6. If you're still struggling, try downloading some relaxation tracks onto your phone to listen to as you go to sleep.