Monday, May 26, 2008

SMOKE BRINE

in a VERY clean ice chest, place your FROZEN turkey, fish or whatever meat you'd like to smoke.

cover with a mixture of:

four parts brown sugar

one part salt (the salt also helps to eliminate bacteria during the brine process)

on top of that mixture, add daily for UP to seven (or more in some cases) days four to six trays of ice, cover and keep in a cool area of your home - do not drain any of the liquid during the brining process.

at the end of your brining process, drain your meat well and pat dry with paper towels. it's ready for the smoker now! be sure to throw out ALL the brine mixture - you CANNOT use it over.

remember, poultry must be brought up to a temperature of 180 degrees after smoking - so build your fire up afterward to test with a thermometer. the length of time you spend smoking your concoction depends upon how vigilant you are. for instance, when we do an 18-20 pound turkey at thanksgiving, pop will start it at about 10:00 p.m. and get up every two to three hours through the night to add wet hickory, cherry or mesquite to the coals for ten to twelve hours and then he'll begin his heat process.

fish will be easier to smoke and can be canned afterward in a waterbath for less than ten minutes until lids seal - see directions on lid package. you may also wish to seal your fish in a seal-a-meal baggie. my favorite smoked fish is any and all trout.

if you're wanting to do smoked pork chops, combine an equal amount of teriyaki and brown sugar and brine in the refrigerator for a few days - these are my all time favorites - i'll serve them thin sliced with chinese style hot mustard and sesame seeds.

10 comments:

Gayle said...

Thanks for this, Nanc. I've never done this before so I appreciate the recipe!

Papa Frank said...

Did I ever mention that you are my hero nanc?!

nanc said...

gayle - you're quite welcome. with this mixture and a little more salt, you can also do beef jerky on grates, wrapping them in about eight layers cheesecloth and place in direct sunlight, turning once an hour from sun-up to sundown - makes great sun jerky.

frank family - then you would LOVE my husband as he is a driving force in my life in trying new, different and out of the ordinary ideas. he has not, however, talked me into eating bugs found in wood and/or under rocks - he says they're tasty, and i choose to take him at his word!

Papa Frank said...

Are you married to nanc-pop or Survivor Man? I'm sure we'd get along great!

nanc said...

pop says survivor man is a sissy - he'd NEVER eat just one lizard!

Almtnman said...

Sure did a good job of this new blog. I even noticed the gasbuddy link of which I have been posting gas prices on gasbuddy since 2004. You can find me on the Alabama gas prices with the user name mtman.

Nice recipes and other useful info here. Thanks!

The Merry Widow said...

Howdy, AMM! Long time, since we just started this blog, we still have some things we will need to do. But it sure is handy!
Let's see if we can keep serving our blogger community.
Tough times are coming, we need to prepare now.
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw

nanc said...

thankx mt. man! that means much coming from you, considering THE MOUNTAIN is chock full of great info. i've put it on the sidebar.

Almtnman said...

Thanks nanc, for linking to The Mountain; lots of good folks there too!

TMW, it's nice to be missed. Good to see you here also. You got it right about tough times ahead. I noticed my Sunday paper had an article that said people were buying real estate way out and stocking up on food, supplies, guns, ammo and raising chickens, sheep etc and not letting anyone know. It seems as though they don't want to let their secret out so the non-productive crowd will know about their stash when the crunch hits a little harder. I have already noticed an increaee in crime rates service station robberies and just yesterday a 91 year man was mugged at a local mall and robbed by one of the local thugs. Then a few days before that we were walking into Wally World and a Sheriff's Deputy chased one into the parking lot right next to us. The perp jumped out and ran through the parking lot, with the deputy yelling, "I need some help". He was caught right inside the front door when someone in that area helped catch him. I expect we will be seeing more of that as times get tougher.

So, everyone please be aware of your surroundings!

How do we get email notifications from here?

The Merry Widow said...

Underneath the comments section is a notification for each thread, we don't have a general notification of new posts...WARREN??????

tmw