DIY Butterball turkey

February 8, 2006 5:48 AM

I cannot find a fresh Butterball Turkey - even called them, but this time of the year they only have frozen. How can I make a regular turkey into a Butterball type turkey? I have heard that one can put butter under the skin, inject it, baste it etc. Any proven method suggestions out there?
posted by bright77blue to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

What attributes of the butterball turkey vs a regular turkey are you trying to replicate?
posted by jacquilynne at 5:58 AM on February 8, 2006

From this page on how to fry a turkey:

However, Marty Van Ness, a supervisor with the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, said their turkeys are not injected with butter or a butter product.

The name Butterball was created about 50 years ago, she said, when the turkey it began selling -- and still sells -- was broad-breasted, round and fat -- a butterball of a bird.

"It is called Butterball because of its shape, not because it is injected with butter," she said.

posted by deadfather at 6:08 AM on February 8, 2006

Oops, left off the most relevant paragraph:

Van Ness said frozen Butterball turkeys are injected with a basting material that is more like a broth to keep the bird moist and juicy during the roasting time. The primary ingredient is water followed by salt, food starch and natural flavors.

posted by deadfather at 6:10 AM on February 8, 2006

Water, salt, modified food starch, sodium phosphates and natural flavors are the full list of the broth used in Butterball's self-basting turkeys. No butter involved. So really, the only difference between a self-basting and "regular" Butterball turkey is whether you have to baste it yourself or can ignore it while it's cooking.

Other companies make self-basting turkeys which you might be able to find fresh and not frozen, but I'd doubt it. This isn't your typical turkey eating season, so they will likely all be frozen. Is there some particular reason you are opposed to using a frozen turkey? There's really not any difference that I have ever been able to tell aside from the frozen one requiring a little more forethought before using due to the long thawing time.
posted by Orb at 6:17 AM on February 8, 2006

I would think simply brining a turkey (once it has been properly thawed) would achieve the desired result.

This recent AskMe thread has quite a bit of information about thawing and brining turkeys
posted by briank at 6:21 AM on February 8, 2006

Best answer: Slide on over to Food Netwook and check out this brined turkey recipe. If a flavorful, juicy turkey is what you're after, Alton's your boy. I shit you not.
posted by Pressed Rat at 6:26 AM on February 8, 2006

I am not a turkey-roasting ninja master, but in my experience, brining does not improve the quality. Doesn't make it any worse, just not worth the trouble. IMO.
posted by adamrice at 6:32 AM on February 8, 2006

You can wrap the whole thing in two thicknesses of cheese cloth and baste it with about half a block of butter with various spices melted in. Cook it like always, basting often, and then take the cloth off for the last half hour.

It's perfect. If you want results you have to work for them.
posted by jon_kill at 6:42 AM on February 8, 2006

For years our turkeys suffered from dry white meat -- not that they lacked flavor, just that the white meat was much drier than the dark meat. Brining, while not changing the flavor itself much, left the white meat much moister, and because of that more enjoyable. YMMV.
posted by Pressed Rat at 6:45 AM on February 8, 2006

The primary ingredient is water followed by salt, food starch and natural flavors. Food starch is usually a code word for MSG.

Brine it and cook it in a bag for moist white meat.
posted by caddis at 6:57 AM on February 8, 2006

I have also heard cooking it upside down will help with the dry white meat. My mother always uses a bag, so I have no idea if it really helped the year she remembered to try it or if it was the bag doing it's thing.
posted by blackkar at 7:28 AM on February 8, 2006

My girlfriend's family cooked their turkey following Alton Brown's recipe and it was by FAR the best Thanksgiving turkey I've ever had. Juicy and flavorful and didn't need gravy at all.
posted by empath at 7:41 AM on February 8, 2006

I am a turkey-roasting ninja master, and yes, brining makes an enormous difference in quality. I'm guessing adamrice did it wrong, because brining makes for a dramatically improved bird.

In any case, there's nothing special about the "Butterball" brand. In fact, the Butterball brand tends to be fairly low quality. Any injected turkey (which most supermarket turkeys are) will have similar characteristics, but it's just downright silly to buy a bird by weight after it's been injected with something you have at home.

Either brine your own turkey, or try to score a kosher turkey. Use a cooked aromatic bundle in the cavity. Rub the bird with oil and bake it at, say, 500 degrees for 25 minutes or so, then back the temperature down, cover the breast (and only the breast) with foil for most of the rest of the time, and cook normally. You'll get a crisp skin and meat with the moisture sealed in.
posted by majick at 8:36 AM on February 8, 2006

brine brine brine brine brine brine! The only downside is that once you've brined a turkey you'll never be happy with any non-brined again, it's that amazing a difference.
posted by phearlez at 9:15 AM on February 8, 2006

I, too, have used Alton Brown's brined turkey recipe and it was delicious. I hearltily recommend it.
posted by faceonmars at 9:32 AM on February 8, 2006

I am not a turkey-roasting ninja master either, but in my experience, brining most definitely dramatically improves the quality.
posted by youarenothere at 10:29 AM on February 8, 2006

I too am a convert to the Alton Brining Technique. As a word of warning, DO NOT try to brine a kosher turkey, as salt is used in the koshering process. If you try to brine a kosher bird, you will end up with something that tastes like Lot's wife.

You know, the one that turned into a pillar of salt?
posted by ilsa at 12:48 PM on February 8, 2006

Hmm, marketing hype wins again. Try brining the bird (i.e. soaking the bird in a salt-water solution. google it or look or look here http://jamesmessick.triadplace.com/recipes/Turkey_James_Roast.htm. That's what I always do and I've always been pleased with the results, even though I buy the 19 cent/lb turkeys on sale before Thanksgiving.
posted by JamesMessick at 9:19 AM on February 9, 2006