The Picnic
We are having an outdoor picnic for our meeting of stroke survivors this month, May 15th. It is held the 3rd Thursday of every month. Because everybody liked my smoked cheese from March's meeting, I got elected to provide healthy eating for our annual picnic. Didn't take much convincing to provide cold turkey, cured and smoked, which can be kept in coolers. There is 20 - 30 of us, depending on who can attend, so 60 lbs of turkey should be sufficient (3 - 20 lb'rs).
Picked up the turkeys at Bassham's, at $1.05/lb. Brought them home and thawed them enough to tear apart, get the neck and gizzards out, then put in a big bucket to cure them:
(I'd used this before in large projects):
I had to have help to accomplish this. My wife helped me strip the turkeys of their packaging and she rinsed them out to get the giblets and necks out; we put them in a big pan to simmer. She pushed the turkeys to the garage fridge and we put them in the big bucket in the fridge. Then, mixed up two 2 gallon buckets of curing brine (lo-salt) and pushed them to the garage on our cart on wheels. She lifted the buckets and poured them over the turkeys. Did it again until we had 8 gallons of brine in the bucket. Here they are floating in the brine in the fridge, no heavy lifting required. Need to put some half gallon bags of water to keep them submerged, then just wait until Smoking Day! We will carry them, one at a time, in the 5 gal buckets to the kitchen, sack them, then into the smokehouse; I'll get to light the burner (that part scares her!)! We will drag the bucket out of the garage, tip it over and dump it and wash it away down the gutter; job done! Rinse it out and wash it thoroughly, ready for the next time.
Stay tuned!
We are having an outdoor picnic for our meeting of stroke survivors this month, May 15th. It is held the 3rd Thursday of every month. Because everybody liked my smoked cheese from March's meeting, I got elected to provide healthy eating for our annual picnic. Didn't take much convincing to provide cold turkey, cured and smoked, which can be kept in coolers. There is 20 - 30 of us, depending on who can attend, so 60 lbs of turkey should be sufficient (3 - 20 lb'rs).
Picked up the turkeys at Bassham's, at $1.05/lb. Brought them home and thawed them enough to tear apart, get the neck and gizzards out, then put in a big bucket to cure them:
(I'd used this before in large projects):
I had to have help to accomplish this. My wife helped me strip the turkeys of their packaging and she rinsed them out to get the giblets and necks out; we put them in a big pan to simmer. She pushed the turkeys to the garage fridge and we put them in the big bucket in the fridge. Then, mixed up two 2 gallon buckets of curing brine (lo-salt) and pushed them to the garage on our cart on wheels. She lifted the buckets and poured them over the turkeys. Did it again until we had 8 gallons of brine in the bucket. Here they are floating in the brine in the fridge, no heavy lifting required. Need to put some half gallon bags of water to keep them submerged, then just wait until Smoking Day! We will carry them, one at a time, in the 5 gal buckets to the kitchen, sack them, then into the smokehouse; I'll get to light the burner (that part scares her!)! We will drag the bucket out of the garage, tip it over and dump it and wash it away down the gutter; job done! Rinse it out and wash it thoroughly, ready for the next time.
Stay tuned!
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