So relatively late this month we decided what/where we were doing Thanksgiving. It was decided to lighten up the cooking chores and mostly buy pre-made stuff and have the feast at a relative's house. A couple years back I did a Turkey breast and we were pleased, and I have since improved my technique, in part due to the Predictive Thermometer, so I decided to volunteer to do one again this year.
The largest bone-in breast was 7 lbs. Basically a Turkey with the wings and Legs hacked off. It said it was pre-brined (AKA water added to increase the price you pay) so I did not dry brine.
I wanted to cook it fairly slowly and recipes with per/lb timing were in short supply. I was figuring 2-3 hr at under 300 degrees.. I gave it a dusting of Dizzy Pig Raging River Blend which is a family favorite, and sprayed some oil on top of that and put back in the fridge for an hour. I inserted both my predictive thermometers set for 150 with safecook enabled. Got started a bit later than planned.
Got the Medium Big Green Egg going with Apple and one chunk of cherry. Had it at about 290 and the surface temp about 160. After an hour it was clear I was going to be late for dinner. So I increased to 325 and let the thermometers re-caclulate. Still going to be late so I increased to 375. That got me done only about 15 minutes late, which was because I started on the late side. Because I had to raise the temperature the skin browned up extremely nicely so that was kind of a bonus.
Safecook timed out right at about 152 degrees. All temperature quoted are on the thermometer that had the lower readings of the two.
In the meanwhile I cleaned out a cooler and placed a pot of hot tap water in it. I changed the water about 1/2 hour before the cook was done. Took the Turkey off the rack and onto a glass baking dish and covered with foil. Put that into a reusable insulated (silver material) shopping bag and put that in the cooler. Since we only had a half hour drive I did not add towels or other insulation.
I was eager to see what the carryover would peak the temperature at. Plus ideally I was going to monitor the temperature since I would not be very far above 150. However the layer of foil and the silver lined shopping bag formed a very effective faraday cage (radio frequency shield) and all communication with the thermometers was lost.
This is only my second time doing whole (well mostly whole) poultry with the Predictive Thermometer (the other time was a whole chicken). As expected, the ability to ensure safety while not going up to 165 and over cooking was great.
But in some ways even better was the fact that the predictive engine gave me the data to correctly adjust cooking temperature to meet my time frame was a godsend.
The combination of the raging river and smoke flavors was wonderful. My host carved off chunks and then cross sliced so the majority of the servings had some skin on them. Delicious. Even the driest piece I at was somewhat moist. Most were quite moist.
I am in no way affiliated with Combustion Inc, the makers of the Predictive Thermometer. But I definitely recommend them despite the not-for-faint-of-heart prices. Version 1.0 is probably all you need unless you do Sous Vide or do a lot of turbo steaks. Not sure when the black Friday sale ends
The largest bone-in breast was 7 lbs. Basically a Turkey with the wings and Legs hacked off. It said it was pre-brined (AKA water added to increase the price you pay) so I did not dry brine.
I wanted to cook it fairly slowly and recipes with per/lb timing were in short supply. I was figuring 2-3 hr at under 300 degrees.. I gave it a dusting of Dizzy Pig Raging River Blend which is a family favorite, and sprayed some oil on top of that and put back in the fridge for an hour. I inserted both my predictive thermometers set for 150 with safecook enabled. Got started a bit later than planned.
Got the Medium Big Green Egg going with Apple and one chunk of cherry. Had it at about 290 and the surface temp about 160. After an hour it was clear I was going to be late for dinner. So I increased to 325 and let the thermometers re-caclulate. Still going to be late so I increased to 375. That got me done only about 15 minutes late, which was because I started on the late side. Because I had to raise the temperature the skin browned up extremely nicely so that was kind of a bonus.
Safecook timed out right at about 152 degrees. All temperature quoted are on the thermometer that had the lower readings of the two.
In the meanwhile I cleaned out a cooler and placed a pot of hot tap water in it. I changed the water about 1/2 hour before the cook was done. Took the Turkey off the rack and onto a glass baking dish and covered with foil. Put that into a reusable insulated (silver material) shopping bag and put that in the cooler. Since we only had a half hour drive I did not add towels or other insulation.
I was eager to see what the carryover would peak the temperature at. Plus ideally I was going to monitor the temperature since I would not be very far above 150. However the layer of foil and the silver lined shopping bag formed a very effective faraday cage (radio frequency shield) and all communication with the thermometers was lost.
This is only my second time doing whole (well mostly whole) poultry with the Predictive Thermometer (the other time was a whole chicken). As expected, the ability to ensure safety while not going up to 165 and over cooking was great.
But in some ways even better was the fact that the predictive engine gave me the data to correctly adjust cooking temperature to meet my time frame was a godsend.
The combination of the raging river and smoke flavors was wonderful. My host carved off chunks and then cross sliced so the majority of the servings had some skin on them. Delicious. Even the driest piece I at was somewhat moist. Most were quite moist.
I am in no way affiliated with Combustion Inc, the makers of the Predictive Thermometer. But I definitely recommend them despite the not-for-faint-of-heart prices. Version 1.0 is probably all you need unless you do Sous Vide or do a lot of turbo steaks. Not sure when the black Friday sale ends
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