Inject Some Flavour

One year we deep fried our holiday turkey.  It was wonderful, crispy, dark brown, moist, delicious, I could go on… Plus the bonus that it only took 45 minutes for a 12-lb turkey.

Instead of a rub, I opted to inject the bird with some flavour instead. I didn’t want to taint the entire batch of oil with those flavours. It worked out quite well. This gave me the idea to do it all the time with my turkey, when oven roasting as well.

It’s quite simple actually. First you need an injector – which you can now buy at most large grocery stores or your local hardware store. Second, you need the fluid. The quantities are not really important, but here is a mixture I made:

• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree.  Strain the liquid out and voila – you have your injector liquid.  When injecting the bird, try to get the tip of the needle as far down into the flesh as possible. Try not to pierce the skin if possible. My 15-lb turkey took almost all the liquid.

The resulting bird is moist, delicious and flavourful. When you cut into the meat, you will see wonderful streaks of olive green, where you injected your liquid. Try it for your holiday bird this year!