[Sca-cooks] Brining vessels was :::Stuffing

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 3, 2006, at 10:35 AM, Sue Clemenger wrote:

> I think you could tailor it to the size of the bird, but the one  
> that I've
> heard of being used most often is an ice cooler (you know, the kind  
> most of
> us take camping).  The bird, properly cleaned, goes into a couple  
> of clean,
> unused, unscented garbage bags with the brine, and then is place in  
> the
> chest, which is otherwise filled with ice or something.  I've also  
> heard of
> putting bird and brine directly into the ice chest.  The trick with  
> both,
> apparently, is keeping the bird properly submerged.
> All just hearsay on my part, as it's not something I've tried.  I  
> only have
> myself to cook for, and no room for storage/freezing of extras.  Have
> thought of trying it with a chicken, though....

I also use plastic bags as a liner; we buy large, clear,  
biodegradable recycling bags, guaranteed to contain no ingredients,  
substances or stray molecules of any kind, by the case from the  
wholesaler around the corner. Given where I live and the standard  
late-November outdoor, nighttime temperature, I have used a large  
stockpot -- my largest is a 40-quart -- which I leave out on my  
balcony overnight. I'm sure this is akin to having a car up on blocks  
in your yard, on some level, and we live in a co-op apartment  
building with some people for whom this type of thing would signal  
the dropping of property values and The End Of Civilization In  
General,  but when you do this after dark and remove it early the  
next morning it's not a problem. The advantages of the bag liners are  
several: you can exclude air and seal the bags (I usually use a  
double thickness), making turning largely unnecessary, it makes  
cleanup easier, and in the case of a large aluminum pot such as the  
one I use, there's no problem with reactive materials.

Adamantius


"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04