Sean Paxton Talks Turkey

Brew Ha Ha Podcast

Sean Paxton, The Home Brew Chef, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. Mark Carpenter is away on vacation. Sean has several turkey recipes on his website. Each recipe highlights a different set of flavors but they are all for beer brined turkeys. The alcohol in the beer helps tenderize the meat. You can use all kinds of beer. He also suggests tangerines or other types of citrus. Last year he used Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA and blood oranges in one recipe. Beers that have rich malts which have a little more sugars in them, work very well too. You can cook it in the oven, or other ways like sous vide, smoking, on the grill, or deep fried. Herlinda Heras mentions that you must follow precautions if you're deep frying a turkey, and Sean has all that information on his site with the recipes. There are dozens of recipes that use beer, including all parts of a menu, savory or sweet, even cookies and pies. Sean explains that they use a combination of water and beer. You will need from 6 to 12 bottles depending on your turkey. Sean teaches a wet brine, rather than a dry brine. The bath is flavored with vegetables and herbs. You can use a giant plastic zip-lock bag. Herlinda also mentions that you need to watch the temperature. First you warm the brine to mix the flavors, then you cool it with ice. Sean Paxton also has stuffing recipes, and even a Turduckin recipe (the famous Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken). Sean Paxton is also featured in the award-winning documentary Beers of Joy on Hulu and Amazon and elsewhere.