June 26 – July 9, 2013
0% Interest Financing
for 18 months
on all purchases $999 and up

Barbeques Galore is offering you an amazing way to get that new backyard of your dreams with our special 0% financing offer!  Just use your GE Capital credit card and spend at least $999 before tax, delivery and other fees.  No interest is assessed on the promotional purchase if paid in full within promotional period.   Subject to credit approval.  See sales associate for details.

May is Barbeques Galore Anniversary month, and we’re celebrating with amazing grill deals all month long!  Check out the full advertisement at this link, and see below for the special package bundles:

Can’t Miss Deal
Turbo 3-Burner Grill
Rotisserie Kit
Turbo Side Burner
3B Grill Cover

Retails for $1456
On sale for $999

A Griller’s Dream
Turbo Elite 5-Burner Grill
Rotisserie Kit
30″ Stainless steel storage drawer
24×17 Access Door
5B Grill Cover

Retails for $2626
On sale for $1999

Doesn’t Get any Better
Turbo Elite 5-Burner Grill
Rotisserie Kit
Turbo Outdoor Refrigerator
30″ Stainless steel storage drawer
39″ stainless steel double access doors
5B Grill Cover

Retails for $3595
On sale for $2999

Cook On 3B cart model package
Cook-On Grill
Cover
Rosewood tongs
Rosewood spatula

Retails for $344
On sale for $299

Odeon 26″ cart model package
Odeon 26″ stainless steel grill with Crossray® technology
Cover
Rotisserie kit
Upgraded stainless steel grates

Retails for $1553
On sale for $999

SALE PRICING EXPIRES JUNE 1, 2013 OR WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.  Discount taken at register.  Individual components sold at regular price.  Available while supplies last, in-store only.  Not valid with any other offers.  Only components listed are available at discount, no substitutions available on promo pricing.  Sale ends 6/1/13.

SPECIAL FINANCING OFFERS MAY 15-28, 2013
Special 0% financing on all purchases will kick in on May 15th and run through May 28, 2013.  Enjoy 0% interest for 18 months on all purchases $999 and up, 24 months no interest on purchases $1,999 and up, and 36 months no interest on purchases of $2,999 or more.

No interest is assessed on the promotional purchase and equal monthly payments are required until paid in full.  Financing provided by GE Capital Retail Bank. To qualify for financing offers, order subtotal must be equal to or greater than minimum purchase amount before taxes, delivery and other charges are applied.  Subject to credit approval.  Must use GE Capital credit card to receive financing.  See sales associate for details.

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Warning: This is a fairly long post. For the takeaway instructions (how to salt meat to increase juiciness), skip to the bottom.

Let me start this off by saying I don’t brine my meat. Ever. Not for Thanksgiving, not for my Sunday supper, and certainly not for a quick weeknight meal. This post is about the reasons why.

It seems to me that as little as 15 years ago, dry turkey was a given. The yearly Thanksgiving ritual at my family’s table did not, include any ill-mannered offspring crying out “DAAAAaaaad, Mom ruined the turkey again,”—turkey wasn’t something that could be ruined. It was dry, tough, and stringy, and that was a fact of life.

Then, about a decade ago, brining entered the scene.* Thanks to an overnight soak in a salt water solution, gone were the days of dry breast meat and extra servings of gravy. I, for one, welcomed our new moist-breasted overlords. Even my mother could throw a turkey in the oven and pull out something remotely edible a few hours later. It was positively magical!

*or more accurately, the technique that had been known to large swaths of the populated world for millennia including China and Scandinavia finally made in-roads into North America’s holiday menu.

These days, everybody and their grandmother (better known as the typical Thanksgiving gathering) has heard of brining, and more and more folks are doing it at home before Turkey Day. But it’s not all pie and gravy. There are a few distinct and definite downsides to wet-brining, and many folks are making the switch to dry-brining(A.K.A. extended salting). The question is, which method works best?

How Brining Works

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s do a quick recap on brining basics. The basic process involves soaking meat (usually lean meats like turkey, chicken, or pork chop) in a tubful of heavily salted water overnight (most brines are int he 5 to 8% salt range by weight water). Over the course of the night, the meat absorbs some of that water. More importantly, that water stays put even after the meat is cooked. By brining meat, you can decrease the amount of total moisture loss by 30 to 40%.

To demonstrate, I cooked three identical turkey breasts in a 300°F oven to an internal temperature of 145°F. One was brined, the other was soaked overnight in plain water, and the last was left as-is. All three breasts came from non-kosher, non-enhanced birds (I.E. the birds were natural, having received no post-treatment after slaughter). I charted their weight straight from the package, after brining, and after cooking.

As you can see, both the bird soaked in brine and the bird soaked in water gained a significant amount of weight prior to roasting, but while the watered bird lost nearly all of that weight as it cooked, the brined bird retained a significant amount more. This corresponded to a juicier texture on eating. So what’s going on here?

Some publications attribute it all to osmosis—the tendency for water to move across a membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration. In this case, water moves from the brining vessel (low solute concentration) to the inside of the turkey’s cells (where there are lots of proteins, minerals, and other fun biological goodies dissolved in the water).

This theory, is in fact, inaccurate. If it were true, then soaking a turkey in pure, unsalted water should be more effective than soaking in a brine, and we’ve already seen that that is not the case. Moreover, if you soak a turkey in a ridiculously concentrated brine (I tested turkey in a 35% salt solution), according to the osmosis theory, it should dry out even more.

However, I found that despite turning the turkey inedibly salty, a highly concentrated 35% salt solution was just as effective at helping a turkey retain moisture as a more moderate 6% salt solution, indicating that the osmosis theory is entirely bunk.

To understand what’s really happening, you have to look at the structure of turkey muscles. Muscles are made up of long, bundled fibers, each one housed in a tough protein sheath. As the turkey heats, the proteins that make up this sheath will contract. Just like a squeezing a tube of toothpaste, this causes juices to be forced out of the bird. Heat them to much above 150°F or so, and you end up with dry, stringy meat.

Salt helps mitigate this shrinkage by dissolving some of the muscle proteins (mainly myosin). The muscle fibers loosen up, allowing them to absorb more moisture, and more importantly, they don’t contract as much when they cook, making sure that more of that moisture stays in-place as the turkey cooks.

Sounds great, right? But there’s a catch.

For a more in-depth look at this, check out The Food Lab’s Turkey Brining Basics.

The Problems With Brining

There are two major problems with brining. First off, it’s a major pain in the butt. Not only does it require that you have a vessel big enough to submerge an entire turkey (common options are a cooler, a big bucket, or a couple of layers of heavy-duty garbage bag tied together with hopes and prayers against breakage), but it requires that you keep everything inside it—the turkey and the brine—cold for the entire process. For an extra-large bird, this can be a couple of days, meaning that you’ve either given up using the main compartment of your fridge at the time of year that you most want to use it, or that you keep a constant supply of ice packs or ice rotating to keep that bird cold.

brining robs your bird of flavor

Secondly, brining robs your bird of flavor. Think about it: your turkey is absorbing water and holding on to it. That means that that extra 30 to 40% savings in moisture loss is not really turkey juices—it’s plain old tap water. Many folks who eat brined birds have that very complaint: It’s juicy, but the juice is watery.

I’ve seen a number of solutions (solutions, get it? haha) offered for this problem, so I decided to test them all out side by side.

Brining Alternatives

By far the most common alternative is plain old salting. When you salt a turkey (or chicken) breast, meat juices are initially drawn out through the process of osmosis (yes, this time it really is osmosis at work). As the salt dissolves in these juices, it forms what amounts to a very concentrated brine, which then allows it to break down muscle proteins. The loosened muscle fibers allow the juices to get reabsorbed, this time taking the salt along for the ride.

Through this process—osmosing, dissolving, re-absorbing—the salt will slowly work its way into the meat.

I’ve also heard people ask the very obvious question “If brining introduces bland, boring tap water to the bird, why not brine in a more flavorful solution?”

Why not indeed? I decided to find out.

With so many methods to test side-by-side, it became impractical to try and roast turkey breasts simultaneously. Instead, I roasted 24 chicken breasts in four different batches of six, averaging out the data across the batches. While chicken is not exactly turkey, the two are similar enough that results for one should correlate to results in the other.

Here’s what I tried:

• Breast #1: Plain (untreated)
• Breast #2: Brined in a 6% salt solution overnight
• Breast #3: Heavily salted overnight
• Breast #4: Brined in chicken broth with a 6% salt content overnight
• Breast #5: Brined in cider with a 6% salt content overnight
• Breast #6: Soaked in plain water overnight

Breasts #1 and #6 were included as a control to ensure that the brine and salt solutions were behaving as expected, as well as a means of evaluating how closely the data would mirror that of the turkey breasts.

Here’s what happened with breasts 1, 2, 3, and 6 (plain, brined, salted, and water-soaked).

As expected, the brined chicken breasts held on to significantly more moisture than either the plain chicken breasts or the water-soaked chicken breasts. Indeed, in this test, the water-soaked breasts actually ended up dryer on average than the plain breasts. Take a look at the carnage:

Dry as the Gobi desert (on a admittedly very-moist-for-a-desert day).

On the other hand, take a look at the brined breast:

As plump and juicy as a benevolent aunt in a Disney film. Tasting it, there’s a definite case of wet-sponge syndrome. Water comes out of it as you chew, giving you the illusion of juiciness, but the texture is a little too loose, and the flavor a little bland.

Moving on to the salted breast, we find that it’s still significantly moister than the non-salted breast (though it was a couple of percentage points dryer than the brined breast). Tasting it, it’s undoubtedly more juicy and well-seasoned, with a stronger chicken flavor. Texture-wise, it’s significantly different from both plain and brined turkey, with the smooth, dense-but-tender texture of lightly cured meat.

Visually, you can see clear signs of this curing with its decidedly pink hue:

With a small chicken breast, this pink, moist, cured section extends nearly to the center of the breast. On a turkey, you’d only see it around the outer edges (which, serendipitously, happen to be the parts most prone to overcooking and drying out anyway).

While the brined breast was slightly juicier, flavorwise and texturewise, I’d take the salted chicken over the brined any day.

What About The Flavored Brines?

First off, don’t try to brine your turkey or chicken in cider (or any other acidic marinade, for that matter). Don’t do it. Just don’t. The acid in the cider will begin the denaturization process of the meat, effectively “cooking” it without heat. The results? Ultra-dry meat with a wrinkled, completely desiccated exterior like this:

More interesting were the results of the broth-soaked chicken. It seems like the ultimate solution, right? If brining forces bland water into your meat, why not replace that water with flavorful broth?

Unfortunately, physics is a fickle mistress who refuses to be reigned in. Tasting the broth-soaked chicken next to the plain brine-soaked chicken, there was barely a noticeable difference in flavor at all. The broth-soaked chicken still had the same hallmarks of a regular brined bird (juicy/wet texture, blander flavor). What the heck’s going on?

There are two principles at work here. The first is that to the naked eye, broth is a pure liquid, in reality, broth consists of water with a vast array of dissolved solids in it that contribute to its flavor. Most of these flavorful molecules are organic compounds that are relatively large in size—on a molecular scale, that is—while salt molecules are quite small. So while salt can easily pass across the semi-permeable membranes that make up the cells in animal tissue, larger molecules cannot.**

**Good thing too, otherwise you’d be leaking proteins and minerals out of your body every time you took a bath.

Additionally, there’s an effect called salting out, which occurs in water-based solutions containing both proteins and salt. Think of a cup of broth as a college dance party populated with cheerleaders (the water, let’s call them the Pi Delta Pis), nerds (the proteins, we’ll refer to them as the Lamba Lambda Lambdas), and jocks (the salt, obviously the Alpha Betas).***

***I make no specifications as to the gender and sexual preference of said classes of individuals, but for the sake of this analogy, let us assume that nerds and jocks are not attracted to each other and that cheerleaders attract both nerds and jocks.

a few of those cheerleaders will leave the party, taking a few nerds along for the ride

Now, at a completely jock-free party, the nerds actually have a shot at the cheerleaders, and end up co-mingling, forming a homogenous mix. Open up the gymnasium doors, and a few of those cheerleaders will leave the party, taking a few nerds along for the ride. Unfortunately, those gymnasium doors are locked shut, and the only folks strong enough to open them are the jocks. So what happens when you let some jocks into that party?

The cheerleaders who were initially fine socializing with the nerds will quickly and selectively flock to the jocks. The nerds end up finding each other, huddling into small groups, and twiddling their thumbs. When the jocks finally go to bust the gymnasium doors open at the end of the party, they leave hand-in-hand with the cheerleaders, leaving the nerds in the dust. In our sad tale, those Tri-Lambs never get their revenge.

The exact same thing is happening in a broth-based brine. Water molecules are attracted to salt ions and will selectively interact with them. The poor proteins, meanwhile, are left with only each other and end up forming large aggregate groups which makes it even harder for them to get into the meat. When the salt breaks down muscle fibers sufficiently to allow the uptake of water (the equivalent of our jocks breaking down those doors), plenty of water and salt gets into the meat, but very little protein does.****

The result? Unless you are using an extra-concentrated homemade stock, the amount of flavorful compounds that make it inside your chicken or turkey are very, very limited. Given the amount of stock you’d need to use to submerge a turkey, this doesn’t seem like a very wise move.

****This phenomenon is used in biology to remove specific unwanted proteins from solutions. As more salt is added to a solution, proteins will form larger and larger aggregates until they are eventually large enough to be visible to the naked eye and precipitate out of solution. Those proteins can then be removed with centrifugation. By knowing the salt concentration that causes different proteins to precipitate, scientists can target specific proteins to be removed while keeping the rest in solution. The excess salt can then be removed via dialysis (essentially microscopic straining).

So What Does This Mean For My Turkey?

This is all well and good, but what does it mean? How do you apply it?

Well let me end how I started: I don’t brine my birds because I like my birds to taste like birds, not like watered-down birds. Salting your meat is nearly as effective at preventing moisture loss, and the flavor gains are noticeable. Want to know the truth? Even advanced salting is not a necessary first step. I see it more as a safeguard to overcooking. It provides a little buffer in case you accidentally let that bird sit in the oven an extra 15 minutes. As long as you are very careful about monitoring your bird, there’s no reason to brine or salt it in advance.

That said, it doesn’t hurt to take precautions.

How To Do It If You So Choose

Easy. Use kosher salt. Salt your meat liberally (it should look like a light snowfall on the bird). Place the bird on a plate in the fridge overnight and loosely cover it with plastic or cheesecloth. Rinse if desired to remove excess surface salt (I skip this step because I like salty skin). Pat dry. Roast as desired. For even better results, carefully separate the skin from the breast and thighs and rub the salt directly on the meat, under the skin.

Let deliciousness, merriment, and family bonding ensue. You may not all be able to agree on whether the cranberries belong in the stuffing or on the side, but at least you can all agree that this is one darn tasty bird.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

Take advantage of HUGE discounts on grills, smokers, heaters, island accessories, and much more.  Some items are below cost, and you could save up to 75% off some of the best grills out there, including Grand Turbo, Turbo Elite, Odeon, and more.

Sale will last as long as the product does, so come early for the best selection.  All sales are final, and cash or credit card are accepted only (sorry, no gift cards or checks).

Our last warehouse sale sold out of everyone on the first day, so we hope to see you here!

The Barbeques Galore warehouse sale will take place at 2650 E. Lindsay Privado St in Ontario, CA.  We’re conveniently located off the 60 and Archibald, or off the 10 and Haven, on the south side of Ontario International Airport.

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1. What kind of oil should I use? The best oils for deep frying are those with the
highest smoke points, such as peanut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and canola oil. Our
favorite is Peanut Oil, given the exceptionally high smoke point and mild flavor.

2. How big of Turkey should I use? Deep frying is best achieved with a 10-12lb
turkey. (Anything bigger is best roasted or smoked.)

3. How do you prepare your Turkey? Be sure your turkey is completely thawed and
cleaned out prior to frying. You’ll also want to pat dry the inside and outside of the
turkey to remove any bits of moisture before seasoning and frying.

4. How do you flavor the bird? We highly recommend using an injector
marinade (anything from the Cajun Injector series will be delicious!) to add tons of flavor
to your fried turkey. It’s even better to pair an injector marinade with the rub of your
preference, rubbing inside the cavity, under the skin, and over the top of the turkey.

5. How much oil? You want the turkey to be fully covered in oil, but still a few inches
from the top of the fryer. Your fryer will have a maximum fill line marked, but it’s always
smart to test the proper fill point by submerging the turkey in water beforehand.

6. How hot should the oil be? Heat the oil to 375°F and then turn off the fryer to safely
insert the turkey. Place the turkey upside down in the basket so the legs are at the top,
which will allow the cavity to fill with boiling oil. Carefully lower the basket into the fryer
using the hanger provided and an oven mitt. Once the turkey is in place, relight the
fryer and bring the temp up to 350°F.

7. How long should I cook it? Turkey should be fried at 350°F for 3 ½ minutes per
pound and until golden brown. Once complete, remove the turkey from the fryer and
check the internal temperature- turkey breast is done at 165°. If additional cooking time
is needed repeat the steps to insert and continue frying.

8. What about after it is done? Once the desired internal temp is reached it’s most
important to let the bird rest for 15 minutes on a cooling rack with paper towels to
absorb the oil and allow the internal juices to settle before cutting.

9. What can I do with the oil if I want to use it again? Once the oil has cooled you
can pour it back into the original container and reuse within three months if stored in a
cool, dark place. (Be sure to filter the oil to remove any small particles.)

10. How do I dispose of the oil? After the oil has cooled, simply pour it back into the
original container (recommend using a funnel), seal the lid, and dispose with your trash.

DEEP FRY RECIPES

Paula Deen Deep-Fried Turkey

The How-to on Deep Frying Turkey from EatTurkey.com

Cajun Deep Fried Turkey from AllRecipes.com

Deep-fried turkey marinade recipe

Also, don’t forget about Cyber Monday, which will take place Monday, November 26th on our web store.  More deals and special savings on barbecue grills, grilling accessories and tools, and much more! Check back to our Barbeques Galore Facebook page for all the juicy details!

When the contest began, word had spread all over the country through social media, and almost 200 people registered to compete. From the very beginning, however, it became obvious that this contest would not be for the faint of heart. The contest is now nearing the end, with just under two weeks left. When the contest began, the Major League Baseball season had just entered its first week of games. Now, the baseball season is over and our contestants are still grilling.

Taking advantage of the reach of YouTube and Facebook, the Grill32 Challenge has made over 340,000 Facebook impressions. Over 10,000 posts have been made by contestants throughout the contest, with over 3,000 grilling videos uploaded to YouTube.

Each contestant has a different story to tell, and through their videos each day, we’ve been able to look into their personalities, their taste in food, and how much fun they are having.

While most contestants are located in California, the states of Virginia, Georgia, Arizona and Oklahoma are still represented. Contestants have risen at 3am to grill a quick breakfast before heading on a long road trip, they have recorded videos from overseas while on business trips, and they have cooked everything from hot dogs to cedar plan smoked yogurt saffron chicken and banana pancakes.

“This has been a lot of fun,” said Richard Balfour of Acworth, GA. “Just yesterday, I had to grill in a torrential downpour. I had my 10-year-old daughter film while I held an umbrella and worked the grill. The only thing louder than our laughter was the rain!”

Gabe Banuelos of Livermore, CA says, “I hope to take away the satisfaction of knowing I was part of a great challenge against tough competitors. If I won, I would be forever grateful to Barbeques Galore and would be their number one cheerleader. I would also relish the fact that I could share my prize with others. A kitchen, whether it is indoors or out, is meant to be shared. It’s a place where laughs, stories and memories are made with friends and family, all while enjoying great food and drink.”

Tina McCleary of Corona, CA had this to say about what she’s learned so far during this competition. “What I have learned mostly about grilling is that you need “patience” which I thought I was good at before this challenge. It’s a whole different story when you see expensive meat go down the garbage disposal, or vegetables that no one wants to eat, but me. I have also learned a great deal on how to put together spices that work, some I have never used before. The butcher at the grocery store has taught me different cuts and types of meat and gives me ideas. They are even rooting for me at the checkout aisle. People are always asking me how the challenge is going, and they have ideas too. It’s great to have so many family, friends and strangers support. Grilling is a family deal. Everybody loves to eat barbeque, not only for the food but because it truly represents that feel good thought of being at the barbecue with family. Hooray for the grillers all around the universe, we all rock!”

For more information about the Grill32 Challenge, including a full list of current contestants and their city of residence, please visit the official web site at www.grill32challenge.com. To view contestant videos, please visit the official Grill32 Challenge Facebook page at www.facebook.com/grill32challenge

For interview requests with a contestant in your local market, please contact Chris Austin, Marketing Manager for Barbeques Galore, at 214-355-4886 or chris.austin@bbqgalore.com

The contest will be set to end on Saturday, November 10th. If more than one contestant finishes the contest, a random name will be chosen that following week and announced online. This would be an amazing lifestyle story for the winner’s local market. How much did they spend on propane tanks? How much weight did they gain (or lose)? How many meals did they cook? What are they going to do with their winnings? How did this contest bring their family closer together, and what are the best memories?

CONTESTANT LIST
Vince Cook; San Diego, CA
Alex Cabal; Laveen, AZ
Richard Balfour; Acworth, GA
James Mickey; Temecula, CA
Mark Balderson; Fairfax, VA
Joe Testani; Lake Havasu, AZ
Greg DeLonais; Lexington, OK
Bill Torres; Carrollton, TX
Andy Hanson; Glendora, CA
Reggie Hunter; Orange, CA
Mark Kliewer; Springfield, VA
Barbara Ameli; Laguna Niguel, CA
Michael Heath; San Jacinto, CA
Robert Bristow Sr; Stockton, CA
Andrew Tosh; Newport Beach, CA
Steve Morris; Canyon Country, CA
Gabe Banuelos; Livermore, CA
John Formia; Agua Dulce, CA

ABOUT BARBEQUES GALORE
Barbeques Galore is the nation’s largest specialty retailer of grills and outdoor living products, established in the U.S. in 1980. We have retail stores concentrated throughout California, Arizona and Texas, where the sun shines often and outdoor living is a year-round indulgence.

In addition to providing a huge selection of grills of every sort, we also specialize in fireplace gas logs, outdoor heaters and the accessories to pull it all together.

When it comes to grills, we carry our own private-label products, including the best-selling Turbo and Grand Turbo gas grills, as well as complete lines by the top grill manufacturers in the industry. Our vendors include: GrandHall, Weber, Lynx, Twin Eagles, Firemagic and Big Green Egg, among others.

With millions of grill sales under our belt we pride ourselves on the expert knowledge of our sales associates, who will always take the time to help you shop for the right grill for your home, business, or recreational activity. Whether it’s a small portable grill or a complete custom island we have options for every space and budget.

Modern grills are more efficient and heat up much faster than older grills due to their ability to take in and put out more gas, but run the risk of gas being allowed to escape from various connection points.  Therefore, ventilation is required for all islands so that any possible gas leak has a place to escape into the air safely.

The option of utilizing louvered doors (doors with vents in them) on an island is acceptable, however we highly recommend in addition to these vented doors that standalone vents be installed.

See the graphic below for proper ventilation points on a standard island.  Your installation may be slightly different, and to be safe it is always recommended to have more ventilation points than you think you really need.

Click the photo to open up a printable pdf file