My Annual Turkey Baster Search Has Begun...
With Thanksgiving coming up, I've decided to take stock in the kitchen. I'm replenishing my baking supplies and checking the gaskets on my beloved Kuhn Rikon Duromatic pressure cookers.
This morning, I decided it was time to track down the turkey baster. I don't know about you folks, but Thanksgiving is the ONLY time I ever touch my turkey baster. I suppose I could use it to baste my roast chicken, but somehow I never get around to it.
My sons, however, LOVE the turkey baster for all sorts of projects. They employ it yearround. It is for exactly that reason that I felt compelled to track it down today. My seven year old son loves to fill it with water and eject the water here, there, and everywhere. I can assure you that there have been many Thanksgivings around here where I've had to head out to the playhouse or the toy box hunting for the thing. I've usually returned with my two piece baster in hand. However, much to my husband's chagrin, there have been holidays where the thing couldn't be found and we've had to resort to ladling the drippings over the bird.
I have my baster on deck right now, but there are still a couple weeks before Turkey Day officially arrives and it could disappear yet again. So, I've decided to invest in a new baster this year. Mine is looking a bit worn, and I'm thinking I'll just donate it to the creative souls in the family.
A quick "turkey baster" search on Amazon revealed quite a selection, including those made by KitchenAid, Cuisipro, iSi and others. I suppose they are all basically the same, but I'm wondering if any of you have opinions on the best or the worst? Plastic, glass, or stainless? Dripless?
--Melissa A. Trainer
Annie on November 11, 2009 at 02:56 PM
I have the KitchenAid one pictured above. It came with my roasting pan. It works pretty well, and I like that it came with a brush. I never use it for actual basting, since I always use a turkey bag, but it's good for transferring the turkey grease into a receptacle to make gravy.
I wouldn't recommend using any baster that's been used for who-knows-what all year. Those things are hard enough to clean without knowing exactly where it's been!
Karen on November 12, 2009 at 04:07 PM
Go to Dollar Tree. You can get 10 for $10, throw it away after use.
Mdter on November 12, 2009 at 04:17 PM
Google alton brown turkey brine, although watch the videos and don't just follow the recipe, whoever wrote it down didnt get it 100% right. I just did a test turkey, no basting required.
It's the best turkey I've had in my life (better than anything my parents/grandparents have ever made) even though I made a number of mistakes that I didn't really care about since it was the "test" and I'm mostly making sandwiches with this turkey. Dark meat is very moist, the white is pretty moist but the outer part was slightly dry but I know why--the inside wasn't completely thawed so getting it to 161 degrees took 30ish minutes longer than it should have.
the masterbaster on November 12, 2009 at 04:25 PM
u don't baste your chicken? foolish mortal. know that u must baste your pollo or die.(eventually) i learned finally after bird after pale bird the power of the baster.
Chuckles Mostly on November 12, 2009 at 09:15 PM
I'm sorry but that is the funniest comment I've ever seen posted on a blog.
myklmotorcycle on November 12, 2009 at 09:40 PM
"there have been holidays where the thing couldn't be found and we've had to resort to ladling the drippings over the bird"
Really? Are there also holidays where you couldn't find a turkey and had to resort to ladling drippings over a pigeon?
It's a friggin' oversized eye-dropper. You can get it for a couch-change while you're picking up your turkey. If you can find your car keys.
D-man on November 12, 2009 at 09:46 PM
I use the same one that we use to artificially inseminate goats. I think it adds that extra little something.
Eric on November 13, 2009 at 03:02 AM
Got one similar to this one at Ross:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/stainless-steel-turkey-baster-set/32710961.html
I like it and find occasion to use the injector from time to time.
Goat inseminated turkey? Not sure whether to laugh or barf...