The Truth About Brining Turkey + Salting Turkey Discussion


 
Interesting read.

My wife is a fan of brining (as am I) but she tried shoving her head through a windshield Sunday and won't be able to do the turkey this year. I'm going to make a "temporary head of household" decision & try plain salt. If she doesn't like it, I'll take away her crutches. :)
 
See also Chris's article for a salted butterflied turkey.

I've been salting for a few years and prefer it to brining. Very good results.

Phil, I second Jim's comment. May she heal well and quickly.

Rita
 
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Great article but in my opinion he's doing tests on meat that has been brined for to long. Yes if you brine chicken breast for 24hrs it will get a mushy watery feel and flavour to it but if you brine it for 6-8 hrs the texture of the meat doesn't noticeably change and it will be juicier. For a large turkey I only brine for 18-24hrs, I would never leave it in for 2days as he says.

He is also making it sound like its a big production to brine. The apple brine recipe takes up about 30 minutes of my time to prepare, it's easy to get a bucket big enough to brine in and most guys I know have a beer fridge they keep just above freezing which is perfect to throw the bucket with the turkey in.
 
Interesting - I recently did the apple brined turkey (rotisserie style on my Weber OTG) test run and liked the results. I used cider in my brine. I thought I could detect an apple flavor in the meat but that could have been the apple wood smoke I used or maybe I was just fooling myself - (my wife detected no apple flavor). I like the explanations provided in the article (science - it's what's for dinner) and may try the salting approach for my upcoming TG rotisserie bird. It would certainly cut down on the prep effort...

A couple of questions:
  1. It is hard to tell how much salt was used from the discussion. Can anyone provide a better measure?
  2. How salty is the skin if you don't rinse the salt off prior to cooking? Does anyone have any feedback on this?

Regards,

John
 
John, Cook's Illustrated suggests:

For a Whole Turkey: 24 to 48 hours
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal (OR 3/4 teaspoon Morton’s) kosher salt per pound

Apply salt evenly inside cavity and under skin of breasts and legs, wrap tightly with plastic, and rest in refrigerator.

Some folks don't bother salting under the skin, since the skin is permeable. If salting on the skin instead of under it, I'd give the turkey 48 hours in the refrigerator. Cook's suggestions are on the conservative side, so I doubt you'll find the turkey too salty, but if you'll be making gravy from the drippings, do taste them first and don't add any salt to the gravy base before adding the drippings.

This did not make the skin overly salty in the times I've used this method. I did not rinse the turkey.

One benefit of salting instead of brining is refrigerator space. One could also salt the turkey, put it into a leak-proof plastic bag and into a cooler, and fill the cooler with ice for a couple of days if you need more space.

Many of us add herbs and/or spices when salting to flavor the meat.

Rita
 
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Thanks Rita,

I am planning to use a compound butter under the skin of my rotisserie turkey so I may use the salt on the outside of the skin. Last year I used an ice chest with frozen 2 liter bottles of water on the deck to thaw and hold the bird (outside temp was in the low 40's). I brined it in the ice chest as well. This worked well...

Regards,

John
 
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