Dry brined turkey. You won't be disappointed!

[Dave Russell]

Just a suggestion to try what I did last year if you've already got an unenhanced bird but are thinking about not messing with brining. There's a little video clip, and that's the actual recipe that I believe I used last year, but simply salting and sticking with the article is just fine as well. Nothing but salt and time, and sometimes simpler is better. (Tried the other technique last week of salting under the skin and rinsing, and I think I'll stick with last year's over the skin salting and no rinsing from now on.) Butterflied, top of the breast chilled with ice half an hour, and smoked with water in the pan at around 250* is a great idea.

http://www.latimes.com/feature...1117,0,4942852.story

 

[Dennis T.]

Dave ... Thanks for the link. I have recently been using the dry brine approach with chicken (I use the Zuni Cafe approach with salt/herbs under the skin). There's still no rinsing with this method as the bird is not over salted. I rotisserie cook the birds on the kettle and the results are incredible.

I haven't tried it with anything on the smoker, but I think I will this year. Any reason for smoking at 250 instead of a higher temp ... 325-350?

Also, do you use any herbs under the skin or stash anything in the cavity?

 

[Dave Russell]

Dennis, yeah, I guess the reason I finally smoked a turkey at 250* was because my cooker likes that temp with water in the pan, none of the family cares about the skin, I figured I'd get a little better smoke flavor, and I simply had the time to do it.

No disappointments here, and if anything, the slower cooking seemed to even out the cooking a bit. I guess one can think of that thick turkey like you would a rib roast. Cook it fast and you'll have the outside at medium/medium well, before the core gets up to your target doneness, of say, med. rare. Cook it slower and you'll end up with a lot less "gray" meat. Am I missing something here? Of course, leaving the bird out for at least an hour helps, but all I know is that there were no dry pieces cut off the low-n-slow bird, with the exception of the wings. My 325*-ish grilled birds tasted good. Don't get me wrong. I just think the low-n-slow with water bird gets the nod if I have the time since nobody round here cares about the little bitty slivers of skin left with each piece of carved bird. Fried turkey is a different story, though.

Oh, and regarding herbs and such, no, all I did was salt this one and butterfly, with a "peppered butter" pushed up under the skin and on the outside to serve with a white sauce. It was ok, but the main thing was that the bird was a little bland due to the fact it was cheap and 8%enhanced. Of course, it was 59 cents a pound, not $2, like my salted bird of last year.