Is Brining a Turkey Really Worth the Effort?

[Dave Lewis]

The last two Turkeys I have cooked, I brined. Last Christmas, I used the Alton Brown brine recipe and oven roasting technique (pre-WSM). The 15 lb 100% natural bird was very good, but I didn't think the brine really added anything, except more work. This Christmas, I brined a 13 lb 100% natural Turkey in Dan Gill's Buttermilk Brine for about 15 hours and cooked on the WSM at 325-350 w/o water in the pan. 3 hours on the nose the breast read 167 and the thigh was 180. I used 2 chunks of apple wood and rubbed the skin with olive oil before cooking. The turkey was a golden brown with a nice smoke ring and smoke flavor, but again I'm not sure the brine added anything to the flavor of the meat or made it anymore moist. Why not just buy a butterball turkey and skip the whole brining step? Any other opinions about brining?

 

[DaveMcK]

Dave,
You have probably opened one of those deep and dark can of worms. But I too am curious what others think. I cooked a sixteen pounder on the 25th. It was an all natural, fresh, New York dressed (top hat and tails) bird. Supposed to be far superior to yer average(jeans and a T-shirt) bird. The meat was a darker color, definately firmer and it had noticably less fat than any other Butterball Tom I've cooked.
I tried the honey brine recipe Chris posted but used a cup of brown sugar 'cause I didn't have no mo honey. I soaked it and kept mixing it for 24 hours.
The bird we ate was a really strong nine for taste and tenderness. It wasn't over salty but had lots of flavor. Two other times I've brined turkey -one was a noticeable improvement the second was flat.
I'm voting on the brine side with a score of two out of three!
All the best,
Dave