More Turkey Questions

[Guest]

Hello everyone. I can see that we are all gearing up for the big day and are all prepping ourselves for the perfect Thanksgiving day bird. My question has to do with the basic brining and prepping of a turkey. Exactly how long should I flavor brine a turkey? I have seen it posted that some do it anywhere from 4 hours to overnight. What is the general consensus here? Also I am intrigued by the crispy skin discussion and would like to air dry my turkey overnight. This seems a bit off to me. That would mean that I would basically be storing an uncooked turkey in my refrigerator for about 24-36 hours. This seems like an awful long time for poultry, given the fact that it will be uncovered. I admit that I have never smoked a turkey before, and I will do a trial run this weekend. I have a roasting stand that liqiud can be poured in simulating a beer butt turkey. If I am brining and air drying should I leave the liquid out of the stand? How about using the liquid, but not brining? So many questions, so little time! Thanks in advance.

Derek

 

[Chris Allingham]

The length of time your turkey spends in the brine depends on the recipe used and your personal taste. Recipes using greater quantities of salt usually mean a shorter brining time.

A turkey needs to brine for at least 12 hours to do any good, in my opinion. The Basic Brined Turkey featured on the Web site this month uses 2 cups of Diamond Crystal kosher salt to 2 gallons of cool water to brine a 12-14 lb turkey for 12 hours. Shake's Honey Brined Turkey uses the same ratio of salt to water with the addition of other ingredients, but soaks for 2 days.

I wouldn't worry about the turkey being uncovered in the refrigerator for the length of time necessary to brine and air-dry it. The turkey is completely submerged in cold water during the brining, so it's not uncovered then. The air-drying process is only 12 hours max, and it won't go bad uncovered during this time.

As far as liquid in a vertical stand or even in the WSM water pan, I intend to smoke my turkey this year using little, if any, liquid in the cooker so I can get a high temp and (hopefully) crispy skin. Even if I wasn't brining, I still don't think I'd use any water in the cooker.

Regards,
Chris