Turkey Brining

[woodburner]

Since the turkey will soon be a major issue which must be dealt with in some spectacular manner by Thanksgiving Day, the question must, inevitably, now  arise, do you brine?

Not an intimate look into your culinary soul so much as a realistic, should we or shouldn't we, do we or don't we, brine the bird?

Your opinions?

Is it actually worth the extra trouble?

Adds too much salt?

Better results in the completed bird?

←

Brine (avoid unfiltered tap water) products which have not been previously soaked in solution, or otherwise injected by the processor.

Boil the brine, and refrigerate prior to adding your fowl.

Rinse the product completely, after removed, with fresh clean water.

Always worth the added step.

Gobble, Gobble

woodburner

[intraining]

hmmmmmm, i'll be interested to see what people say - never had a brined bird, but i did recently read somewhere, perhaps here, to help even cooking which helps retain moisture, is to place hot bricks or pieces of metal in the cavity of the bird.

i'm off to watch a movie

[SteveCleve]

I brine poultry. 1 cup pickling salt and 2 cups sugar per gallon of cold water. Brine about 1 hour per lb. Rinse well. Because I use pickling salt (dissolves easily), I don't boil my brine. I am curious if others add anything else to their brine. I have found that herbs add no discernible flavor. If someone has a different experience, I'd love to hear about it.

Edited November 5, 2004 by SteveCleve (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

I am curious if others add anything else to their brine.  I have found that herbs add no discernible flavor.  If someone has a different experience, I'd love to hear about it.

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Me too, SteveCleve ... just read this:

way to tell if you have enough salt in your brine is that a raw egg will float in it.

add whatever seasonings you like to the brine, but don’t add anything that has salt. Brines can be spicy hot with peppers and cayenne, or savory with herbs and garlic, or sweet with molasses, honey or brown sugar.

Interesting, no??

[Lexica]

The first time we brined a turkey, something about the combination of ingredients in the brine (I seem to recall spices, molasses, and maple syrup being involved) resulted in the turkey skin coming out almost like a wonderful crispy bacon. It was one of those situations where I had to threaten my husband with a wooden spoon to get him to stop picking at the bird before I could carve it.

The only problem we have is that he has an aversion to juicy poultry. Luckily, he prefers white meat and I prefer dark, so I cook it until the dark meat is done and avoid doing anything (other than the brining) that might ordinarily help protect against overcooking the breast. It does make it easier - no concerns about starting it breast-down or on its side and then having to wrestle with turning a hot bird.

add whatever seasonings you like to the brine, but don’t add anything that has salt

I'm a little puzzled by this. Does it mean that once you have the proper salinity, you shouldn't add any further salty ingredients? Or is it saying something else?

[woodburner]

Salts:

Many good articles have been written regarding the use of Kosher Salt in brines, versus table salt.

One must also remember that of the two most popular Kosher salts available, Morton's and Diamond Crystal, the volume measurement between the two, should not be interchanged.

In other words, one weighs more by volume than the other, which could result in a higher salinity brine than the other.

If anyone has questions regarding this, please ask.

woodburner

[Dave the Cook]

eGCI unit on brining: Here.

[snowangel]

Reminder to read Dave's EGI course on Brining and look at the green and aqua turkey breasts. The color is, well, vivid.

[snowangel]

eGCI unit on brining: Here.

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Great minds think alike!

[Dave the Cook]

Well, ours do, anyway.

[Really Nice!]

For the liquid I use a mixture of 75 percent water, 25 percent whole milk for all poultry and fowl. The milk adds an extra dimension to the flavor.

For the salt I use 1 cup kosher salt for every gallon of liquid.

I brine mine starting on Monday night for 24 hours. Tuesday night I rinse it under cold running water and pat it dry; very dry. Rest it on paper towels and let it air dry in the refrigerator from Tuesday night to Thursday morning. (A dry skin makes for a crispier skin.)

Another thing I do is freeze butter pats on Wednesday night and then insert them between the breast meat and skin before placing the turkey in the oven.

[woodburner]

For the liquid I use a mixture of 75 percent water, 25 percent whole milk for all poultry and fowl. The milk adds an extra dimension to the flavor.

Milk??

What type of flavor>

woodburner

[andiesenji]

Oh yes! I brine and have for several years.

I use this recipe Ultimate brine for turkey.

With outstanding results.

On her radio show Melinda explains the reasons and the effect of brining better than anyone else.

To make a long story short, it causes the tightly wound celluar structures to unwind, allowing moisture to be retained in the flesh during cooking instead of being forced out by further tightening caused by the application of heat.

This is the reason brined meats retain more moisture.

[Jason Perlow]

Empire Kosher Turkey: No brining required, because it already is.

The Empire bird is the gold standard around this house during Turkey day.

[daniellewiley]

We've used this recipe for brine and glaze from Bon Appetit for about five years now. The flavor is amazing, as is the color and flavor. We always have to BBQ our turkey because our oven is so small that you can't fit one in it!!

[Chef Mongo]

I've brined a couple dozen boids now, and have tinkered with my brine recipe (originally Alton Brown's, now much changed/improved).

I brine any turkey I'm not frying. This Thanksgiving, I'm doing one of each, as my new French pals have never tasted fried turkey.

[chefdg]

Most certainely brine, and then fry.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Empire Kosher Turkey: No brining required, because it already is.

The Empire bird is the gold standard around this house during Turkey day.

←

I buy Empire Kosher turkeys, of course, but the pinfeathers (or whatever they are called) left on the legs bother me terribly...

Dear Abby,

Should I add a bottle of Nair to my Thanksgiving grocery list?

Does the bird need an appointment for a bikini wax?

Perplexed and Bewildered in Atlanta

[jmcgrath]

Since the turkey will soon be a major issue which must be dealt with in some spectacular manner by Thanksgiving Day, the question must, inevitably, now  arise, do you brine?

Not an intimate look into your culinary soul so much as a realistic, should we or shouldn't we, do we or don't we, brine the bird?

Your opinions?

Is it actually worth the extra trouble?

Adds too much salt?

Better results in the completed bird?

←

A lot of turkeys are already brined or "flavor enhanced" by injecting broth or saline solution. Brining one of them will make things worse, not better. Check the wrapping before proceding further.

I brine and finds it adds a lot of moistness, especially to the white meat which tends to dry out before the dark meat is done if no brining is performed.

You need to keep the turkey below 40F during the brining process. This will be difficult in most refrigerators. A food grade plastic bag or stock pot large enough to hold the turkey can be used in a cooler packed with ice. If the plastic bag ruptures or leaks, spillage will be contained within the cooler rather than your refrigerator.

I brine overnight, rinse the turkey thoroughly, and start cooking in the morning. I use one cup of kosher salt and three quarters of a cup of sweetener per gallon of water. The most straight forward sweetener is white sugar, but you could also use brown sugar, honey, molasses, or maple syrup. I don't add spices to my brine.

Jim

[Chef Mongo]

I'd have to disagree as far as "re-brining" previously injected birds. I've used frozen turkeys, pumped full of gods-know-what in the way of self-basting solutions and still brined them to great success. If your brine is made to the proper salt level, it won't make the turkey saltier, but it DOES seem to do "flush out" the commercial injection in favor of your own briny goodness.

[Rachel Perlow]

I buy Empire Kosher turkeys, of course, but the pinfeathers (or whatever they are called) left on the legs bother me terribly...

Dear Abby,

Should I add a bottle of Nair to my Thanksgiving grocery list?  

Does the bird need an appointment for a bikini wax?

Perplexed and Bewildered in Atlanta

←

My mother hates those pin feathers on kosher birds as well and obsessively pulls them before cooking the bird. Unless there's a really hairy patch, I hardly notice the occasional feather. Also, they are much easier to remove when the bird is cooked. They are usually on the bits of bird that don't usually get eaten, so I don't see the big deal.

[Gifted Gourmet]

My mother hates those pin feathers on kosher birds as well and obsessively pulls them before cooking the bird.

They are usually on the bits of bird that don't usually get eaten, so I don't see the big deal.

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Maybe because they are unsightly? and make what should be a pristine fowl, appear unkempt? and for the price of purchasing a kosher turkey, I expect it to be superior ... this just looks plain untidy and entails more work .. and those pinfeathers are on the wings as well ... I expect more ...

[scott123]

Brining for me is one step towards deli turkey breast. Any steps towards deli turkey breast are a very bad thing.

Salt denatures protein. In other words, you're starting to cook the bird before it reaches the oven.

More water content, yes, more salt content as well. But tougher meat. Think about it, if deli turkey breast wasn't sliced thin, you'd be chewing the stuff for hours. With brined meat, it's not that extreme, but it is in that general direction. "Ah, but my brined meat is very tender, you may say" My response? It would have been even more tender without the pre-cooking from the salt.

Why mess with something so wonderfully scrumptious as poultry meat? Why improve upon perfection?

I have two theories about the current popularity of brining

1. It attracts a great number of people who aren't that comfortable roasting poultry and live in constant fear of dry overcooked meat.

2. Celebrity chefs endorse it wholeheartedly since their taste buds are impaired from smoking and thus crave extra salt.

These statements apply to the general public, mind you, and not the wise members of this forum. I'm sure that the members here are very comfortable roasting meat as well as being immune to celebrity endorsement. I do feel, though, that a large portion of the less educated public brines because Alton Brown does it and not necessarily because they prefer the way it tastes.

[andiesenji]

Your turkeys may be more tender without brining. However, I am roasting fresh-killed, free-range turkeys (bronze) that have much less fat and absolutely no liquid injections of any kind. The first year I did one of these it was not wonderful. The next year and every year since I have brined and it has been outstanding.

I have also done a side by side test of one brined and one one unbrined turkey, El Cheapo, loss leaders (actually they were free because of my large purchases at two different markets) and the brined turkey was by far the better result.

They were roasted in the same oven, not exactly side by side, one was upper one was lower, but the oven is convection so they got the same heat. I hadn't intended to roast the second turkey (the reason it wasn't brined) it was supposed to become stock, however I had last minute additions to my guest list and needed the extra for dinner.

I just want to add that I never do anything because it is "fashionable" - there has to be a good and practical reason for it. And I certainly don't pay that much attention to the celebrity chefs.

Edited November 5, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[russ parsons]

Brining for me is one step towards deli turkey breast. Any steps towards deli turkey breast are a very bad thing.

Salt denatures protein. In other words, you're starting to cook the bird before it reaches the oven.

with all due respect, i would love to see this assertion backed up. i'm not aware of any evidence for it. even more, i'm not aware that there is any tenderness added by brining that could not be attributed to increased moisture (as opposed to, say, adding papaya enzyme or something foul like that).

i do agree with scott that there is a tendency to a deli-meat character with some brined turkeys, but i think that's because people add so much sugar. in working up my brining recipe many years ago, i repeatedly reduced the sugar and found that each step improved the flavor. the final result includes no sugar at all.