Brining your turkey, is it worth the bother?

[Kay Bixler]

For the past couple years we have put the holiday bird in brine for 24 hours prior to roasting. In all honesty I can't say I've noticed a difference from non-brined turkey yet we still do it.

Do you brine your turkey and does it make much of a difference?

We use a pretty simple brine improvised from Dear Old Martha: salt, peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaf, coriander and water.

And happy holiday to all the Americans on here.

Best,
Kay

 

[Bill Lundstrom]

i stopped brining and now salt the bird about 24 hours before cooking.

another drawback of brining is it leaves the pan dripping too salty to make sauce or gravy with.

 

[Peter Creasey]

Brining makes the fowl/pork/etc. juicier and plumper.

Whether or not this is a preference is a personal judgement often based on circumstances e.g. type of animal, type of preparation, etc.

. . . . . Pete

 

[Keith Levenberg]

Kosher turkey here, so it comes already brined.

 

[MarkS]

Yes.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Never brined; see no reason to.

 

[Jonathan Loesberg]

I'm with Jeff. I keep the bird juicy by stuffing a pancetta spice mix between skin and breast and I baste a lot. That has been doing the trick for me for years. Also, as with other roasts, I make sure the bird is at room temperature and not refrigerator temperature before I put it in.

 

[Cliff]

I prefer lamb. Who started the turkey business anyway?

 

[Rahsaan]

originally posted by Cliff:
Who started the turkey business anyway?

Aren't you the historian among us?

Clearly I'm not wild about turkey. Last year was great with crab cakes. This year we'll have salmon.

 

[Jay Miller]

While I'm off to my aunts for horrible institutional food for Thanksgiving if I were to cook a turkey I'd spatchcock it.

 

[VLM]

Has anyone tried the poaching technique advocated by the head of d'Artagnan? Evidently, you poach the turkey in bouillon (I'm assuming chicken, but how strong?) the day before, then roast the turkey at high temp the next day and it comes out moist with crispy skin. Sounds intriguing.

I "dry brine" everything that I would brine these days.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

Haven't done enough turkey to make up a sample set, but with chicken, after trying both for a while, we ultimately plumped for dry salting. Great results, if done well.

 

[drssouth]

originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Haven't done enough turkey to make up a sample set, but with chicken, after trying both for a while, we ultimately plumped for dry salting. Great results, if done well.

yes brine it

 

[Cole Kendall]

We stopped brining a while ago and rub some oil and herbs on and under the skin and start cooking "upside down" (recipe from Dean Gold, of Dino fame).

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Cole Kendall:
We stopped brining a while ago and rub some oil and herbs on and under the skin and start cooking "upside down" (recipe from Dean Gold, of Dino fame).

inverted for 2/3 the cooking time, upright for the rest

 

[Ben Hunting]

I dry brine, too. Heritage turkey with lots of butter mixed with herbs under the skin.

 

[Jim Hanlon]

I only roast a turkey crown (breasts on the bone). Rub of salt and herbs overnight. I braise the legs and wings, pull the meat, and make turkey croquettes to serve alongside. Even folks who think they don't like dark meat usually love the croquettes, which can be made earlier in the day and then warmed in the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

p.s. The Marilyn Monroe's dressing recipe in the NYT is pretty good! Swapped in sage sausage for the ground beef and it's very tasty.

 

[MarkS]

originally posted by Cliff:
I prefer lamb. Who started the turkey business anyway?

You...you...anti-American! None other than Ben Franklin and the Pilgrims blessed the native bird.

 

[Cole Kendall]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

originally posted by Cole Kendall:
We stopped brining a while ago and rub some oil and herbs on and under the skin and start cooking "upside down" (recipe from Dean Gold, of Dino fame).

inverted for 2/3 the cooking time, upright for the rest

Exactly

 

[Cliff]

originally posted by MarkS:

originally posted by Cliff:
I prefer lamb. Who started the turkey business anyway?

You...you...anti-American! None other than Ben Franklin and the Pilgrims blessed the native bird.

Indeed old Ben blessed the big bird and thought it a better symbol for the nation than the bald eagle, which he considered of bad moral character. "[T]hough a little vain and silly," the turkey, by contrast, he considered "a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.” But old Ben was no Puritan. I think, but am not sure, that turkey as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal is a nineteenth-century story.