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Home Cooking. Log In Sign Up. Brining Roasting Turkey. Want to stay up to date with this post? Log In or Sign Up to comment. Kosher salt is lighter than table salt, which is the reason that a larger amount is required. The salt must be completely dissolved in the water before the turkey is placed in the brining solution. As much as 2 gallons of brining solution may be necessary to completely cover a pound turkey.
The turkey must be completely immersed: There should be at least 1 inch of brine above the turkey. Other flavorings, such as herbs, spices, or sugar, can be added to the brining solution if desired.
The brining container is covered and placed in the refrigerator where the turkey soaks for 10 to 12 hours. After the soaking time is complete, the turkey should be rinsed under cold water.
The brining solution must be discarded after use: It cannot be used again. The turkey is then patted dry, placed in a roasting pan, and then refrigerated uncovered overnight to allow the surface of the turkey to dry thoroughly. This ensures that the skin of the turkey will be crisp and golden when it is roasted. When roasting the turkey, it is important to remember that a brined turkey will cook faster than a turkey that has not been brined.
Turkey Brining Reviews. Rate It! Add A Review Now! Comment on this. Follow Us! Beef Cooking Times. Don't do it.
Just don't. The acid in the cider will kick off the denaturization process in the meat, effectively "cooking" it without heat. The results? Ultra-dry meat, with a wrinkled, completely desiccated exterior, like this:.
More interesting were the results of the broth-soaked chicken. It seems like the ultimate solution, right? If brining forces bland water into your meat, why not replace that water with flavorful broth? Unfortunately, physics is a fickle mistress who refuses to be reined in. When I tasted the broth-soaked chicken next to the plain brine-soaked chicken, there was barely a noticeable difference in flavor at all.
What the heck was going on? There are two principles at work here. The first is that, while broth is a pure liquid to the naked eye, broth actually consists of water with a vast array of dissolved solids in it that contribute to its flavor. Most of these flavorful molecules are organic compounds that are relatively large in size—on a molecular scale, that is—while salt molecules are quite small.
So, while salt can easily pass across the semipermeable membranes that make up the cells in animal tissue, larger molecules cannot. Additionally, there's an effect called salting out, which occurs in water-based solutions containing both proteins and salt. Think of a cup of broth as a college dance party populated with cheerleaders the water—let's call them the Pi Delta Pis , nerds the proteins—we'll refer to them as the Lambda Lambda Lambdas , and jocks the salt—obviously the Alpha Betas.
Now, at a completely jock-free party, the nerds actually have a shot at the cheerleaders, and end up commingling with them, forming a homogeneous mix. Open up the gymnasium doors, and a few of those cheerleaders will leave the party, taking a few nerds along for the ride.
Unfortunately, those gymnasium doors are locked shut, and the only folks strong enough to open them are the jocks. So what happens when you let some jocks into that party? The cheerleaders, who were initially fine socializing with the nerds, will quickly and selectively flock to the jocks. The nerds end up finding each other, huddling into small groups, and twiddling their thumbs.
When the jocks finally go to bust the gymnasium doors open at the end of the party, they leave hand in hand with the cheerleaders, leaving the nerds in the dust. In our sad tale, those Tri-Lambs never get their revenge.
The exact same thing is happening in a broth-based brine. Water molecules are attracted to salt ions and will selectively interact with them. The poor proteins, meanwhile, are left with only each other, and end up forming large aggregate groups, which makes it even harder for them to get into the meat. When the salt breaks down muscle fibers sufficiently to allow the uptake of water the equivalent of our jocks breaking down those doors , plenty of water and salt gets into the meat, but very little protein does.
The result? Unless you're using an extra-concentrated homemade stock, the amount of flavorful compounds that make it inside your chicken or turkey is very, very limited. Given the amount of stock you'd need to use to submerge a turkey, this doesn't seem like a very wise move. As more salt is added to a solution, proteins will form larger and larger aggregates, until they are eventually large enough to be visible to the naked eye and precipitate out of the solution.
Those proteins can then be removed with centrifugation. By knowing the salt concentration that causes different proteins to precipitate, scientists can target specific proteins to be removed, while keeping the rest in solution. The excess salt can then be removed via dialysis essentially microscopic straining.
This is all well and good, but what does it mean? How do you apply it? Well, let me end how I started: I don't brine my birds, because I like my birds to taste like birds, not like watered-down birds. Salting your meat is nearly as effective at preventing moisture loss, and the flavor gains are noticeable. Want to know the truth? Even advance salting is not a necessary first step. I see it more as a safeguard against overcooking.
It provides a little buffer in case you accidentally let that bird sit in the oven an extra 15 minutes. As long as you are very careful about monitoring your bird, there's no reason to brine or salt it in advance. That said, it doesn't hurt to take precautions.
We've put together a handy quick and dirty guide to brining and dry brining , which lays it all out in detail. Let deliciousness, merriment, and family bonding ensue. You may not all be able to agree on whether the cranberries belong in the stuffing or on the side, but at least you can all agree that this is one darn tasty bird.
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