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I have always been intrigued by Zuni Cafe method of chicken roasting, in which you heavily salt the chicken and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days. Yesterday over on the Epi Log Rick Rodgers wrote a post where he plays with this idea of dry brining and applies it to a Thanksgiving turkey.
He says, "How does this dry salt rub work? The salt draws a tiny bit of moisture from the bird and opens the skin pores. This moisture mingles with the salt and works its way into the turkey muscles, seasoning the bird throughout through osmosis. It is much less awkward than brining with gallons of salt water!"
Rick, you've got me pondering a dry brine, if not for this year, possibly for next. It sounds like a far easier and less messy way of imparting a whole lot of flavor into your bird. For full instructions on how to dry brine your turkey, make sure to read Rick's entire post because it is clear and well-written.
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11-16-2007 @6:02PM Henry said... Mom tried this a few years ago to terrible result. The bird was incredibly salty and tough. As I recall it took an extremely long time to cook. Also my sister made gravy from the drippings that had the sodium content of sea water. Perhaps it was poor methodology but I'm betting this year's success on brining.
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11-17-2007 @11:26AM Jason said... What's messy about regular brining? You don't know how to operate a bucket?
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11-17-2007 @5:47PM jessica said... jason, shut up. it's messy and there's never any space in the fridge with all of the other holiday food. you could use a large cooler but they are too heavy to lift when filled with ice and a huge turkey. and then the logistics of cleaning and sanitizing.
cooks illustrated had a good recipe for this in the december 2006 issue. i used it with great success.
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11-18-2007 @1:09PM Tony said... Another vote for the Cook's Illustrated method, which worked great last year and which we'll be using again this week.
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11-18-2007 @2:33PM Jean said... Sorry, but I am now 69 years of age, have roasted turkey for all my adult years, and have never yet "brinned" one prior to cooking, and we always had delicious turkey. this is just one more "modern" method, which is not necessary. forget it and bake your turkey as you usually would.
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11-18-2007 @3:02PM Mike said... This isn't brining, it's curing, like has been done for bacon and ham for centuries. Three days isn't a tremendous amount of time, but it will draw moisture out of the bird. You get seasoning ( and salt ) inside the meat, but moisture will come out. If you read the instructions for dry curing you'll see mention of removing the extracted liquid periodically.
If it's been done successfully on chicken, that's fine. But a turkey can be 2-5 times the size of the chicken. With a longer cooking time, more moisture loss.
What the instructions gloss over is that a big part of the motivation for brining is adding moisture to meat that's in danger of drying out. Salt and other flavors can hitch a ride, but you're really adding liquid. Better than turkeys that are purchased already injected, you have control over what's added as well as not paying $1.69 a pound for added water.
While it's intriqing, I sure wouldn't try this for the first time on a Thanksgiving bird.
Mess of brining? This sounds much messier. Like many people do, just put the turkey and brine in a plastic bag and put that inside an ice chest. No buckets, no space issues in the refrigerator.
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11-18-2007 @3:36PM Paula said... Bake your bird in a bag, you can turn it upside down for the frist two or three hours then turn it Brest up the meat will be very moist.
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11-18-2007 @8:11PM JJ said... I have tried dry brining before, but the skin and first inch or two of the meat was too salty. And, the meat was pretty dry.
I haven't attempted it after 5 years. For the last 2 years, I have been doing traditional brining and that's always worked for me.
I have read of dry rubs, but I haven't tried that either.
It makes me curious: How does one dry rub or dry brine a turkey without making it dry or salty?
I could not get it right 5 years ago.
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11-18-2007 @8:30PM Red Icculus said... Kosher salt works much better because of it's coarse texture. Steaks using this method only take a half hour, so I am skeptical of the few day treatment of the bird, despite the weight. I might do it for a couple hours at most.
I also do food and garden things at http://red-icculus.com
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11-28-2007 @3:13PM Barbara Okes said... Personally I would like to see more reduced salt recipes for everything.
I had to search for a fresh turkey because frozen has a brine added to it. Basic turkey meat has approx 70 mg/serving of sodium in it, with the preservative processors add to frozen poultry it runs (depending on brand) 300 mg - 500 mg/serving. Now add brining and I bet you have something about the sodium level of HAM which is in the 1000 mg and up/serving. Even if you do not have medical issues that restrict salt intake people should be aware of sodium content of foods & beverages they consume.
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