when you brine a turkey or chicken do you always put salt in the brine

Unknown

are there times when you brine and you use no salt. or is that what a brine is a salt solution that you soak meat in :) thanks in advance for answering

WessB

Jason Upton ,
You answered your own questions...and I wont even claim to know or understand the science behind it...But it works....For the record, the times I have brined the turkey didn`t come out tasting salty at all...you do need to rinse tho..[p]Wess

Bobby-Q

Jason Upton ,
The salt helps with the Osmosis. Osmosis allows the water and flavor to exchange with the fluids in the muscles which is why brining makes the meat so moist.

WessB

Bobby-Q,
LOL...Thats what I meant to say......Thanks for the lesson Chef Bobby..[p]Wess

SuperDave

WessB,
It is also the best way to season a bird ... from the inside![p]Mi-T-Tas-T!

The Naked Whiz

Jason Upton ,
Yes, you always use salt in a brine. The salt is the magic ingredient. If you don't use salt, pretty much nothing happens. There is a lot of incorrect information out there about brining so the question isn't silly. [p]The salt does 2 things. First is related to osmosis. Because the brine is saltier than the fluids in the meat, it initially draws moisture out of the meat. However, once an equilibrium is reached and the fluid in the meat and the brine are the same salinity, moisture can pass back and forth between the meat and the brine. When this happens, any flavoring agents you have put into the brine are carried into the meat, so you can add flavor to the meat with brining.[p]The second thing the salt does is it denatures the proteins in the meat which allows the proteins to trap moisture in the meat. So, while the brining process actually removes some moisture from the meat, the result is that the meat holds on to the remaining moisture with a vengeance. Thus the net result is that the meat gives up less moisture during cooking and you end up with more moisture in the meat than if you had not brined, even though brining removed some moisture to begin with.[p]TNW