Brine or not to Brine...that is the question.

TexasTigerFan

I am making two turkeys this year and was thinking of brining one of them to see if there is a marketable difference. I was wondering what you guys and gals thought about the topic. A good brine recipe would be appreciated as well.

Geaux Tigers!! Beat Ole Miss!

CaptainSpaulding

Max swears that it's not necessary, but I'm sure that it can't hurt.

Pre-BGE, I've done Weber's Apple Brined Turkey and we've always loved it. You could steal the brine recipe from this:

Weber's Apple Brined Turkey Recipe PDF

Hope this helps.

Joe

SSN686

Morning TexasTigerFan:

Follow the link to the John Ash Brine from CAT. We have used this many times and LOVE it. I do recommend the 4 days of brining, but shorter times work too.

WessB

I do, but many don't..my turkeys have always come out moist and flavorful...if you check the "cooks" section of my website below you can find the brine recipe and turkey cook that I did several years ago...That said, I wouldn't say it's mandatory but why argue with success, so I keep doing it that way..as a result of that cook I have been ordered that I will always be making the Christmas turkey for the family...Good luck in which ever way you decide to cook it..

thirdeye

Cooking two birds will be a good test to see how you like the effects of brining.

I have a standard brine I use on poultry, and I brine them for 48 hours, then do a refrigerated rest overnight.

Flavor Brine #2:

1 gallon water
6 ounces of kosher salt
1 tablespoon Morton's Tenderquick
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 onion, chopped
¼ cup brown sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons pepper blend or crushed peppercorns

Instructions on preparing brines is on my brine page
Flavor Brining


I also make a pastramied turkey breast (that's the picture above) using a slightly modified version of Old Dave's Injectable Brine (which is excellent without my tweaks). In addition to the injection, pastrami-like spices go under the skin for additional flavors. The full write-up is here:

Pastramied Turkey Breast

RU Eggsperienced

I have done it for years. Always good. Why change?

mad max beyond eggdome

i have nothing against the 'briners'. .. if it works for you go for it... .

but as i've stated many times before, if you do it right, you should be able to produce a good moist flavorful turkey without brining... . and as i've also stated, the main reason that i don't brine is that

1. i don't have the space to do it
2. i don't have the time to do it
3. i'm inherently lazy and don't feel like it
4. i want my turkey to taste like turkey and not brine
and
5. as i originally said, i have the ability to produce moist turkey without it....

again though, i know a lot of folks swear by it, so like some of the others said, do two birds, one with and with out and see what you like better and go with it....and you can always 'mad max' a brined bird :-)

TexasTigerFan

Thanks guys for the responses. Today will be the test. I am sure they will both be great. Looking forward to a day of cooking. Good luck Eggers!!!