Brined Turkey Drippings

Love Handles

Mad Max & I were wondering if brined turkey drippings would make the gravy to salty?

Unknown

LoveHandles, I've only brined once and used all the same steps and procedure and even same recipe and it was way too salty. However, I used a frozen already injected bird. I now believe you would probably come out about the same brining a fresh bird as not brining a frozen one. Also I gave some incorrect info on this subject a week or so ago which said, "the butterball had half the solution in it as other brands" , I checked yesterday an it was the honeysuckle white that has half the solution as the rest of the brands.

BBQfan1

LoveHandles,
Hi Mike. I did a turkey for the our Canadian Thanksgiving (the 'real' Thanksgiving as my buddy says) using Max's recipe and a few modifications. I did not find the gravy too salty, but then I took some steps to limit the salt in the other ingredients: unsalted butter rather than salted, a rub lower in salt content, sodium reduced chicken broth as a thinning liquid and I also rinsed the cavity and exterior of the turkey and patted it dry/air chilled it before starting to cook.
I think just being cognizant of the sodium content of the ADDITIONAL ingredients you apply/baste the bird with, will help counter the known sodium factor in the brine. It's also my thinking that using aromatic and 'absorbant' items like onions, celery and apples in the cavity will draw off some of the saltiness from a cooking bird. No scientific proof to back up that one, just a hunch on my part; take it with a grain of you-know-what. ;-)
Qfan
Qfan

Love Handles

BBQfan1,
thanks man---I still haven't decided to brine or not to brine this Thanksgiving. I bet its cold up there huh? See-Yaa

Unknown

LoveHandles, because brining adds so much to the bird if it were me i would go ahead and brine anyway. use 3/4 of a cup of salt to your brine mix instead of the full cup. [p]take all the things you don't use from the bird, neck, giblets, heck even use some chicken stock to make a gravy then at the end use SOME of you drippings, but just enough that it is not to salty but will still give you a burst of the turkey flavor you are looking for.[p]reg

QBabe

LoveHandles,[p]I wouldn't go any other way than brining and have had no problems with the gravy being too salty.[p]Hope you're doing well,[p]Tonia
:~)