Dry Brine Turkey started yesterday

tarheelmatt said:

For Thurs? 

My family didn't like the idea of me changing things up from a wet to dry. I was devastated.  

Following the "Judy Bird" dry brine. Lower salt, longer brine time. 3 day brine, one day rest to dry the skin, then onto the Egg Thursday. 
First time to try the dry brine.

http://food52.com/recipes/15069-russ-parsons-dry-brined-turkey-a-k-a-the-judy-bird

As long as the inlaws don't have to cook they don't care what or how I cook it.
and I do have a ham to fall back on if things go real bad.lol

caliking said:

Do do you rub the skin only or get some in under the skin too?

I read over several different versions of dry rub process and none are very clear, so I did not pull back the skin and salt under the skin.
I went with the above just because it best fit my schedule.
I added some dry rosemary, dry sweet basil and smoked paprika as well as some orange zest to the salt rub.

cazzy said:

caliking said:

I'm still torn between dry brine vs wet brine for this year. I usually wet brine and like the results. Guess I need to make up my mind in the next day or so. 

Do do you rub the skin only or get some in under the skin too?

I bought an extra bird to dry brine and ended up wet brining both.  At the end of the day, I decided I didn't want to try something new when I'm feeding guests.  I'm going to season two ways.  Cornstarch with one and the other with just straight rub.

I feel the same way about trying something new on guests. But my friends can't make it and it's just the inlaws.

SGH said:

I'm one of the ones who still wet brines. Not because I think that it's better but because I can do it outside and save much needed fridge space during the holidays. I bought the Yeti 50 and The Briner for this very purpose. It's a great brining combo that works like a charm. If fridge space is not a concern, dry brining is perfectly fine. 

My "bagged" turkey that is being "dry brined", takes up less space in my RTIC cooler than your wet brined bird in your Briner container in your Yeti.lol
Now it will go into the fridge for an overnight skin dry, but same would be true if I were wet brining. And I have to containers to wash out.
Now this is my first dry brine and it might suck...who knows, but it has ben less work so far than wet brining.