Turkey Brine!
I'm preparing my first Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and don't know if I should brine a butterball turkey? I was really excited to brine it, but was told that maybe I should just cook it.
Thanks for the help!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
21 Comments:
Brine it! I have been brining for 14 years and the turkey is far juicer. Do not stuff the bird, bake your stuffing seperate.
Don't be afraid try the good eats turkey by Alton Brown.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_8389,00.html
This is a good beginners start to finish brine to table recipe.
I assure you people will rave over how delicious and juicy your turkey is.
Pull it out at 168 degrees.
JerzeeTomato at 1:05PM on 10/06/07
A brined turkey is definitely better. If you have no time to brine it, buy a kosher turkey, as it is already been brined. I also agree with JT as far as the stuffing. I always make my stuffing outside the bird. Cooks Illustrated newest edition has a rating for turkeys, if you are interested.
Mich23 at 1:54PM on 10/06/07
DO NOT BRINE A BUTTERBALL! They are pre-brined (self-basting). Brining them any further would make them inedibly salty.
If you buy a turkey that isn't kosher or hasn't been brined already, then by all means brine it -- that single step made me a turkey lover.
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 2:03PM on 10/06/07
There are also many commercial chickens sold that are already "brined" in a sense, in the factory before being shipped out for sale, though they are not advertised as such.
If you look at the labels, often you will see the information in small print: Seven percent water (or some other solution) added.
The commercial chicken industry is beginning to do to chicken what the commercial ham industry did to smoked hams - make the product less able to be dried out when cooking. Probably they started doing it for the same reason, too: chickens are being bred with less fat just as pigs were to satisfy the "low-fat" craze combined with a desire by the consumer for a "quality" product that would be quick and easy to prepare.
Karen Resta at 2:23PM on 10/06/07
Even though it is a pre-brined Butterball, you can still infuse flavor via submersion in a liquid. I'd boil 2 gallons water and stir it 1/4 cup dried thyme, 1/4 cup molasses, a few smashed garlic cloves, 1/4 cup smoked paprika, 1/4 cup salt and 1 pound brown sugar. When cooled submerge the turkey until time to cook.
The post above makes a good point. Products like "Guaranteed Tender" pork and such are injected "brined" with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), just like tiger shrimp and wet scallops. It plumps them, keeps them moist and renders edible an otherwise poor quality product. i generally avoid these.
zapatista at 2:40PM on 10/06/07
zaptista -- your suggestion is a good one, but I'd caution against soaking for too long, as the principle of osmosis is that molecules will diffuse through a porous membrane from an area of high concentration to low until they reach equilibrium. In this case, the bird, having been pre-salted, will give up its salt to the flavored soaking solution. But this may be a good thing if it is too salty!
dvchurch at 2:55PM on 10/06/07
Dry rubs of all sorts are a good way to add flavor to a Butterball also.
Karen Resta at 4:06PM on 10/06/07
I have to tell you, I've been using Butterballs for 30 years, and I have yet to have a turkey turn out dry. I brined one once for a magazine story, and didn't find that it turned out better. I also stuff them on the inside, including making a pocket between the skin and the breast, just scrooching my fingers back, back, back, all the way to the thighs, and filling it with some stuffing. Since you can't separate the skin from the meat at the vertical line separating the two sides of the breast, this makes them look like they've had breast augmentation, but it helps protect the breast meat and seasons it. I do make a very, very wet stuffing, rather than moist lumps of intact bread, which makes it easier to stuff. My leftover stuffing I cook in a casserole after the bird comes out of the oven, but it's not nearly as tasty as what's cooked inside the bird with the constant basting from the juices of the turkey.
lemons at 4:12PM on 10/06/07
I would not buy a pre-brined anything. You have no idea what is in it. All kinds of preservatives and other junk. Buy a regular fresh local turkey, not frozen and brine it yourself then you know what goes into it.
There is one exception to this and that is an Empire brand which is kosher and the standards are high (check out CI's reatings). The Empire brand is not cheap.
lemons your brine didn't turn out better? Hells bells! Could not be you, so must have been the brine. I can tell you that my brining produces a great turkey time and time again. It is based on the good eats turkey recipe and I stuff the cavity during roasting with 1 large vidalia onion skin on sliced in quads, 1 large seedless orange sliced in quad skin on, fresh sage,rosemary and thyme, 2 heads of garlic sliced in half skin on.
Aside of the actual brining the cavity contents also provide loads of flavor.
JerzeeTomato at 5:10PM on 10/06/07
lemons -- Butterballs tend not to dry out (unless you cook your turkeys like my mom) because they are pre-brined. Brining wouldn't do much to them except make them saltier.
Brining a natural bird, however, totally changes the protein structure of the meat, not just making it saltier, but making it more apt to hold on to moisture, resulting in a juicier final product.
dvchurch at 6:57PM on 10/06/07
'Twasn't a BB I brined, it was an au naturel. Standard brine recipe. Did find the meat a little chewier; I can't say it was tougher. I personally eat things all the time whose contents I don't know, because we eat at restaurants several times a week. There are certain chances I choose to take, that's all. It works for me; ymmv. If using a natural bird makes folks happier, they're certainly entitled. But I do think the dithering over turkeys is far too much ado over a fairly simple bird.
lemons at 7:14PM on 10/06/07
But I do think the dithering over turkeys is far too much ado over a fairly simple bird.
Ha, ha! Ever wonder where the saying "talk turkey" came from? Discussing how to cook a turkey is almost as dangerous as the perils of the talk at the standard family Thanksgiving table itself. :)
Karen Resta at 7:52PM on 10/06/07
Well well dithering, ok?! Serious eats this turkey business. Some of us, maybe not all of you, take our turkey day meal quite serious. I put forth my very best meal for thanksgiving. All the other holidays pale in comparison. (that is saying volumes) There is nothing simple about it. I find it funny someone would post to a blog called "Serious" eats and say such a thing, surely your kidding right?
Then again maybe your way the turkey is a simple meal. You are entitled and I wish you well.
The term standard brine doesn't tell me what you put in it so I cannot offer anything there.
I know I am not the only one here who brines or who holds turkey (almost the national bird if Ben Franklin had his way) in high importance.
Preparing your first turkey is a turning point, epiphany, right of passage and I am glad to see someone step in to the great holiday ritual.
JerzeeTomato at 10:07PM on 10/06/07
Some emotions in this thread, hmm. I agree that it is best to consider what you are eating even if it is a simple turkey. I also think that sometimes it makes cooking easier if it is not such a big deal.
Don't worry, or panic, or over think.
Buy a good turkey (local,cage-free, free range, organic, kosher) the best you can find. Soak it in some saly,sugary, flavored, water for a little while (2 hours-overnight.) Dry it off, rub on some butter or oil. Put it in the oven on a rack with some cut veggies below. Cook it slowly if you have time. Cook it until a thermometer at the tihgh reads 165 or so. If it looks a little pale kick up the oven temp. at the end. Let it rest at least 1/2 hour. While it's resting make gravy with the pan drippings.Bring it to the table to show it off. Take it back to the kitchen to carve it, and don't be affraid to use your hands.
They are your family and friends. The turkeys big and brown. They love it, they love you, the world in your dining room is a fabulous place.
Trust me it'll be great
I think it was Escoffier who said "keep it simple" or maybe Buddah. HA
coolname at 11:19PM on 10/06/07
Since you posted yesterday, I assume it's too late for you, but I've brined my turkeys every year for the last five years, and out of those turkeys, 4 of the 5 were Butterball/store brand turkey. I didn't think the birds too salty at all, and I am sensitive to too much salt, so I would notice. The one year I did a natural bird, I didn't think the end product tasted any different, so since then I've decided to save the $$ for elsewhere and splurge on the sides a little more.
Good luck- either way I'm sure your turkey will be delish.
ErikaWaz at 8:57AM on 10/07/07
Didn't mean to inflame, Jerzee; we all do things our own way. I'm accustomed to things getting hot 'n heavy over barbecue and pizza, but hadn't realized I could upset folks over turkey. Apologies to those who felt distress.
lemons at 4:57PM on 10/07/07
I brined turkey for the first time about 10 years ago, and I have not done it any other way since. I primarily use a Maple Brine recipe by a gentleman called Mean Chef whom I know from another site but it can be gotten from recipezaar.com. Search on Mean Chef Maple Brine. It will present as the first link, but his apple brine follows directly under. (I've used the apple brine as well - couldn't pick a favorite from the two.)
I use the Alton Brown high heat method of roasting where the breast must be temped at 161 degrees, the turkey pulled and tented, then carved. I prefer dark meat and it's nearly impossible to mess that up but I'm always concerned about dry white meat. I usually poll my white-meat eaters about how they liked the turkey and the usual response is "moist and full of flavor!!"
I love turkey - everyone around me loves the "trimmings." The turkey has to be great because I don't get nearly the enjoyment out of the surrounding dishes.
therealchiffonade at 7:31AM on 10/08/07
Not only would I never NOT brine a turkey, I would also never buy a Butterball (or any other processed turkey). Natural turkeys are actually cheaper -- I'm not talking organic or free range or whatever, just "natural" (not basted, no brand name, etc.).
Brining is the way to go. I started doing this a few years ago and was SSSOOOOOO glad I learned about it!
Also, roast your turkey breast down (contrary to the vast majority of cookbook instructions). It will stay moister and won't be overcooked.
If I didn't have time to brine my turkey, I'd buy a kosher one.
Last year, I had fried turkey for the first time. Wow. It was astonishingly good. Even better than brined and roasted! But, I'm not buying a turkey fryer, so I'll be brining and roasting this year.
LoCo at 5:36PM on 10/08/07
LoCo said: "Not only would I never NOT brine a turkey, I would also never buy a Butterball (or any other processed turkey)."
And I need to give a big fat AMEN to that. Butterball turkeys are mass produced and (in my experience) awful tasting. I generally get my turkeys from Fresh Market or Whole Foods. They're a bit more costly but entirely worth it. If I absolutely must get a turkey from a supermarket, I'd opt for Honeysuckle White. But that's only if all the Fresh Markets and Whole Foods burned down.
therealchiffonade at 8:23PM on 10/08/07
Wow, what a passionate group! (This is my first time to comment.) I have a few things to add. Since I live alone, I cook a turkey breast rather than a whole turkey, and yes, I brine it. Living in Pennsylvania, it is usually cold enough in late November that I can leave it on the back porch in a plastic box rather than taking up refrigerator space. I also prepare "all the fixin's" from stuffing to dessert, half or smaller recipes. Then, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, I email all my friends and family my menu, under the heading "Virtual Thanksgiving." No one seems to find this weird, or maybe they're just not telling me.
maryg100 at 10:47AM on 11/08/07
I'm a little afraid to jump into this thread, but here goes...
I don't think brining is worth the trouble, having made turkeys both ways. I mix olive oil, softened unsalted butter and a bunch of herbs and rub that all over the turkey, over and under the skin, and stuff the bird with orange and onion segments, and it turns out juicy every time. (I don't cook stuffing in the bird, it just grosses me out.)
Also, I've been doing the overnight cooking method since my mother-in-law taught me how. You put a bit of water or broth in the roasting pan, cook the turkey at 350ºF for an hour, then turn the oven down to 200ºF and cook it overnight, never opening the oven.
I know some people don't think this is safe (and as a food editor I wouldn't put it in a magazine), but my mother-in-law has been doing it this way for 30 years and has never had a problem. Plus, I have to say that it's by far the juiciest, most flavorful turkey I've ever had, so much so that now I do it that way too.
CookiePie at 11:23AM on 11/08/07