Prebrined turkey?

[richard_ritter]

Trader Joes has prebrined turkey.I wonder how they do this.Anyone have any experience?

[Ron_Kramer]

Are they Empire?

[Eric_LeVine]

TJ’s sells both Kosher and non-Kosher birds. The Kosher ones are always, in essence, pre-brined.

[ybarselah]

@richard ritter

Trader Joes has prebrined turkey.I wonder how they do this.Anyone have any experience?

several ways to do this, but not sure how TJ’s does it. they could easily brine it for 2 days and then freeze or sell fresh.

to clarify a bit on the kosher birds, they aren’t brined. at least not in the way you’ll see in recipes where you submerge the bird in an aromatic saline solution for an extended period – usually 24 hours or more. as part of the processing, they are salted on the outside with kosher salt and then rinsed off or submerged in a saline solution. obviously, during that process, the bird absorbs salt, but it’s not the same way that it happens with brining. in fact, the goal of salting during the kashering process is to draw out moisture (blood specifically), not create an environment in which the meat retains more moisture, which is the goal of brining.

read more here:

http://www.goodeater.org/2009/11/06/the-food-lab-turkey-brining-basics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ron_Kramer]

I would suggest only brining a turkey 4-6 hours, 2/3 cup of salt, 1/3 sugar bay leaf optional;.


Anyone ever use brown sugar?

[ybarselah]

@Ron Kramer

I would suggest only brining a turkey 4-6 hours, 2/3 cup of salt, 1/3 sugar bay leaf optional;.


Anyone ever use brown sugar?

ron - your advice is incomplete and/or misleading. brine time depends on the salt concentration of the brine first and foremost. generally, you’ll get better and more even results with a relatively weaker brine and longer brine time – give all the flavor a chance to penetrate through the meat entirely. 6% salt overnight or so is sufficient, but you could easily hold for 24 hours.

[Rick_Gregory]

I brined a whole chicken in a fairly weak solution for 18 hours (late afternoon of Day 1 until morning of Day 2), airdried it in the fridge and roasted it out at 350… was delicious. To Ron’s question, I did in fact use some brown sugar and the impact wasn’t noticeable from a taste perspective (i.e. it wasn’t overtly sweet). I’m tempted to try some molasses next time.

[Ron_Kramer]

@ybarselah

@Ron Kramer

I would suggest only brining a turkey 4-6 hours, 2/3 cup of salt, 1/3 sugar bay leaf optional;.


Anyone ever use brown sugar?

ron - your advice is incomplete and/or misleading. brine time depends on the salt concentration of the brine first and foremost. generally, you’ll get better and more even results with a relatively weaker brine and longer brine time – give all the flavor a chance to penetrate through the meat entirely. 6% salt overnight or so is sufficient, but you could easily hold for 24 hours.

Last year I did my 2/3 -1/3 for 24 hours and the turkey was way too salty.

[Rick_Gregory]

Ron,

Yeah, if you do it for 12-24 hours, cut down the salt/water ration (i.e. cut down the salt or use more water, whatever makes sense).

Interestingly, I took the thigh meat from the chicken I’d brined and made a soup from it and that did have a noticeable sweetness to it. Not sure if that was some of the sugar coming out in the soup or merely the really nice carrots giving up their natural sugar… or perhaps the partially caramelized onions.

[ybarselah]

@Ron Kramer

@ybarselah

@Ron Kramer

I would suggest only brining a turkey 4-6 hours, 2/3 cup of salt, 1/3 sugar bay leaf optional;.


Anyone ever use brown sugar?

ron - your advice is incomplete and/or misleading. brine time depends on the salt concentration of the brine first and foremost. generally, you’ll get better and more even results with a relatively weaker brine and longer brine time – give all the flavor a chance to penetrate through the meat entirely. 6% salt overnight or so is sufficient, but you could easily hold for 24 hours.

Last year I did my 2/3 -1/3 for 24 hours and the turkey was way too salty.

dude - how much water did you use? that’s the relevant variable, not the time.

[Mel_Hill]

In the past, I’ve used a 5% salt solution (50 g salt for each 1000g water) for approx. 24 hours and then rinse the bird prior to cooking and it works just fine. now I sous vide the parted out bird and do not brine at all.

[Ron_Kramer]

@ybarselah

@Ron Kramer

@ybarselah

ron - your advice is incomplete and/or misleading. brine time depends on the salt concentration of the brine first and foremost. generally, you’ll get better and more even results with a relatively weaker brine and longer brine time – give all the flavor a chance to penetrate through the meat entirely. 6% salt overnight or so is sufficient, but you could easily hold for 24 hours.

Last year I did my 2/3 -1/3 for 24 hours and the turkey was way too salty.

dude - how much water did you use? that’s the relevant variable, not the time.

I use a lobster pot which is the largest vessel I own and put a 13 pound turkey into it. If i had to guess less the two gallons of water. Maybe I need to use my bathtub.

[Mel_Hill]

@Ron Kramer

@ybarselah

@Ron Kramer

Last year I did my 2/3 -1/3 for 24 hours and the turkey was way too salty.

dude - how much water did you use? that’s the relevant variable, not the time.

I use a lobster pot which is the largest vessel I own and put a 13 pound turkey into it. If i had to guess less the two gallons of water. Maybe I need to use my bathtub.

Here’s a tip…


place packaged turkey in your vessel and cover with cold water. remove turkey and then measure how much water you have in the pot and do the math to make a proper brine.

[dennis.coronado]