Should i brine an enhanced turkey

The ratio of salt to water isn't terribly important. You are looking for a ratio of about two cups of salt to one gallon of water. Put the container in your fridge or, if you don't have room in your fridge, use ice bags to keep it cool. If you have a frozen turkey, you can thaw it while you brine it a la Alton Brown, but plan on it taking two days to defrost.

When the big day arrives, remember to rinse off excess brine before roasting so that you don't end up with insanely salty pan gravy. Because good gravy is the best part of any feast. Check out this Chowhound recipe for brined roast turkey with cream gravy. Dry brining means just rubbing your turkey with salt -- on top of the skin and below -- and letting it sit in the fridge for a day or two before cooking.

It helps your bird retain moisture without watering down the flavor. Lopez-Alt says to use 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat. Before you begin salting, loosen the skin of the breast by using your hand or the handle of a wooden spoon, and then rub some salt under the skin and all over the bird.

Put the turkey on a large tray or baking sheet and pop it in the fridge -- uncovered -- overnight or up to 48 hours. Dry brining is step one of this Chowhound recipe for easy roast turkey. You can also make your brine part marinade to add a bit of flavor to your bird. Martha Stewart has a flavored brine recipe that includes bay leaves, garlic, thyme, dried juniper berries, fennel seeds and a bottle of Riesling. Do you have a tried-and-true method for preparing a Thanksgiving turkey? If so, please share your culinary secrets in the comments below.

Originally published on Nov. Update, Nov. Muscle cells in the flesh also have positively and negatively-charged regions. Opposites attract, with the negatively-charged dissolved salt ions binding onto the positively-charged muscle cells, and vice versa. Meat soaked in a brine will slowly absorb the dissolved salt, and soon, water will follow. The negatively charged ions from the dissolved salt actually attach themselves to muscle fibers and start to crowd together — but they then repel one another.

The mutual push physically opens a tiny gap in the muscle tissue, which allows water to come inside. Post-cooking, each bite is juicier thanks to the water that's drawn into each cell. Saltwater also tenderizes meat. Those same muscle fibers start to dissolve and soften slightly in brine. Food taste tests have shown that we also tend to perceive juicier meats as more tender, regardless of the physical differences in texture, Owens says.

White meats, like chicken and turkey breast, have lower fat content and release more water in the cooking process, Owens says. Brining is particularly useful for people cooking poultry and want to avoid potentially dry, tough parts of a bird. The conventional at-home brining process works, but it takes a while for the saltwater to move its way through the entire piece of meat. Recipes typically recommend eight to 12 hour soaks for turkeys. If you're cooking a big turkey, the saltwater might not reach the center of the bird at all, Owens says.

Turkey producers get around this problem by injecting the meat with brine. Instead of waiting for saltwater to migrate through turkey from the outside, processing facilities send turkeys down a conveyor belt to a bank of spring-loaded needles that descend together, contouring to the shape of the bird and pushing uniform levels of saltwater into the meat in 40 to 50 different places.

The injections help turkey producers counteract the likelihood of someone drying up and not liking their food after they cook it at home. Sometimes packages have a note about containing a certain percentage of salt and a flavoring solution. Put the bags in a roasting pan and put the turkey, breast side down, in the inner bag. Pour the brine over the turkey have someone hold the bags if possible.

Gather the inner bag tightly around the turkey so the brine is forced to cover most of the turkey and secure bag with twist tie. Secure the outer bag with twist tie. Refrigerate turkey in pan to catch any leaks, for hours. One of these is roots, the other, wings. I assume the solution means it have been injected with a salty solution. I dont think I would brine it, it may taste too salty. As far as self basting, I always baste mine, I've never heard of a self basting turkey.

I've never seen one of the bird's I've bought get up and baste itself! I love to baste them though DH says it slows things down - it's part of T-day! My son used to beg to baste the bird and it brings such delightful memories to mind!

Happy T day everyone! Oregon native transplanted to Chicago Somewhere, either on a tag or printed on the back of the plastic wrapper, there will be a Nutritional Information and Ingredients panel. If you look at it you'll probably see salt listed.

It's what you know for sure that just ain't so. All the grandmas would poke me saying "You're next". They stopped that when I started doing it to them at funerals. Ha - ha guys I only used the term "self-basting" because I saw it on a lot of web sites along the course of my research The solution ingredients on the back of the package say the solution is made up of Turkey Broth, Salt, and Seasonings. No artificial flavors or such All the posts I've read have given very positive reviews of brined turkey, and I am so tempted to just go ahead and brine it anyway Anyone else have any experience with store-bought frozen birds?

I actually got mine for free from my company - and I know they bought it at Sam's Club Also, if I do not brine, would drying and then air-drying have the same effect on the skin making it more crispy as if I had brined the turkey?

I would also recommend NOT brining. If the solution you use to brine is weaker than the solution in the bird already, your brine will extract the flavors already in there. By all means dry off and air dry the skin. Your turkey has already had the brine "injected" into it. You can skip that step. Tossing it into a brine would be something like having a full tank of gas and trying to pump in another gallons anyway. Brining a bird that hasn't been "injected" is one thing - brining one that has is going to have negative results too salty.

Brining has nothing to do with getting a crispy skin. Wash the turkey with cold water when you remove it from the package, and dry it with paper towels. Let it "air dry" for minutes - then rub with softened butter or brush with oil before you stick it into the oven.

Seen on food network the other day that not to baste the turkey. It only prolongs roasting time. Opening the oven and letting the heat out. They said that basting doesn't do anything for the turkey. I always basted mine too and it seems to keep the skin from drying out but I guess I was wrong. Basting contributes to dry turkey meat. As delicious as crispy rich brown turkey skin is, it's not the main attraction. As others have said, dry the skin and let it air dry in and out of the fridge then coat it with butter to get that great brown skin.