Comments on: The Food Lab: Turkey Brining Basics

By: Kenji Lopez-Alt

Kenji Lopez-Alt — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:27:46 +0000

@JT

Yep – not quite the same, since you don’t get the same moisture uptake as with brining, but salting will definitely break down the muscle structure in a similar way. Just make sure to salt underneath the skin.

Kenji

By: JT

JT — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:42:04 +0000

Would that imply that you could just salt the bird to the same results?

By: Nick Bayma

Nick Bayma — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:20:43 +0000

Just read your whole turkey recipe, answered my own question! Thanks.

By: Nick Bayma

Nick Bayma — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:02:53 +0000

Kenji, Great article and thanks for sharing the in depth experiment. Would you say 145 is a good temperature for a whole bird as well?

By: Kenji Lopez-Alt

Kenji Lopez-Alt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:30:43 +0000

@Tony – thanks for the comment. Do you brine your birds at the restaurant? With sous-vide or with the c-vap, maybe it’s not necessary, since it’s easy to control the final temp of the bird?

If you’re gonna brine, I think 6% salt for 24 hours is about right for an average sized bird.

By: Tony Maws

Tony Maws — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:44:56 +0000

Kenji, one of the better explanations I’ve seen. Gonna distribute this to the staff. Now you’ve got to tell peole how long they should really brine their bird, as a percentage of salt…

By: Joshua Levin

Joshua Levin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:52:04 +0000

Thanks Shai and KBrew!

By: KBrew

KBrew — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:55:32 +0000

Just got turned on to your site. Hooked….

By: Shai PicnicIdeas

Shai PicnicIdeas — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:30:11 +0000

You have a wonderful site and this is wonderful article.
Thanks.

By: Joshua Levin

Joshua Levin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:53:52 +0000

Would you recommend brining for Tofurkey as well ;>