Brining Turkey

[dollarbill]

I started to brine a couple turkeys yesterday with salt and sugar only. What will happen to the birds if I leave them in the brine for another 24 hours? Can it / will it cause an over salting effect? Stumped. thanks. db

[bbquzz]

Seems like I have always heard "Absolutely No More Than 24 Hours" unless the bird is huge, but I do have any practical experience, just what I have read.

[Damar12]

i have done em often 48 hours with no ill effects. Taste and texture were good.

[boar_d_laze]

It depends on how strong your brine is.

BDL

[Nick Prochilo]

I guess we will all find out soon enough!

[wiggleofjudas]

I did a quick google search and a lot of recipes seem to come up that say to brine the turkey for 48 hours. I've left turkeys in for longer than 24 hours before (although never for two whole days) with no adverse effects.

I would have to say, though, that if you're using an especially salty brine you should err on the side of caution.

[dollarbill]

Birds are on now. I'll get some pics and try to post here. I need to download some image re-sizing software.

[Larry Wolfe]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

It depends on how strong your brine is.

BDL

Exactly. However a 'brine' isn't a brine, unless it's a 'brine'. Meaning, 1/4 cup salt per quart of water. (yeah yeah, I hear the type of salt matters, bullshit) I've used non iodized table salt 90% of the time, used Kosher the other 10%, NO difference other than the cost of the salt.

DB, the bottomline is a turkey (or piece of meat can only absorb so much), so the time isn't a factor until you think aboutt the texture of the meat........the longer you leave the 'meat' in the brine, the more it will break down and you will have 'spongy' textured meat.

If your brine is less that 1/4 -1/4 ratio, it's not a brine, it's more of a marinade. So soaking longer won't affect the finished product 'texture' as much. The Honey Apple Orang BS, that is raved about on TVWBB and by idiots like Scotty here, is simply NOT a brine, it's a marinade. Yes, it may be good, but it's not a 'brine'. I taught this to Wittdog a long time ago about smoking hardboiled eggs.........

[bigwheel]

Well have to somewhat agree with Mr. Buckethead here. I cut my teeth on what is called a curing brine which requires enough salt in the water to float a raw egg. Seems like that happens somewhere around 3.5 cups of salt per gallon..and it makes stuff salty salty..as in needing boiling before you eat it just to get the salt out of it..like a country ham or corned beef for example.. A brine of 1 cup per gallon is called a "weak brine". I used to think that anything less than that is not a brine..but then I ran into the 1/2 cup per gallon hot water brine as is used by the Homo Chef in Big D..and it changed my mind. Half a cup of salt and a 1/4 cup of your favorite bbq rub per gallon of hot water will brine the snot out of something in two hours. Now do go back to agree the type of salt dont make any difference that I can tell either.

[Captain Morgan]

I'm glad this came up....I'm no expert, but my understanding is that brine
is a scientific formula. The salt ratio is important in order to work. I follow
recipes, and adjust herbs. I don't add soy sauce or salt based rubs or spices
because I'm afraid it will affect the formula.