Bacon-wrapping a turkey: brine or no brine?

[illinoishokie]

So I'm planning on smoking my first Thanksgiving turkey this year, and I THOUGHT I had everything planned out. 24 hours in a brine, air dry overnight in the fridge, a nice turkey rub and an apple smoke. Then my mother in law, who thought my meatloaf fatty with a bacon weave was an out of body experience, discovered some info online bacon-wrapping a turkey and asked me if I'd do that.

My question: is bacon-wrapping a brined turkey overkill? Would that render a bird too salty to consume? Should I just forget about the brine and let the rendering bacon fat do the basting during the smoke? Or will the bacon grease merely crisp the skin but not penetrate the meat?

Thanks in advance for suggestions.

 

[rodel]

I would still brine.  A brine does more than just season the meat - it creates a moist, even consistency throughout the bird.  If you are worried about too much saltiness with the added bacon, then just cut the salt in the brine.

I have never wrapped a turkey in bacon, so I don't know the effect of that.  I would guess that there is no advantage to air drying the skin if you are going to put bacon on.

I hope this helps and is accurate - I am a newbie here, but not new to cooking turkeys!

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Why wrap it in bacon when you can have crispy turkey skin and crispy bacon on the side? :biggrin:
Anyway, If you're worried about too much salt, make a weaker brine.


~Martin

 

[chef jimmyj]

I am not crazy about Bacon Wrapped Turkey but my wife grew up eating her Mom's. My MIL didn't do a weave or anything fancy, just laid strips of bacon neck to butt across the breast and legs. Bev and her 6 brothers and sisters fought over the crispy bacon when the bird came out of the oven. The bacon shrinks and gets crisp and exposes the skin to crisp up as well. As the bacon cooks it renders and bastes the bird with fat but doesn't add any significant amount of salt to the skin and nothing to the meat itself. If you want the meat to have some of the bacon flavor you need to lay the bacon Under the skin against the meat. This is a pain in the butt and I no longer bother. I make the Mrs' a nice breakfast with plenty of Crisp Bacon and she gets her Thanksgiving fix while I get to do the Bird the way I like. I switch off between mixing Rub with Butter or Bacon Grease and rub it on and under the skin. Great Turkey and everybody's happy...JJ

 

[smokinhusker]

Gotta go with JJ and Martin. I'll have my crispy bacon on the side or on a turkey club sammie but not on my turkey.

 

[mike johnson]

X2

 

[illinoishokie]

Thanks everyone.

Whenever I oven roast a turkey I always lay strips of bacon over the breast. It's a tip I picked up from my dad a while back that he said keeps the breast meat moist. I've always had success with it but figured with brining it wouldn't be necessary in the smoker.

The way I look at it I don't expect this to really add any dimension to the turkey, but I also don't expect it to hurt anything. I'm sure the skin will be delicious and the meat will taste like it otherwise would have and maybe be a little moister. I'll chalk it up to a favor for my MIL.

Pics to follow. :)

 

[chef jimmyj]

Catering to the wishes of a MIL is a smart move toward maintaining domestic tranquility! And you are correct, " It can't hurt. "...JJ 

 

[ryanma]

Turkey?.....Bacon?.....Smoke?...... Sounds good to me!