Brining a bone-in turkey breast -- How long is too long?

[squirrel]

Jeff is right on the brining, though I do brine my major hooters alot longer than most people, and then soak in fresh water. That's why I call it a brine/debrine method, just my own terminology. The one's I just did turned out fantastic. I'm using these to make a really awesome smoked chicken salad, lots of ingredients, but reallllllly good. I'm putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow, it's for a wedding shower and I'm putting it in those cute little phyllo cups. I'll take lots more pics and post.

smokinjhawk - I do not brine my pork tenderloins, but I do brine my extra thick cut boneless chops. I make an apple/cranberry stuffing to shove inside them. I brine them in salt/sugar water for 8 hours, then in clean water for 3 hours changing twice, and in the last changing I add a couple of chunks of fresh pineapple. I used to not like thick cut chops, but now I do. I have some of those in the freezer and I want to do them soon. What I do with the tenderloins is make an herb/butter mixture and after the loins have cooled for about 20 minutes I slice them up and generously coat with the mixture. Very yummmmm. With some cheese biscuits! Wha!!!!

 

[spoiledrotten]

I have found that I can brine turkey breast or whole turkeys for 12 hours or longer and it seems to reach a balance at some point and not go any further no matter how long it stays in the brine. I am not a scientist so the only facts I have are the results but my birds never get mushy or overly salty with my standard 1 cup of kosher salt to 1 gallon of water ratio.

Having said that, I tend to just leave turkey breasts and whole turkeys over night which usually ends up being closer to 8-10 hours but none the less.. seems to not matter much after some point and no change to the texture of the meat.

This is what I wanted to read! I put my 14# bird in a brining solution of 1 cup Kosher Salt to about 1.5 gals water with other spices like garlic powder and onion powder. I left it about 3 days before taking it out, rubbing it down, and shooting it up with some of my homemade Niagara wine. I wrapped it in foil and will putting it on the smoker first thing in the morning. This is my first attempt at a turkey so I hope I haven't left it in the brining sol too long.

BTW... I love this site!