My first smoked turkey.

[Dutch]

Buzzard, I usually give the bird a quick rinse under cold water after brining. No one has complained about "salty" meat yet.

 

[buzzard]

ok Dutch you opened a new can of worms so now have a lot of questions. i remember you talking about how your doctor recomeneded you cut salt out of your diet. how does this effect that. i realize you may not taste it but how much salt are you taking in, i would only assume a lot of it would sweat out durring cooking.

i am watching my salt intake too. now dont get me wrong, im sure i can get away with this since i watch it everyother day. and i dont care what the out come is i am going to eat it any way it was just a general question.

see im writing a book (yea right) and i need as much infomation as possible so if someone could send a bird to the lab to have it ananlized that would be great!!

 

[bigwilly'swickedque]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!

Hi Buzzard, I've been brining meats for over 10 years now and the brine doesn't raise the sodium level of the meat. The salt acts as a "pack mule" as it were carrying flavor of the liquids into the cells of the meat and is flushed back out all due to osmotic action (nature just loves a happy medium!!). The general rule of thumb when making a brine is 1/2 lb of kosher salt and a 1/2 lb of sugar per gallon of liquid. It's better to use weight as a measurement than cups as different brands of kosher salt take up different volumes - for some 1 cup equals a pound and others a cup and a half.

I love using a mixture of apple juice, maple syrup and veggie broth as the base for my brines.

 

[Dutch]

Buzzard, I asked my Doc that very question last week at my quarterly check-up and she pretty much said what Big Willy did. She wasn't worried about it since I only do 2-3 birds a year. She did ask if I would smoke a turkey for her if she provided the bird. This would be purely for scientific study of course. :mrgreen: