Thanksgiving turkey

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Boardtowndawg

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Dec 6, 2018
114
41
I have seen posts about not brining anything that has been injected or has some sort of saline solution on it. I have been looking at different grocery stores around my house and it seems they all have something on them to some extent whether injected or anywhere from 4%-8% solution. Should I find one that says 0 or is the 4% alright to use?
 
Most of the turkey's at the grocery store already have been injected a bit or a lot of bit. I brine mine anyway...but I only use 1/2 the salt on one that has already been factory injected. The main reason I do this is to get the vegetable stock/sage/rosemary/thyme flavor through the entire bird - these seasonings are part of my brining process.
 
I've tried wet bringing pre-injected turkeys and I don't believe it made a difference in the flavor or moistness. Maybe my brine didn't have strong flavors, but I won't bother doing it again. The 4% is alright to brine. You just want to use a brine with a lower salt content. You can search online for uninjected turkeys, like "heritage Turkey, " which need to be brined, but they are pricey.

You can also fill the bird's cavity with the flavors you like, apples, lemon, orange, onion, celery, thyme, rosemary, etc, and then dip or ladle some of that broth over the Turkey slices.
 
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I have to agree with Kris, I've haven't noticed any flavor enhancement with brining. Moisture retention yes. For flavor I think your better off injecting the flavors you want.

Chris
 
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I found a 3% bird, planning on using 1/4 the amount of salt/sugar, but all the herbs in my 12 hour brine before Jeff's rub / butter mix...maybe I use even less salt/sugar - Thoughts?
 
I buy what they have an brine them anyways. the brine I use is not super high in salt...Kinda like uncle eddie advise. The physics behind brining will not allow the meat to continuously get more salty. It just equalizes. I will spare you the science lecture on that. ;)

( bought unmanipulated breasts once...cost way too much and turned out like **s.). the above approach works fine for me.
 
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