Turkey brining: Regular salt OK?

[VOW]

@Lynn_Bodoni

I called up the Butterball hotline. You don’t want to brine the frozen birds or frozen parts, but it’s the cook’s choice as to whether or not to brine a fresh bird. I have a fresh, never-frozen breast. My husband is howling that he doesn’t WANT it brined…so I won’t brine it. This time. Next time I’ll brine it and not tell him about it until after it’s cooked and he’s eaten some.

As for salt flavor differences, I can’t tell the difference between iodized and non-iodized salt, but I DO taste the difference between table salt and sea salt. Sea salt always tastes dirty to me. I can’t describe it any other way. I’ve taken to carrying a small camping spice shaker filled with regular table salt in my purse, because so many places now have only sea salt, and it always tastes nasty.

I fixed a turkey boob today. I thawed it in the refrigerator. Before placing it in the oven, I peeled back the entire skin covering the breast and plopped on blobs of softened butter. I was generous and used a whole stick. Then I sprinkled poultry seasoning over the butter and replaced the skin.

O. M. G. That had to be the BEST turkey I’ve ever had! The breast meat was so moist and tender it almost didn’t need chewing. Sublime!

I’ll be dreaming about that turkey tonight!
~VOW

[Lynn_Bodoni]

Before placing it in the oven, I peeled back the entire skin covering the breast and plopped on blobs of softened butter. I was generous and used a whole stick. Then I sprinkled poultry seasoning over the butter and replaced the skin.

I used a little less than half a stick, and mixed the seasoning in with the butter. Much flavor and tenderness happened.

When I roast a chicken, I remove the clumps of fat, cut them up and mix with seasoning, and loosen the skin from the breast. I distribute the fat between the skin and breast. My husband thought that he didn’t like roast chicken, until I started doing it this way.

Bonus: You don’t have to baste or fiddle with the bird or bird boob this way. This means that you don’t have to open the oven every half hour and let the heat out.

I am STILL going to try brining the next chicken that I roast, I just won’t mention that I’m going to do it beforehand. Bill does not question what I do, for the most part. He’s just happy that tasty food appears.

[Chronos]

The big difference between different kinds of salt is the shape and size of the grains. Kosher salt has large grains, which can give you a bunch of strong bursts of saltiness, if you put it on the outside of something (think a giant pretzel, for instance). But if you’re dissolving it, the grains are lost, so it mostly doesn’t matter what kind it was originally: Just use whatever’s cheapest or most convenient.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

Kosher salt isn’t iodized, and I was wondering mostly if the iodine would make a difference. Sea salt has different impurities, depending on the source, and will have flavor differences. I knew that kosher salt has irregular grains, and I was wondering if it would measure differently.

[Chronos]

It’s true that different salts have different impurities, but they’re pretty subtle. Most folks won’t be able to tell the difference even in the best of circumstances, and a Thanksgiving dinner is hardly the right venue for highlighting subtle flavor distinctions.

[Arkcon]

@Shalmanese

Even better, measure your salt by percentages. A 2 - 2.5% brine is an equilibrium brine, meat can hang out in there for as long as you want without getting oversalted. A 5% brine is a strong brine and you should only put meat in there for a few hours.

Measure the amount of water you put in the brining vessel, then multiply by the percentage to get the weight of salt.

This is very useful to me, I had been experimenting with less and less salt, to see how low I could go and still have an effect. Do you have a web page that references the equilibrium concentration? I’m interested because my brine is often 50:50 salt and sugar, and I’m wondering how I’d adjust it. Or if I’d have to, I’m only trying to avoid oversaltyness.