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Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I did a dry brine this year and the turkey came out great. It feels a bit weird thawing the turkey a few days in advance, then coating it in kosher salt and pepper while it sits uncovered in the fridge, but it worked. You never really know if a turkey is good because you got a good bird, or if a technique worked, but things went so well I'll do it again next year.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Super Contributor
Posts: 481
Registered: ‎06-01-2016

So glad to see folks using the dry brine method. I used it for the first time several years ago and love it. I don't have the refrigerator space for wet brining so the dry method works best for me and is much easier for me overall because of chronic back pain.

 

Has anyone tried dry brining for more than 24 hours? I have read that one can dry brine for up to 3 days but I never have; worry that it would be too salty.

 

Also, has anyone added other flavors to the salt besides black pepper? I have had great results adding both black pepper and poultry seasoning.

 

Whether wet or dry, brining is definitely the way to go.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,055
Registered: ‎01-30-2015

@ChazzyLady wrote:

So glad to see folks using the dry brine method. I used it for the first time several years ago and love it. I don't have the refrigerator space for wet brining so the dry method works best for me and is much easier for me overall because of chronic back pain.

 

Has anyone tried dry brining for more than 24 hours? I have read that one can dry brine for up to 3 days but I never have; worry that it would be too salty.

 

Also, has anyone added other flavors to the salt besides black pepper? I have had great results adding both black pepper and poultry seasoning.

 

Whether wet or dry, brining is definitely the way to go.


I usually dry brine Wednesday morning around 5 am before I go to work, so that is more than 24 hours before I roast, though not much- I HAVE  done it 48 hours in advance and it was great, but  a tad saltier..but really good- I think it was actually moister too!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I did the dry brine on mine on Tuesday night. That gave it about thirty-six hours. I've seen people doing it three days in advance. I'll probably do it the same way again next year also. You never really know if you just got a good turkey (there's a wide variance from bird to bird) or if the method/technique was better, but this turkey was delicious, so I was happy.

 

I always laugh at the shows where they buy one turkey from ten different sources and decide which brand is best based on that one turkey from each place. You might get a turkey that's a lazy bird who just sat by the food trough nibbling away all day, every day and decide it's the most tender turkey you've ever had and declare it the best. Another turkey, even from the same clutch of eggs and raised in the same building, might have been a nervous nelly, jumping up and running around like a chicken (or turkey in this case) with its head cut off at any and every sound and be as tough as shoe leather.

 

Turkey farms aren't generally exclusive either. (At least the big ones.) They sell their birds to whoever is offering the best price at the time. Five turkeys all from the same "brand" may have been raised on five different farms under five wildly varying conditions with different feed and care. Because of that, I tend to shop by price and control what I can control in the cooking process. By and large, it's worked out well for me. I can only remember one or two clunkers (overly tough or dry) turkeys in around forty years of cooking turkeys. (One cheapo bird came without the innards in a bag however and I almost turned the poor thing inside out trying to find them, not wanting them to melt in the bird. I figured they had to be in there somewhere. Nope.)

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!