Need a turkey brine

[Kyle]

Hey guys,

I plan to smoke a turkey this week and need some idea for a brine. I usually just do the 3/4C canning salt + 1c Brown sugar / gallon of water plus a couple extras. Anyone have a really good one they want to share?

[jentz]

I find herb and spices dont provide much flavor in a brine.I dont care how much you add! They work better under the skin and in the cavity after a brine. I like one just like yours except I go 1/2 C sugar just white, then 1/2 C salt Canning and 2 quarts water.That should be enough to submerge the bird in in a appropreate sized container for a 24 hour brine.for me the brine is to keep the bird more moist.

[thirdeye]

I have brined poultry for years, and I still believe it helps a lot..... However it takes some time on a turkey because of the thickness of the meat. A standard strength brine is 1 cup of Morton's kosher to one gallon of water. I usually prefer less salty brines. Here is my turkey breast brine:

Turkey Brine

Whole turkey 48 hours minimum

Turkey breast 24 to 30 hours

1 gallon water

6 ounces of kosher salt

1 tablespoon Morton's Tenderquick

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons pepper blend or crushed peppercorns

NOTE - One very important step that folks skip is resting (equalizing), this is the period of time after bring and before smoking. An overnight rest in the fridge lets all the liquids inside the breast settle down will greatly improve your finished product. Resting will also make sure that the concentration of salt is equal throughout the breast. Even when I brine chicken pieces or pork chops for an hour or two, I rest for an hour before cooking.

INJECTING - The next area is injecting brines. This gets a brine right where you want it, and saves time when brining. When injecting, you can usually smoke your bird in about 8 hours after injecting. No rest is needed. I use 4 ounces of brine in each side of the breast. I also use white sugar as brown sugar will tend to leave streaks where you injected. One option for injecting is a lite brine. I've had excellent results with ratio's of 3.5 ounces of salt to one gallon of water.

Here is an injection brine recipe from one of my mentors, "Old Dave". This guy has forgotten more about smoking that I'll ever learn, and he never fails to help me when I ask.:

I like a brine based off of "Shakes" Injectable Brine. This is the recipe that I use most often for all of my poultry.

32oz clean water (non-chlorinated and not softened)

1/4 cup pickling salt

2 teaspoons of TenderQuick

1/3 cup clover honey (I will often use agave nectar instead - thirdeye)

3-4 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon pickle spice

Heat it up in a sauce pan but do not boil. For a 12-15 pound turkey, inject 2 oz in each leg, 2 oz in each thigh, and 4 oz in each side of the breast. 16 oz total per turkey. I like to do the injection at least 8-10 hours before the fire.

Dave

[jentz]

Thirdeye I can see the flavoring at the brine times.But why the tenderquick?? Does it do something other than a presertive as its designed to do with the nitrates?

[thirdeye]

Thirdeye I can see the flavoring at the brine times.But why the tenderquick?? Does it do something other than a presertive as its designed to do with the nitrates?

The preservative/food safety issues of TQ are not really a factor because turkeys are usually cooked at higher temps. Besides bringing some salt and sugar to the party....Yes, TQ helps the meat retain moisture, slightly tightens the grain, and gives the meat a slight pink color.

[Ice Shack Baby]

I did this one for Thanksgiving. It turned out really well.

1 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 gallon vegetable stock

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger

1 gallon heavily iced water

[NEANGLER]

Never been a fan of tender quick, just seems to make eveything too salty. I have doen this one in the past and works weel in the smoker and in the oven.

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup of Brown sugar

2 oranges

2 lemons

2 sprigs of thyme

2 sprigs of rosemary

1 tblspn of pepper corns

2 bay leaves

1 gallon of H2O

Cut and squeeze the organges and lemons into your brine and let turkey sit for 24-48 hrs and make sure to rinse and dry before cooking/smoking.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Like neangler im a big fan of the citrus brine.. I dont use brown sugar in mine, but its good as well.

[bak2MN]

Throw in a bottle of liquid smoke to any of the recipes above and..... mmmm good!!

[hockeybc69]

An entire bottle???

Man, I do a couple tablespoons at MOST.

[bak2MN]

Yep. Then I inject seasoned butter into it and grill it!! I am the only one on both sides of the family to cook turkeys. No one else will cook one since I started doing them this way.

[Leaky]

Target has turkey breasts on sale this week for .99. I'm going to smoke it as well. Haven't done one before. This breast has already been inseminated with a solution. Hate when they do that. My guess is that I wouldn't want to brine it. Correct?

[the squirrel]

Correct just some olive oil and cajun seasoning on the skin a few hours before and smoke or indirect heat work good for me! I like applewood myself!

[thirdeye]

Target has turkey breasts on sale this week for .99. I'm going to smoke it as well. Haven't done one before. This breast has already been inseminated with a solution. Hate when they do that. My guess is that I wouldn't want to brine it. Correct?

Inseminated? Hehee. Let's skip the visual on that process. How about enhanced?

Usually when a bird or pork has been enhanced you should use caution when doing any additional brining or injecting. Read the label and see what has been injected, sometimes it's a low percentage... like 8%. Sometimes it's mostly broth. Sometimes it's a brine of sorts with other chemicals like phosphates. And sometimes the percentage is high like 18%.

I try not to buy any meat that has been enhanced. Pork is the sneaky one, in big print it might say "Moist and Tender" or "Nice and Juicy", and in small print it tells you why.