Turkey legs

[Habanero Smoker]

I smoked 12 turkey legs. Ten of them I pulled to make Pulled Turkey. In the past they have come out on the dry side. This time I decided to dry brine them. After applying the rub, I evenly sprinkled an additional 1 teaspoon of salt on each leg. I let them brine over night. Smoked them at 225F, and they came out moist, and were not salty. My conclusion is that Cook's Illustrated instructions for dry brining poultry is correct. They instruct that you use 1 1/4 teaspoon per pound of in bone poultry, and let it brine for at least 6.5 hours.

[iceman]

Sounds good Hab. I've always wet brined at about a 60% solution with good results. I think the dry brine would be a lot easier to deal with. I'll have to try it next time. Do you think it would work on 1/2 chickens?

[winemakers]

H.S./Iceman,

What do you mean by a 60% solution?  My wet brining has been guided by 1-cup table salt (or equivalent if using kosher etc.) per 1-gallon water.  Is there a means to translate or are you using a salinometer/hydrometer?

mld

[Habanero Smoker]

Sounds good Hab. I've always wet brined at about a 60% solution with good results. I think the dry brine would be a lot easier to deal with. I'll have to try it next time. Do you think it would work on 1/2 chickens?

Yes. CI states as long as you use 1 1/4 teaspoons per pound of bone in chicken. I would just apply the salt to the skin side of the chicken, that is the way CI did it. And as Asa stated in another thread (which I misread the first time; I'll blame that on the time of day and drinking vodka when I was making strawberry flavored vodka 8), you are not adding any extra moisture.

H.S./Iceman,

What do you mean by a 60% solution?  My wet brining has been guided by 1-cup table salt (or equivalent if using kosher etc.) per 1-gallon water.  Is there a means to translate or are you using a salinometer/hydrometer?

mld

I usually follow a brine recipe. A 60% solution is about 1 1/2 lbs of salt per gallon, a cup of salt weights a little less then a 1/2 pound. I use less, because I just flavor brine, so generally if I wet brine I use about 1 cup per gallon.

[iceman]

H.S./Iceman,

What do you mean by a 60% solution?  My wet brining has been guided by 1-cup table salt (or equivalent if using kosher etc.) per 1-gallon water.  Is there a means to translate or are you using a salinometer/hydrometer?

mld

I use the salinometer AFTER all ingredients have been added and keep it around the 60% mark if I'm after flavor more than anything else. I'm like Hab. I like to brine for taste more than moisture retention.

[winemakers]

oohh,

salinometer=new toy, always a good thing.  I've got an ample supply of hydrometers from the winemaking thing, but new toys are always nice.  I suppose one could calculate (or look up on the web) the specific gravities of various salt solutions, but why when a precalibrated scale is available thru the salinomatic?


;)