Has anyone tried a dry brined turkey? In November 2006, Russ Parsons of the LA Times, wrote an article about testing four preparation techniques on four turkeys. #1 was brined in water, #2 was brined by sprinkling dry salt over it, #3 was roasted covered, unbrined and #4 was roasted uncovered and unbrined at high temperature.

The article said the #2, the dry brined bird came out best.

Here is a link to the article:
A Thanksgiving turkey worth its salt - LA Times Nov 17, 2006

Here is a paraphrased version of the final, successful technique used by Russ Parsons to Dry Brine a Turkey:

Dry Brined Turkey

Buy an unprocessed or unenhanced turkey of about 12 to 16 pounds.

Salting works like brining, without the water. Just sprinkle the turkey with kosher salt, then store it in the fridge for 4-days for a 12- to 16-pound bird. At first, the salt pulls moisture from the meat, but as time passes, almost all of those juices are reabsorbed, bringing the salt along with them.

Salt a 12-16 lb thawed turkey with 1-Tbs kosher salt for every 5-lbs of bird. Concentrate the distribution of salt on the thickest parts of the meat, the breast and the thigh.

Store salted turkey in fridge in a 2-1/2-gallon sealable plastic bag.

After three days, remove turkey from bag. There should be no salt visible on the skin surface and the skin should be moist but not wet. Place turkey breast side up on a platter, return to fridge and allow the turkey air-dry in the refrigerator overnight, prior to cooking.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Brush melted butter over all of the turkey and cook bird uncovered. Do not stuff turkey. Do not baste the turkey during cooking.

Start the salted bird at 425 degrees, breast-side down. After 30 minutes, flip the bird right side up and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees for the remainder of the cooking.

For doneness, you are aiming for a final temperature of 165 degrees measured in the deepest part of the thigh.

A 15-lb turkey should take roughly 3-hours to cook.

Let the bird sit and rest for 30 minutes after removing from oven, to finish cooking and enable the juices to redistribute evenly through the meat prior to slicing and serving.


I have not tried this yet, but I'm going to give it a dry run before Thanksgiving.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rusty Barton,

Not something I often do but yes. (See here.) I often don't have the lead time.

I used Parsons method last year. Did one natural turkey that way and a self-basting bird at the same time. The salt rub bird came out much better.

I aimed for 325 F at the lid and everybody loved the turkey.

Here's the thread from last year: Great Turkey Smackdown

A strong selling point for the method is that in today's LA Times Food Section- the last before Thanksgiving- they repeat the same method as their recommendation.

I have been looking for that article for the longest time. I tried it last year also and boy did the turkey come out good. IMO, The biggest difference between this method and a a typical brine is that a brine will occasionally make meat come out a tad mushy.

Erik

Okay, I used the LA Times method to dry brine a 12-lb turkey. The results were phenomenal.

I smoked the turkey in my weber kettle at 325F to 350F until the thigh temperature was 175F. I used the indirect heat method, with a 9"x13" pan of water under the turkey on the charcoal grate, and charcoal on each side of the pan.

My family loved the turkey and said it was the best flavor and texture they had ever had.

I will be using the dry brining method in the future if I only want to salt brine a turkey. Wet brining is still useful for adding other flavors, if desired.