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Wet or Dry Brining Turkey

27/12/2008 By Ivy Liacopoulou

wet brining turkey image

Brining a turkey makes it moist and juicy.  You can either brine it in a water solution with salt, water, sugar and spices or dry brine it.

During brining, the turkey absorbs extra moisture, which in turn helps it stay more moist and juicy both during and after cooking.

I suppose most of you know how to brine a turkey but for me this was the first time.   I decided to try it this year and it is a fact that it produces a great tasting turkey which is tender and juicier.

I am glad I decided to brine it this year as I do not know what would have happened to it with my old fridge breaking down.   I read a few methods on the internet here and here and added a few ingredients of my own.

Basically what you need is salt and water.   Sugar is optional and the rest of the ingredients depend on what you like to add in the brine.

The ratio of water to salt is 1 gallon (1 Gallon = 3.785 litres) to 1 cup of table salt.

For a five kilo turkey you will need about 2 gallons of water.

I always buy a fresh turkey so before brining it there is a lot of work to wash it and remove some roots of the  feathers.  I even use tweezers to remove the feathers as it is very difficult to remove them.   After removing all the feathers there are some very tiny hair which are burnt off.

You can use a frozen turkey if you prefer but it should be properly thawed, at least two days before brining, in the refrigerator.

Before brining the turkey, I scorch it to remove any unwanted feathers or tiny hairs.  I yet some cotton with alcohol which I light in the sink and pass the turkey over the flame for a few seconds until the feathers are burnt.

The largest container I have is a large green bowl which I use in the kitchen and I use it only to clean and wash my greens (horta) and make dough. 

I put the turkey inside and measured the water needed.  As you may see the turkey is not fully covered.  I then removed the turkey and mixed in the ingredients until the salt and sugar dissolved.  I then put the turkey in again, covered it with cling film and let it brine overnight for twelve hours and in the morning I turned it on the other side and let it brine for another twelve hours.

As we live in an apartment in Athens, on the third floor,  I leave the container outside on the balcony, which is safe as no animals or thieves can do any harm.

After brining the turkey, it must be washed so that the salt and sugar is removed.

I cooked the turkey the traditional way I make it every year and stuffed it with chicken giblets.   You may find the recipe for my stuffed turkey here.    The only addition this year was adding chestnuts instead of almonds to the filling.   I added two cups of boiled and skinned chestnuts, which added an additional sweetness to the filling.   I am definitely going to be making this every year from now on.

 

Update: Brining ingredients 2012:

  • 19 cups water
  • 1 cup mandarin juice
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Peels of mandarins and orange (pith removed)
  • 1 1/2 cups coarse sea salt
  • 1 cup crystal sugar
  • 2 tsp Black Peppercorns
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 tbsp wild mountain tea (or use sage)

 

Update:  Christmas 2018

Greek Dry Brining Marinade

dry brining a turkey photo

After brining the turkey with the above method for ten years, this year I decided to try a dry brining method.

I made the brine with Greek spices and other ingredients which are simple pantry staples. 

With a dry brine, you just mix the salt with garlic, honey and spices, lemon juice and mustard and rub it into the meat and cavity and you’re done.

Cover it overnight and it’s ready to cook.

 

 

Wet or Dry Brining Turkey

Wet or Dry Brining Turkey

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 12 hours
Total Time: 12 hours 15 minutes
Brining a turkey makes it moist and juicy.  You can either brine it in a water solution with salt, water, sugar and spices or dry brine it.

Ingredients

Wet brining:

  • 1 gallon of water
  • 1cup of table salt
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon allspice berries
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 rosemary sprig
  • 1/2 cup of orange juice
  • 1/2 cup of lemon juice

Dry brining:

  • 1 tsp coarse herbed sea salt
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp mustard
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • Zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tbsp)
  • Freshly grated black pepper
  • 2 tbsp carino (poultry spice)

Instructions

Wet brining;

  1. Wash and scorch the turkey.
  2. Put all the brining ingredients in the container and mix.
  3. Add the turkey and cover with cling film.
  4. Refrigerate overnight.
  5. Next day turn it over for twelve more hours.
  6. Wash the turkey before cooking and season again.

Dry brining:

  1. Put the salt in the mortar with the garlic and using the pestle, crush the garlic into a paste.
  2. Combine all the ingredients and mix them together.
  3. Rub the bird with the marinade, inside out.
  4. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
© Ivy Liacopoulou
Cuisine: Greek Cuisine / Category: Christmas
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

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Filed Under: Christmas, Easy Recipes, How to make.., International, Main Dishes, Poultry Tagged With: brine, Brining, Christmas, Christmas recipes, Cypriot, dry-brining, Giblets, How to.., ideas for Christmas, ideas for New Year, new year, Poultry, Stuffing, thanksgiving, Tips-cooking, Traditional, Turkey, turkey brining, wet brining

About Ivy Liacopoulou

Ivy Liacopoulou grew up in Limassol, Cyprus, a beautiful island in the eastern Mediterranean, where her passion for cooking began as a child, helping her mother in the kitchen. Ivy belongs to a new generation of home cooks who loves to experiment and create new recipes of her own. She is the author of two cookbooks and she owns and manages Cooking Classes, in Nafplio, Peloponnese.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peter G

    27/12/2008 at 1:12 pm

    Beautiful picture of the cooked turkey Ivy! Well done and thanks for passing on those tips.

  2. Peter

    27/12/2008 at 1:23 pm

    Ivy, I’m glad you “took the plunge” and brined your turkey…it makes the turkey so much more moister.

    For next year, get one of those large plastic buckets you often find restaurants discarding as they can hold the entire turkey and water.

    PS. Even the leftovers are moist and juicy.

  3. Rosa

    27/12/2008 at 2:55 pm

    That’s interesting! I bet the turkey was deliciously moist. Yummy flavors!

    Cheers and have a wonderful day,

    Rosa xoxo

  4. Reeni

    27/12/2008 at 7:31 pm

    Your turkey looks gorgeous! I have never brined but would like to try it and see what the difference is in taste and moistness.

  5. Gloria

    27/12/2008 at 9:34 pm

    Your turkey looks gorgeous! Glad that Santa was able to save the day with a new refrigerator. 🙂

  6. Abigail

    29/12/2008 at 12:16 am

    I’ve never brined a turkey before, and in fact had never even cooked one until this year, and I thought of brining it, but I couldn’t find anything big enough to put it in! Even my bucket wasn’t big enough. 🙂

    This looks great and I bet the citrus juices in it helped make it really tender.

  7. Niki

    29/12/2008 at 6:03 pm

    Ivy, I love, love, love brined turkey! I did it for the first time in one of my classes at culinary school and will never made a turkey another way again! It was the juiciest turkey I have ever had in my life, and like Peter said, even the leftovers were moist and juicy. It’s just too bad I have no control over the turkey at Thanksgiving time…. I’m waiting for the day when I can take over!

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