How Does Brining Affect Turkey Cooking Time? A Complete Guide

What About the Flavored Brines?

To begin, don’t try to brine your turkey or chicken in cider (or any other acidic base). Dont do it. Just dont. The meat will “cook” without heat because the acid in the cider starts the denaturization process. The results? Ultra-dry meat, with a wrinkled, completely desiccated exterior, like this:

More interesting were the results of the broth-soaked chicken. It seems like the best solution, right? If brining makes your meat drink bland water, why not use flavorful broth instead?

Unfortunately, physics is a fickle mistress who refuses to be reined in. There wasn’t much of a difference in taste between the chicken that had been soaked in broth and chicken that had been soaked in brine. The broth-soaked chicken still had the same hallmarks of a regular brined bird (juicy/wet texture, blander flavor). What the heck was going on?.

There are two principles at work here. One is that broth looks like a clear liquid, but it’s actually made up of water with a lot of different solids that dissolve and add to its flavor. When measured by molecules, most of these flavorful molecules are organic compounds that are pretty big. Salt molecules, on the other hand, are very small. It is easy for salt to get through the semipermeable membranes that surround cells in animal tissue, but bigger molecules can’t. **.

**Yes, that’s a good thing. If you didn’t, every time you took a bath you’d be losing minerals and proteins.

Additionally, theres an effect called salting out, which occurs in water-based solutions containing both proteins and salt. Think of a cup of broth as a college dance party populated with cheerleaders (the water—lets call them the Pi Delta Pis), nerds (the proteins—well refer to them as the Lambda Lambda Lambdas), and jocks (the salt—obviously the Alpha Betas).***

***I don’t say anything about the sex and gender preferences of those groups, but let’s say that nerds and jocks don’t like each other and that cheerleaders like both groups.

Now, at a party with no jocks, the nerds can talk to the cheerleaders and end up mixing with them, making a group of people who are all the same. Someone should open the gym doors so that some of those cheerleaders can leave the party with some nerds. Unfortunately, those gym doors are locked, and only the jocks are strong enough to open them. So what happens when you let some jocks into that party?.

The cheerleaders, who were initially fine socializing with the nerds, will quickly and selectively flock to the jocks. The nerds end up finding each other, huddling into small groups, and twiddling their thumbs. When the night is over and the gym doors need to be broken open, the jocks and cheerleaders go together, leaving the nerds behind. In our sad tale, those Tri-Lambs never get their revenge.

The exact same thing is happening in a broth-based brine. Water molecules are attracted to salt ions and will selectively interact with them. The bad proteins, on the other hand, are left with each other and form big groups that make it even harder for them to get into the meat. A lot of water and salt get into the meat when the salt breaks down the muscle fibers enough to let the water in (kind of like our jocks breaking down those doors). But very little protein does. ****.

The result is that unless you use a homemade stock that is extra-concentrated, very few flavorful compounds make it into your chicken or turkey. This doesn’t seem like a very smart move when you think about how much stock you’d need to submerge a turkey.

**** This phenomenon is used in biology to remove specific unwanted proteins from solutions. When more salt is added to a solution, proteins will gather into bigger and bigger balls until they are big enough to see with the naked eye and separate from the solution. Those proteins can then be removed with centrifugation. Scientists can remove only certain proteins while leaving the others in solution if they know the salt concentration that makes each protein precipitate. The excess salt can then be removed via dialysis (essentially microscopic straining).

How Brining Works

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, lets do a quick recap on brining basics. The basic step is to soak meat overnight in a tub full of very salty water. The meat should be lean, like turkey, chicken, or pork chops. Most brines are in the range of 5 to 8% salt to water by weight. Over the course of the night, the meat absorbs some of that water. More importantly, that water stays put even after the meat is cooked. By brining meat, you can decrease the amount of total moisture loss by 30 to 40%.

To show this, I cooked three turkey breasts that were all the same in an oven set to 300°F (150°C) until the insides were 145°F (63°C). One was brined, the other was soaked overnight in plain water, and the last was left alone. All three breasts came from non-kosher, non-enhanced birds (i. e. , the birds were natural, having received no treatment after slaughter). I charted their weight straight from the package, after brining, and after cooking.

Before being roasted, both the bird soaked in brine and the bird soaked in water gained a lot of weight. However, the watered bird lost almost all of that weight as it cooked, while the brined bird kept a lot more. This corresponded to a juicier texture on eating. So whats going on here?.

Some newspapers say it’s all because of osmosis, which is the movement of water across a membrane from a place with few solutes to a place with many. Water moves from the brining vessel, where there are few solutes, to the cells of the turkey, where there are many proteins, minerals, and other fun biological things dissolved in the water.

This theory is, in fact, inaccurate. If that were true, then soaking a turkey in clean, salt-free water would work better than soaking it in brine, but we already know that’s not the case. According to the osmosis theory, if you soak a turkey in a ridiculously concentrated brine (I tested the turkey in a 3% salt solution), it should dry out even more.

However, I discovered that a highly concentrated 3% salt solution wasn’t any better at keeping the turkey moist than a more moderate 6% salt solution, which proves that the osmosis theory is completely false.

To understand whats really happening, you have to look at the structure of turkey muscles. Muscles are made up of long, bundled fibers, each one housed in a tough protein sheath. As the turkey heats, the proteins that make up this sheath will contract. This makes the juices come out of the bird, just like when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste. Heat them to much above 150°F (66°C) or so, and you end up with dry, stringy meat.

Salt helps mitigate this shrinkage by dissolving some of the muscle proteins (mainly myosin). The muscle fibers loosen up, which lets them soak up more water. What’s more, they don’t contract as much when they cook, which keeps more of that water in the turkey while it cooks.

Sounds great, right? But theres a catch.

Does brining a turkey affect the cook time?

FAQ

Does brined turkey take longer to cook?

Does brining reduce cook time?

Is it worth it to brine a turkey for 2 hours?

How long after brining do you have to cook?

Should you brine a Turkey before cooking?

Because brining adds to much moisture and flavor, it also makes the skin super wet and prevents browned, crispy skin. To get the best of both worlds, brine your turkey for 24 hours, then remove from brine and allow to dry out, uncovered, in the refrigerator for an additional 24 hours. If you don’t have time, simple dab dry with paper towels.

Why should you brine a Turkey?

Enhance flavor: The salt and seasonings in the brine penetrate deep into the meat, amplifying the flavors and aromas of your turkey. Reduce cooking time: By hydrating the meat, brining can help your turkey cook more evenly and quickly. Now, let’s get to the million-dollar question: how long does it take to brine a turkey?

How long do you brine a Turkey?

To get the best of both worlds, brine your turkey for 24 hours, then remove from brine and allow to dry out, uncovered, in the refrigerator for an additional 24 hours. If you don’t have time, simple dab dry with paper towels. How to make turkey stock.

Can You brine a thawed Turkey?

Be sure to thaw your turkey beforehand, as it’s not safe to brine a fully frozen turkey. You can brine a partially thawed turkey, though, since the thawing process will continue while the turkey is in the brine. Wet brine the turkey in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. Don’t go longer than that or the meat will get a spongy texture.

Can you roast a Turkey After brining?

Roast as usual, but check your turkey early. You can roast the turkey either immediately after brining or after air-drying. I’ve found that brined turkeys tend to cook a bit more quickly, so roast as usual, but start checking the turkey’s temperature an hour before the end of your estimated cooking time.

Can you wet brine a Turkey?

Wet Brine. This technique is called wet brining. A wet turkey brine adds moisture to your turkey- nearly an entire pound of it for a 12 pound bird. The only downfall to wet brining a is not getting crispy turkey skin, but we have a solution for that below. You can learn more about a dry brines too. Use Large Grain Salt.