Dry or wet brine?

I did 2 birds this Thanksgiving because I too wanted to know which one produced better results. The wet brined bird was 20# and the dry brined was 16#. They both came out great but based on families feedback the wet brined took the top spot.

Smoking Piney said:

Please explain "dry brine" to me.

Brine means seasoned, salted water to me. "Dry" sure sounds like rub to me.

I don't get it.

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When you "dry" brine the salt pulls the internal moisture to the surface, mixes with the salt and gets pulled back into the meat, with "wet" the brine solution pulls moisture out and the solution gets pulled into the meat, they are the same process.

For my moneys worth I have used Alton Brown's wet brine and harvest brine and I prefer the dry harvest brine, less mess, just as juicy if not more so, and less contamination risk since wet brining a huge bird requires a large vessel which will not fit in my fridge so I used to do it in the garage since I live in a cold climate.

I'm late to the party but dry brine for the win. For the past 5 years I've been doing Meathead's kosher salt dry brine the day before I smoke a whole (spatchcocked) turkey and it has been consistently phenomenal. All I do besides the brine is a herb butter rub inside and out and a black pepper/gran onion/gran garlic rub to finish. Rock solid bird.