wet vs dry brine some Texas style turkey breast

robertm

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ROBERT
I have been wet brining chicken/turkey for a long time but only dry bringing red meats. Got me thinking what if I dry brined a turkey breast instead?

I cut one large breast in half and brined ea. It's been my experience dry brine needs longer so dry brine was covered in kosher salt and sat uncovered on elevated rack overnight. The wet bring was salt/brown sugar/water for about 6 hrs.

In all pics, dry left, wet right.

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Both were seasoned before going on the smoker with salt/pepper/garlic/onion. The dry brine did not receive addl salt. In retrospect maybe the wet brine shouldn't have either but that's the way I've always done it.

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Smoked a good couple hrs then thrown in tinfoil with butter to finish.
Sliced and ready to serve:

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So the big conclusion??? No one could really tell a difference!!

In light of that it's an easy decision for me. Dry brine is way less mess and less chance of contaminating other things. It has to be done the night before but that's simple for me.

Oh both finished within maybe 10 minutes of ea other so cook time was effectively the same.

Anybody else ever tried back to back comparison?
 
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I switched to dry brining ever since I discovered Naturific Harvest Brine, I see no reason to ever go back to a wet brine.

Good looking breasts...
 
Looks great!!

Next time, skip the brine, and inject Oakridge Gamechanger. Just for the sake of argument. I may have to try that experiment myself.
 
I switched to dry brining ever since I discovered Naturific Harvest Brine, I see no reason to ever go back to a wet brine.

Good looking breasts...

I've considered buying several times. The apple and maple have always given me pause. Next time I'm going to do half dry brine with my normal mix and the other half harvest brine. Buying some now. Will see what happens!
 
Looks great!!

Next time, skip the brine, and inject Oakridge Gamechanger. Just for the sake of argument. I may have to try that experiment myself.

That's what I need to do next-the side by side of these. I've done Oakridge game changer (loved it) a year before, we did the Harvest Brine (loved it) so probably should compare them less than a year apart.
 
Dry brining really only.makes a difference for the skin. When I'm doing a whole bird, I dry brine under the skin and put in the fridge, uncovered for 48 hours to dry the skin.

For skinless it doesn't really matter.
 
Dry brining really only.makes a difference for the skin. When I'm doing a whole bird, I dry brine under the skin and put in the fridge, uncovered for 48 hours to dry the skin.

For skinless it doesn't really matter.




https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/dry-brining-easier-and-less-wasteful-wet-brining


Surprisingly, the AmazingRibs.com science advisor Prof. Greg Blonder has proven that salt penetrates chicken and turkey skin
 
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