absorbing water and holding on to it. That 30 to 40 percent
savings in moisture loss is not really turkey juices—it’s plain
old tap water. Many folks who eat brined birds have that
very complaint: it’s juicy, but the juice is watery.
I’d seen a few solutions (solutions, get it? ha-ha) offered
for this problem, so I decided to test them all out side by
side. I ran my tests on chicken breasts, which have
essentially the same fat content and protein structure as
turkey breasts but are smaller and easier to work with.
Brining Solutions
By far the most common alternative to wet-brining is plain
old salting (i.e., dry-brining). When you salt a turkey or
chicken breast, meat juices are initially drawn out through
the process of osmosis. As the salt dissolves in the juices, it
forms what amounts to a very concentrated brine; see “How
to Dry-Brine a Bird,” here.
I’ve also heard people ask the very obvious question, “If
brining introduces bland, boring tap water into the bird, why
not brine in a more flavorful solution?”
Why not indeed? I decided to find out.
Here’s what I tried:
- Sample #1: Plain (untreated)
- Sample #2: Brined overnight in a 6% salt solution
- Sample #3: Heavily salted overnight
- Sample #4: Brined overnight in chicken broth with a 6%
salt content - Sample #5: Brined overnight in cider with a 6% salt
content