brining a store bought turkey

[doubled]

so, as much as i would love to support a local farmer and buy a nice natural fresh turkey, $0.48 lb for any type of meat is too good for me to pass up. especially when i have the freezer space to buy two and keep one frozen and cook the other. this is why i end up with a freezer full of corned beef in march, ham in december and april and turkeys this time of year.

anyway, these are the "contains up to 8% of a solution for added moisture" types of turkey and i am going to smoke them. in the past i have brined fresh birds before smoking them and my question is this, does that solution act as a brine and if i go ahead and brine them myself, will they end up being double brined and way too salty? or should i just thaw then out and stick them in the smoker?

thanks
DD

 

[Amethyste]

I might be wrong...but my understanding is that if it says:

"In natural juices" = brined
"in a natural solution of stock and blah blah" = brined
"water added" = brined

They're all like that except the "air-chilled" ones I see, or flash frozen ones that dont have any solutions at all.

Now I dont think it wil really make that much of a diff if you are doing it at home.... probably wouldnt brine as long unless it is a flash frozen one <non-brined>

EDITED: Meant to say that I wouldnt brine at all being a regular turkey... not sure why the "as long" got in there

I shouldnt type when i am tired....
I get the fresh ones with no solutions/water/etc added...I brine mine.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

what they have done already replaces the need to brine.
If you brine it now you run the risk of an overly moist, mushy, spongy turkey after cooking.

 

[doubled]

that's what i thought...thanks very much

 

[saddina]

Brining works via osmosis, the salt allows mosture to get thru cell membraines adding to a moister bird, but only so much can be intakes (think of a sponge, you can only get so much water in). Brine if you'd like (we still do), and then when you pull from the brine, rinse and dry and the extra salt will wash off.

 

[ChickenChaps]

This is really interesting SCIENCE about the brining process, what it does to the meat and WHY it works!


http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/11/the-food-lab-turkey-brining-basics.html

 

[doubled]

wow...did that ever get nerdy...
thanks so much for the link...fun stuff...i think i have to bookmark that website