Brining a Turkey: To Brine or Not to Brine, That is the Question

How Brining Works

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, lets do a quick recap on brining basics. The basic procedure is to soak meat—typically lean cuts like turkey, chicken, or pork chops—for an entire night in a tub filled with heavily salted water. 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%.

I cooked three identical turkey breasts to an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C) in an oven set to 300°F (150°C) to illustrate. 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 roasting, both the bird soaked in brine and the bird soaked in water gained a good amount of weight; however, the bird soaked in brine retained a good deal more weight than the watered bird did. This corresponded to a juicier texture on eating. So whats going on here?.

Osmosis, the propensity of water to flow across a membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration, is blamed for everything in certain publications. Water in this instance travels from the brining vessel, which has a low solute concentration, to the turkey’s cells, which contain dissolved proteins, minerals, and other interesting biological goodies.

This theory is, in fact, inaccurate. We’ve already shown that soaking a turkey in a brine is not as effective as soaking it in pure, unsalted water, even if that were the case. Additionally, according to the osmosis theory, if you soak a turkey in a ridiculously concentrated brine solution (I tested the turkey in a 3%35 percent salt solution), it should dry out even more.

Nevertheless, I discovered that even after making the turkey unduly salty, a highly concentrated 30.5 percent salt solution was only marginally successful in assisting the turkey in retaining moisture compared to a more moderate 30.6 percent salt solution, suggesting 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. Juices are forced out of the bird, much like when you squeeze a toothpaste tube. 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). In addition to absorbing more moisture, the loosened muscle fibers also ensure that more of the moisture remains in the turkey during cooking by reducing their contraction.

Sounds great, right? But theres a catch.

Brining Alternatives

By far the most common alternative is plain old salting. Osmosis is initially used to extract meat juices from a turkey (or chicken) breast when salt is applied. Yes, this time, osmosis is actually at work. The salt breaks down muscle proteins as it dissolves in these fluids, creating a brine that is essentially very concentrated. Because the muscle fibers are loosened, the fluids can be reabsorbed and bring the salt with them.

Through this process—osmosis, dissolving, reabsorbing—the salt will slowly work its way into the meat.

I’ve also heard people pose the rather obvious question: why not brine in a more flavorful solution if brining just introduces boring, tasteless tap water into the bird?

Why not, indeed? I decided to find out.

It became impractical to try to roast turkey breasts at the same time because there were so many methods to test side by side. Rather, I roasted twenty-four chicken breasts in four batches of six, averaging the information from each batch. Although chicken and turkey are not exactly the same, their similarities should allow results from one to be predictive of those from the other.

Heres what I tried:

• Breast #1: plain (untreated)
• Breast #2: brined overnight in a 6% salt solution
• Breast #3: heavily salted overnight
• Breast #4: brined overnight in chicken broth with a 6% salt content.
• Breast #5: brined overnight in cider with a 6% salt content.
• Breast #6: soaked overnight in plain water

Breasts #1 and #6 were included as a control to ensure that the brine and salt solutions were behaving as expected, as well as a means of evaluating how closely the data would mirror that of the turkey breasts.

Heres what happened with breasts #1, #2, #3, and #6 (plain, brined, salted, and water-soaked).

The brined chicken breasts retained a notably higher level of moisture than the plain or water-soaked chicken breasts, as predicted. Indeed, in this test, the water-soaked breasts actually ended up drier on average than the plain breasts. Take a look at the carnage:

Dry as the Gobi Desert (on an admittedly very-moist-for-a-desert day).

On the other hand, take a look at the brined breast:

As plump and juicy as a benevolent aunt in a Disney film. Tasting it, you definitely feel a case of wet-sponge syndrome. Its watery appearance during chewing creates the impression of juiciness, but its flavor is a little bland and its texture is a little too loose.

After that, we compare the salted breast to the unsalted breast and discover that it is still much drier (though it was a few percentage points drier than the brined breast). Tasting it, youll find its undoubtedly juicier and better-seasoned, with a stronger chicken flavor. Its smooth, dense, but tender texture is a major departure from both plain and brined turkey. The meat is lightly cured.

Visually, you can see clear signs of this curing with its decidedly pink hue:

With a small chicken breast, this pink, moist, cured section extends nearly to the center of the breast. You would only notice it around the outside edges of a turkey, which coincidentally are also the areas most likely to dry out and overcook).

Even though the brined breast had a little more flavor and texture, I would still prefer the salted chicken to the brined any day.

Is brining a turkey worth it?