Brining Question

[suziquzie]

Ok I'm a little sarcastic today but I'm not ready for it... I think its 30 something.
COLD!

 

[GB]

LMAO! Thats why you put it next to the house. The heat from your walls keeps the stockpot just above freezing and well within "safe range". LOL!!!

Just how cold IS it there? Its above zero here celcius...um...its...40F I think right now.

I am jealous. It is about 20 F here today.

 

[mackeeg]

I would like to brine this year. Is it just 1 cup of salt to a cup of sugar and the rest water?? The turkey isn't salty is it?

 

[dit]

Mackeeg, I found these two links at the foodnetwork channel which look interesting from Tyler Florence and Alton Brown. This forum won't let me post the hotlinks though...

 

[Alix]

I would like to brine this year. Is it just 1 cup of salt to a cup of sugar and the rest water?? The turkey isn't salty is it?

If you use that much salt and sugar you will need a lot of water. Scroll up to read my brining proportions.

 

[jennyema]

Overnight in the stockpot. 1/4 cup of coarse salt and 1/4 cup brown sugar to a gallon or so of water. (Sorry I think in liters, you might need 1/2 cup of each for a gallon.)

It's actually a cup of kosher salt per gallon. About 1/2 cup sugar or to taste.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html

 

[Alix]

Not in my recipe book its not Jenny. We find the equal proportions plenty salty and I think more would be far too salty for our family.

 

[jennyema]

There are even recipes that call for more than 1 cup per gallon. That would be too salty for me. But supposedly you can brine faster by using more salt.

Low salt brining doesn't work as well. There needs to be a certain concentration of salt in the liquid for the diffusion/osmosis to work.

Most brine recipes call for 1/1. Some call for one half/1. IMO 1/4 cup isn't nearly enough salt for it to work.

 

[Alix]

Jenny, mine is in liters. As I said in my post, my conversion is not good so the user may have to use more. My actual recipe (which works beautifully for everything I've tried it on) is 1/4 cup of each to 2 liters of water. So...convert as you will.

 

[Andy M.]

How much salt makes a brine appears to vary according to whose recipe you look at. The well known Alton Brown brine recipe:

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water

This works out to a half cup per gallon of liquid. If you use veggie base to make the veggie stock, there is added salt there.

The link Jenny provided mentions the significant differences in types of salt. For example, if Alix's cookbook quotes 1/2 cup per gallon using table salt, that would be roughly equal to a cup of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt per gallon. So maybye Alix's and Jennyema's recipes are closer than you would think at first.