Fennel, Chile, and Maple Dry Brine

We have been doing traditional brines for years, found this dry brine technique very interesting. We used a local fresh turkey weighing in at 25lbs. Always believe fresh is key. Doubled the mixture. Used Morton's Coarse Kosher salt. Have found the coarser salt is better for brines. The mixture had a wonder aroma. The brine sat on the uncovered bird in the refrigerator for 9hr. Followed the directions for the Dry-Brined Turkey (Nov 2013). Our turkey cooked beautifully, looked picture perfect was moist and tasty. Had comments this was one of the best turkeys we had produced. The dry brine technique and this mixture worked for us

• judmolt

• West Chester, PA

• 12/1/2013

Bleujean82: Yes, I did rinse it off.

• betsyseder

• 12/1/2013

This may sound like a dumb question, A Cook From Los Angeles, but did you rinse off the brine before you cooked it?

• bleujean82

• Chicago, IL

• 11/27/2013

I found this recipe on the Bon Appetit Thanksgiving App and I just made a turkey with it (as per the recipe on the app). The aroma of the brine mixture itself is wonderful, but it is WAY TOO SALTY! Barely edible. The salt was overpowering and there wasn't even a hint of the fennel, maple or chile flavors in the turkey. After doing more research on dry brines (for Turkeys), it is best to use 1/2 teaspoon per pound of turkey. This recipe (for a 12-16 pound bird) calls for the equivalent of 24 teaspoons and it should be more like 6-8.

• Anonymous

• Los Angeles, CA

• 11/26/2013