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Teradactyl Turkey Legs...

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FM Former Member
QDogg: How'd it go with the turkey legs? I tried it, too. Bad result. Wayyyyyyyyy too salty. Otherwise, texture, appearance, moisture was just great. I used Smokin's honey brine which has 1 cup salt in 1 gal water, PLUS the 1 oz tender quick (read:more salt). Soaked from 7PM Sat to 3PM Sun.
Always in search for truth in Q, I went to the Joy of Cooking, the American benchmark for culinary endeavor. They have a recipe for roasted brined turkey. Calls for 2 cups salt (or 4 cups kosher[?]What's that about?) in 2 gals water. About the same solution. Main difference, JOy of says soak 6-8 hrs, no more.
So, where is the truth: Concentration of salt in brine; or time of brining? Other?
I may find my way back to Publix and ask if those turkey parts (legs, thighs, wings) were already saturated in NaCl tenderizers. Could be, no?
Hope you had better luck. acarriii Confused
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by acarriii:
[qb]QDogg: How'd it go with the turkey legs? I tried it, too. Bad result. Wayyyyyyyyy too salty. Otherwise, texture, appearance, moisture was just great. I used Smokin's honey brine which has 1 cup salt in 1 gal water, PLUS the 1 oz tender quick (read:more salt). Soaked from 7PM Sat to 3PM Sun.
Always in search for truth in Q, I went to the Joy of Cooking, the American benchmark for culinary endeavor. They have a recipe for roasted brined turkey. Calls for 2 cups salt (or 4 cups kosher[?]What's that about?) in 2 gals water. About the same solution. Main difference, JOy of says soak 6-8 hrs, no more.
So, where is the truth: Concentration of salt in brine; or time of brining? Other?
I may find my way back to Publix and ask if those turkey parts (legs, thighs, wings) were already saturated in NaCl tenderizers. Could be, no?
Hope you had better luck. acarriii Confused [/qb]


Acarriii:

Might be me, but I think that dark meat retains moisture pretty well. One of the reasons to brine is to keep the meat from drying out, with poutlry, that means the breasts (for the mo(i)st part.)

Next time maybe try without brining and try the results. If you like it better brined, then experiment with the time and/or amount of salt in the solution.

We had an all too "serious" discussion a while back on brining (salt concentration/time thing). I think that the result of that discussion went something like this:
(amount of salt to use/brine time)^2=(length of beak)^2 + (# feathers on the right wing)^2.

Just funnin' ya. LOL

Big Grin Cool Smiler Razzer

Good luck
FM Former Member
I hear you, Stogie. Keep it simple. But, I've never brined anything before, so I thought I'd give it a try. Experiment, you know, like Smokin Okie says to do. Well, when your wife comes after you with a too salty turkey leg, it's time to wonder what's important. Maybe I'll go to French cuisine. ACARRIII
FM Former Member
acarriii: Chances are that your turkey had already been injected with a salt solution by the processor. Most turkeys and a good portion of the chickens processed are unless you have access to a store that sells fresh poultry. As a result, using a brine with a lot of salt can really create overkill to those of us not used to a strong salt taste.

On this subject, I have noticed that a local store (a national chain) has went to having all meat shipped in pre-cut and pre-packaged now has all beef and pork products injected with up to a 12% salt solution. Yes, T-bones at $8.00 per pound full of salt water. What Next???

I use niether salt nor sugar in any brines or rubs and am quite pleased with the results.
FM Former Member
MPDOG wrote:
quote:
On this subject, I have noticed that a local store (a national chain) has went to having all meat shipped in pre-cut and pre-packaged now has all beef and pork products injected with up to a 12% salt solution.


I'd sure be interested in knowing which chain that is. Last thing I need is excess salt. (My wife is threatening to have my cholesterol checked every 30 days!) Confused

Thanks.

Ron
FM Former Member
Well, not to prolong this discussion, but you might want to know that I did backtrack that turkey. All the way to the store. Checked the labels; talked to the butcher. Here's what I found. The turkey parts were "fresh." No artificial nothing added. The butcher pulled out a whole turkey of the type he cuts up for parts. Fresh bird. Label said sodium content was 3%. I gather that's about the same as a nose bleed. There was a "butter ball" turkey there, and we know that type is injected. Sodium content on the butter ball was given as 19%.
So there you have it. It was my bad. I just over did the brining.
But Tom has a good suggestion (see above). Use the smoked, salty turkey like a ham hock. That's what we're going to do!
Tom must be a chef. I heard that chef's don't make mistakes, they just invent new things.
Okay. Be careful with brine. ACARRIII
FM Former Member
I did Turkey legs last week.
I just skin the legs, rub some CS chicken rub on them and put in the Frig. overnight.
Put them on the top rack over a couple of slams of ribs and smoked them all for 4 1/2 hrs at 200 degrees with Jack Daniels Oak chips.

If they weren't good no one bothered to mention it. Matter of fact I just finished eating the last one about a hour ago.

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