another turkey question - butterball - brining or dry brining ???

[fluffy]

good day
I hope that y'all aren't overburdened by turkey questions yet (I have scrolled the forum posts and did not see my question answered)
The turkey(s) in question are Butterballs - which, to my understanding, means that they have already been injected with some sort of salt solution and I have heard that placing the bird in a wet brine will result in it being too salty
--
in reading some of the articles, I see that dry brining will help with getting a crispy skin and adding flavor and moisture
-- but will it also result in making a Butterball turkey too salty ??
==
my plan is to spatchcock the turkey and cook it on Thursday morning but I am still debating on whether or not to
dry brine it tomorrow and then do a rub without salt (probably the Simon & Garfunkel) just prior to cooking
--
any thoughts would be most appreciated
thanks

[emil.glatz]

Sorry, no direct experience, but I would be careful with too much salt in a brine since they're already injected.

I'd spatchcock, dry rub with S&G, under the skin, a few hours before cooking. If you cook 325+ I don't think you'll have any problem with crisp skin by the time the meat is done.

[fzxdoc]

fluffy The very first turkey I did on my PBC was a Butterball. Here's how I prepped it:

1. Butterball frozen turkey 13 lbs (12lbs after thawing and removing the various organs and neck), allowed to defrost in fridge for 7 days. On Day 6 I removed it from its packaging (including the guts bag and neck), picked out lots of ice, dried it well and let it sit uncovered for 24 hours to dry out the skin. No dry brine since the bird had 225 mg sodium per serving from the brine from the packing house.
2. 30 minutes before hanging in the PBC: Injected breast, thighs, and legs with 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter and rubbed with Meathead's Simon and Garfunkel rub. I loosened the skin completely from the breast, thighs and leg and got the rub under the skin as well as on top of the skin. Next I lightly salted the skin to aid in crisping.

I smoked that bird at 325-360 and the skin was crispy in most places, but rubbery in a couple (like the top of the bird).

Now I rub the skin with a mixture of baking powder and rub instead of rub alone and that helps with crisping the skin. I don't salt the skin any more.

One thing--I didn't smooth the skin back down very well on that first turkey after rubbing the meat under the skin, and the skin pulled up. The turkey looked ridiculous but tasted delicious. It was soooo juicy!

See? It looks like Mr. Turkey's t-shirt and pants are rolled up. Now I carefully pull the skin back down and press it into place. It was a funny-looking first turkey, but I learned things on that cook that have made subsequent turkeys look much prettier:
1. smooth the skin down really well after rubbing the meat
2. make foil booties for the "feet"

That was the "before" photo. Here's the "After" photo:

Much nicer-looking, huh?

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Fluffy I cannot give you nearly the expertise on turkey that our resident PBC she-warrior Kathryn can, but with regard to your brining question I can offer a tip. The solution it's injected or brined with, whether it's say 8%, 9% or 19%, might not be all salt in that solution. Most often we see turkeys that even when marked as brined/injected/self basting still have a low amount of actual sodium content, since many processors know we're going to salt/season our turkeys.

I recently did a bone-in breast that had the 9% solution marked on the package. I went ahead and did my usual full-strength quick wet brine and it was still under-salted for my tastes. It was not butter-injected. A full regular dry brine would've been the same result in my case.

Therefore, check the nutrition facts label and look at the sodium content. It it's in the 200 range, go ahead and do a regular wet or dry brine, whichever you prefer. If it's 300+, you may want to reconsider. If it's in between it's your call. A great thing to keep in mind is you can always add a shake of salt to the turkey on your plate but you can't take it out.

Even though we stress dry brining over wet brining for the most part, you can still get a good crispy skin even with a wet brine. I actually prefer to wet brine poultry myself, and as long as your actual cooking temp is 325+ (I like 340-350 personally) you'll be ok. If you can, it's recommended to inject some melted butter into the breasts to avoid dryness. Even when taken to the proper temp (160 in the breasts) they can still be a tad dry.