Brine or No brine?: thanksgiving in Sweden

[chet87]

I am an American living in Sweden and am having some locals over for thanksgiving. I am unsure if the turkey I have should be brined or due to things being lost in translation on the packaging.

according to Google Translate, the packaging describes my whole frozen turkey as “cured” and “tenderized”. Doesn’t quite translate to the words used in Meatheads guide (“basted,” “self-basted,” or “enhanced”). The nutrition label says in the back that for every 100g of turkey that there is < 0.5g of salt.

i know i saw some sort of rule of thumb based on the amount of salt on the nutrition label but i can not recall it. Also what is that rule relative to the serving size (here it is 100 g but that is different than listed usually in America I think)

So has my frozen turkey been injected with a brine? Do I need to dry brine do you think, or should I skip?

thanks!!

[Donw]

#1 Paging Henrik our Swedish BBQ guru.
#2
“ Look at the Nutrition label:
200-300mg sodium, brine as if it weren't salted at all
300-400mg sodium, brine lightly.
400+mg, maybe skip brining.”

Add: Paging Elton's BBQ He is a Norwegian BBQ expert.

[Ace]

+1 :-)

[ecowper]

Thanksgiving in sweden sounds fantastic! Hopefully there will be lingonberry sauce to go with that turkey.

It sounds like your turkey has been injected and/or wet brined. I think you don’t need to do anything more to it from a salt perspective. I would still let it dry in the fridge, though.

[chet87]

#1 Paging Henrik our Swedish BBQ guru.
#2
“ Look at the Nutrition label:
200-300mg sodium, brine as if it weren't salted at all
300-400mg sodium, brine lightly.
400+mg, maybe skip brining.”

That’s great to know someone here is Swedish! (I’m new). Any input from Henrik is appreciated!

for number two…..I guess I’m confused what that is based on? Like how many mg of salt in how many grams of meat? I learned most if not all but Iran labels her are listed based on 100g, while in the US it will be a based on a serving size which varies. Are the numbers you list based on US serving , and if so how much is said serving!

many thanks!!

[chet87]

Thanks. I guess I’m still in the woulda since this label says less than 500 mg per 100 g, which means in could vary and impact my decision based on true value.

Still….it being frozen and store bought, as well as saying things like “cured” and “tenderized” and “juicy” makes me think that this must have been injected with some sort of brine (unless it’s something else entirely). May operate on that assumption.

[Donw]

The advice is based on US nutritional labels. In either country the sodium levels would be based on some stated serving size. In your case the serving size would be 100 grams

At 100 grams I would interpret a US serving size of a little over 3.5 ounces.
All your label is promising is that there is less than 500 mg of sodium in your serving size with no further refinement. Personally I would not brine.

[johnec00]

chet87 Donw The post says <0.5g SALT. Salt is about 39% sodium, so the statement is equivalent to 0.195g sodium (195mg).

[johnec00]

One gram of salt has 393mg sodium, so less than half a gram is less than 195mg per 100 gram serving

The grocery store frozen turkey we still have in the freezer says it is "pre-brined with a solution...." that includes salt and has 200mg sodium per 113 gram (4oz) serving

Seems quite similar . . .

U.S. farmed turkey without brine has 60-80mg sodium per 4 ounces

[Finster]

Welcome to the pit from The First State USA…
Enjoy your thanksgiving with friends

[Henrik]

Hi! Sorry for a late reply, I've been busy and haven't caught up. So, don't brine is the short answer. Yes, it is brined from the supplier. Very common to inject the bird with a sodium solution to amp up flavor, and to increase weight (basically they charge by weight, and by adding water they make more money. Don't like it).

I hope that helps, have an amazing Thanksgiving!

[Donw]

Just for your future reference during your time in Sweden I thought I would post the EU regulation explanation for labeling food products’ salt/sodium.

” Labelling salt in the EU
In the EU, Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 ( EU 2011 ) on food information to consumers requires the mandatory nutrition declaration of the salt content in prepacked foods. To ensure that the final customer easily understands the labelling, it is appropriate to use 'the term salt instead of the corresponding term of the nutrient sodium'. Therein, 'salt means the salt equivalent content calculated using the formula: salt = sodium × 2,5'.
The unit of measurement to be used is g per 100 g of product. The daily reference intake for salt for the purpose of nutrient labelling is 6 g for adults, and the salt content can be expressed as a percentage of the reference intake per 100 g or per 100 ml ( EU 2011 ).”

As this applies to all EU countries brands imported from other countries such as the Netherlands this should be standardized