Brine a kosher turkey?

[djyo]

My wife and I are hosting 30 people for Thanksgiving so we are doing a turkey off with two 20 lb birds. I am spatchcocking and smoking mine, she is roasting in the oven. We have some kosher guests so we got kosher turkeys. Kosher turkeys are pre-salted (to remove all traces of blood) so some folks- including the butcher- say don’t brine a kosher bird. But I read an article saying it turns out fine because the salt isn’t on that long.




I am doing a wet brine, my wife is doing a dry brine/rub. Should we just reduce the salt? Not brine as long? Both? Anyone brined a kosher turkey? Thanks for any insight!

[Donw]

Hello and welcome to the Pit. One problem with kosher meats, like the turkey, is that you have no idea exactly how salty the meat is until eating it. I just emailed my friend Bernie who I use to practice with knowing he keeps kosher. He just replied back that it should be safe to use a weak solution, something in the 3 to 5 % range. 1/2 cup kosher salt to about 3 - 3-1/2 quarts water. It can be a gamble but it has worked for him.

Good luck.

[shap]

you are correct that Kosher poultry is not salted for very long.Once salted it has to be soaked in fresh water within an hour otherwise it is no longer Kosher.Don't know why that is but that is the rule.I smoked a Kosher Turkey and dry brined it this year. Just to be safe I only salted it with a 1/4 teaspoon per pound rather than the half teaspoon you would normally use and it was not too salty

[Potkettleblack]

Reduce or don’t bother.

[djyo]

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it. Went with 1/2 cup salt to gallon+ water. I’ll let you know how it turns out...