How to debrine turkey legs?

[LDimick]

After a protracted search I was able to find and acquire 4 turkey legs. I put them into a brine Friday night. Because of distractions they spent 40 hours in a salt and Prague #1 brine bath instead of 24. I took them out and rinsed them off and decided to smoke one to see how it was.

One word description: SALTY

I would like to de-salt the other three. Will soaking them in clear water dilute the salt? Is there any way to save these legs?

[rickgregory]

Soak in clear water, change every ~8 hours. For a day, maybe. Ive done that (beef, not turkey, but...)

[tbob4]

Do you know if the turkey legs were pre-brined in a solution when you received them?

[LDimick]

NO, they were not. Thye instructions said to soak for 24 hours and warned they would bf left in too long.

[Troutman]

Yep soak the hell out of them.

[HawkerXP]

Soak and change the water. Repeat

[THE Humble Texan]

RO water will work better as it has had MOST of everything taken from it. Pure water will absorb more that tap water.

[LDimick]

Decided to share a follow up.

I soaked the turkey legs in water for 3 days to dilute the over brining.

Put them on a Camp Chef smoker with Pecan and Cherry pellets. 1 hour at Hi Smoke and 30 minutes at 400.

IT was 185 all the way around (even in the cured pink areas).

Skin could have been a bit crisper but was still delicious.

The flavor was great! Tasted just a touch like ham and not a trace of being overly salted.

[FireMan]

Oh jeez, ya did have to show us the one you were chomping on! 👍🕶

[LDimick]

Had those for lunch and sent the picture to my wife. She made me save the other two for dinner. She was pleased!

[Huskee]

I wouldn't have expected desalinating for 3 days, I would've suggested 8-12hrs, but good to know they tasted good. Success! Also, next time be very cautious of too much nitrite. Curing too long and overdoing nitrite can be risky.

[ddmcwhirter]

I haven't found information for the measure of salt to use when curing. I made an extremely salty ham using a different site's recipe that called for six cups salt for twenty pounds. The Dr. Blonder calculator addresses Prague #1 only. I cured four pork shanks, eight pounds, using one cup of salt...those were just right. I cured six pounds of venison using 3/4 cup salt.

[Huskee]

I haven't found information for the measure of salt to use when curing. I made an extremely salty ham using a different site's recipe that called for six cups salt for twenty pounds. The Dr. Blonder calculator addresses Prague #1 only. I cured four pork shanks, eight pounds, using one cup of salt...those were just right. I cured six pounds of venison using 3/4 cup salt.

Use Blonder's calculator for the Prague #1/aka nitrite /aka curing only. Use Meathead's ham recipe for the regular flavoring salt. Can't comment on another website's ham recipe of course, other than 6 cups seems quite high. "Curing" is only when nitrite (Prague 1) is used. When it's simply table salt or kosher salt that is brining. I want to make sure we use the correct terminology to avoid oopses.

[LDimick]

That was EXACTLY what I did. When I see a recipe that has a LOT more Prague I remove that site from future use. The six cups wss the combined 'soup' that I used in 4 different bags.

Good point and info on the terms.