I dont know if I used enough salt for my dry brine.

I am using a recipe I found in the NY Times to only use salt to dry brine a turkey. My turkey is 24 pounds and so it called for 1 table spoon of kosher salt for every 4 pounds of turkey. That was like 6 tablespoons of salt! So I only used about 4 tablespoons. Did I undersalt? Should I add more? Bird has been sitting in it since last night in fridge. Thank you so much!

omarosa
  • Posted by: omarosa
  • November 17, 2017
  • 4285 views
  • 3 Comments

3 Comments

Voted the Best Reply!

702551
702551 November 17, 2017
The NY Times/Russell Parsons roast turkey recipe is an adaptation of Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken recipe where she recommends 3/4 teaspoon of salt per pound of chicken. The Zuni Cafe Cookbook was published in 2002.

Later on after the publication of the cookbook, she herself backed off on the heavy handed salting in her own restaurant.

You should be fine reducing the salt by one-third for this roast turkey.

Moreover, she recommends salting the bird (chicken) 24 hours before roasting. You have started 6.5 days before you are going to roast it.

Personally, I would rinse off the salt on your bird Monday or Tuesday, let it air dry until you roast it Thursday.
 
Leith D.
Leith D. November 17, 2017
You need to add the other 2 TB of salt, spread it around the turkey like you did the first time. The NY Times recipe is similar to the one on this site, but this one has better directions and years worth of questions and answers. https://food52.com/recipes/15069-russ-parsons-dry-brined-turkey-a-k-a-the-judy-bird
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx
sexyLAMBCHOPx November 17, 2017
I would add more as directed.
 
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