Is rub necessary for a turkey

[waytoodeep03]

Or should brine be enough? I dont want it too salty

 

[fire it up]

You don't need to rub if you don't want to, if you're brining that will be perfectly fine.

 

[travcoman45]

Ya don't have ta rub. It simply is another layer a flavour.

As fer the saltiness, many rubs er high in salt. That's why I make most a my own, I can control the salt an other ingridients.

 

[raceyb]

Something you can do is a simple herb butter rub. Take 1/4 cup of non salted soft butter and mix in some fresh chopped basil or parsley or another sweet aromatic herb of your choice and rub it into the meat and the skin.

 

[pineywoods]

No it is not necessary its a matter of choice and tastes. You could choose just to use some seasonings, a light rub of some kind, or nothing

 

[beer-b-q]

Here is a brine I found on another site...

 

[alx]

I like a compound butter under the skin.Basicaly herbs mixed in with butter....You could add a rub to this.The rub on the skin will not penetrate into meat much at all from my experiences,but under the skin you get some flavor on the breast meat.....

your brine will penetrate though....

 

[the dude abides]

You don't have to. What's in your brine would be my first question. After that, I agree with Racey and ALX, I like to soften some unsalted butter and mix in some of my rub with it. Rub that all over the bird and up under the skin where ever you can.

 

[scarbelly]

I also like the compound butter method - give the bird a nice color and helps with the moisture

 

[mballi3011]

You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. I use a rub but it doesn't do alot but I wanted to rub the bird. And I use a good brine to start with.

 

[silverwolf636]

I've found out that most of the rub recipes that I have were salty. When I now mix my rubs, I cut the salt in half. I just mixed my cajun rub for the T-Day turkey and I can't stop sneezing.

 

[rivet]

Don't think you need neither rub nor brine. Lots of good turkeys have been made this way~ up to you.

You might want to check out the POULTRY threads on the forum for ideas on what you want.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and hope your bird turns out A-OK!

 

[bmudd14474]

Be careful with butter on the outside of the skin. Under is ok. Outside will burn easier with butter. According to Alton Brown and I have done this myself. Under the skin is A-Ok