Brining without Cure

[aussiepete]

Hi all.  I have just put my Christmas turkey into a very basic brine, and the plan is to let it sit 'til Christmas Day then cook it.  I normally use Pops' brine recipe when I cook in my smoker but this turkey will be cooked in the oven.  Now that I'm a few hours into the brining process I've begun to wonder whether the turkey will be ok sitting 2 days in the brine before cooking without any cure in the mix.

The turkey was defrosted in the refrigerator, put straight into the chilled brine (I also injected the breast and leg meat with brine), and put back in the fridge.  It will sit in the brine for 2 days, then be cooked, put in an esky/cooler wrapped in foil and towels, rested for an hour then served.

Does this timeline sound ok in terms of bacteria forming?  I'm used to defrosting meat and cooking it immediately or at least that day so this is unfamiliar territory for me.  The last thing I want is to make a whole bunch of people sick.

My brine is made from

1 gallon water

1 cup salt

1 cup sugar

Any info/opinions would be much appreciated.

cheers

Pete

 

[chef jimmyj]

NO Worries Pete! The Cure has nothing to do with Brine time and Bacteria. Cure is there so you can Smoke at lower temps without Bacteria growth. Two days in Brine then following your plan will be fine. Just remember you will want to let the Skin dry in the refer for a day. You will get better skin crispness. Don't use salt in your rub the brine provided plenty. Merry Christmas...JJ

 

[smoking b]

Glad to hear that. I thought that was the case but didn't want to post without being absolutely certain lest I steer someone in the wrong direction. Happy I was right - must be learning the proper stuff from you guys. Thanks!

 

[aussiepete]

Thanks for the info Chef JimmyJ.

Merry Christmas!

Pete

 

[3montes]

Yep your are good to go as Chef Jimmy indicated. But I don't really see a reason for injecting brine or brining for more then overnight or 24 hours. Your brine recipe is effective but a bit ho hum. Try jazzing it up with some herbs and spices like fresh rosemary and thyme, peppercorns and other spices. Cut a garlic head in half and toss it in there. A bit of white wine perhaps.

A couple of cinnamon sticks, pretty much whatever you can think of. I substitute apple cider for the water.

Our city tap water tastes nasty and whatever tastes or chemicals are in your water will be transferred to the turkey through the brining process.

 

[aussiepete]

Yep your are good to go as Chef Jimmy indicated. But I don't really see a reason for injecting brine or brining for more then overnight or 24 hours. Your brine recipe is effective but a bit ho hum. Try jazzing it up with some herbs and spices like fresh rosemary and thyme, peppercorns and other spices. Cut a garlic head in half and toss it in there. A bit of white wine perhaps.

A couple of cinnamon sticks, pretty much whatever you can think of. I substitute apple cider for the water.

Our city tap water tastes nasty and whatever tastes or chemicals are in your water will be transferred to the turkey through the brining process.

I would normally add a lot more spice and flavour when I brine meat, but some of the missus' family are very picky eaters and not very open minded when it comes to trying new things.  In other words if it's a turkey, they want it to taste like turkey and nothing else.  I would normally add garlic and onion powders, and apple juice (depending on the type of meat) as a minimum, but in this case my hands were tied.

As far as the time in the brine goes, this was a tough one to work out.  I looked through SMF and also did a Google Search for how long to brine the turkey, and the results I found ranged from 6 hours to 3-4 days.  Having never cooked a turkey before I'm pretty much flying blind other than the tips I've found here on SMF.  The cooking of the turkey is a no brainer, but the preparation this time around is all guesswork.  Fingers crossed it turns out ok!!

cheers

Pete

 

[smokeyj1]

1cup kosher salt  1cup brown sugar  10 whole peppercorns  2-3 bay leaves 3-4 cloves garlic  half apple juice to water to fully submerge--1 gallon total perhaps