Yes , there are all form of fancy newfangled agency to cook an unbelievable Thanksgiving Turkey . But there ’s no Norman Rockwell flick of a Sous Vide . And there ’s something sorcerous about a whole shuttlecock roasting in the oven . It ’s almost as hypnotic as fire .
No trouble . If you require a super moist Thanksgiving fowl without poison your crime syndicate , just do what science says . Brine that domesticated Meleagris gallopavo ! ( That ’s Latin . It ’s kind of like science . )
Our buddy fromSerious Eats , Chef J. Kenji Lopez - Alt , explained what it is , scientifically , about brining that makes a giant bird so moist and yummy : Salt . Duh , right ? Yes , but contrary to Cousin Know - it - All ’s tableside posturing , osmosis is not at play inside your Thanksgiving repast . In fact , if osmosis were occurring , it would be take wet out of the core . Sorry Cuz : Family dinner head - shot .
No , there ’s an entirely different chemical physical process going on : denaturing . When the salt penetrates the brawniness fibre , it causes the vulcanized fiber to deform and relax a little , to denature . Here ’s how that equates to succulence :
If you expect at muscle tissue under a microscope , it look like a speaker wire : a lot of strands contained within an external sheath . In between the strands is water . When those package are heated , the oestrus induce the strands — the musculus fibre — to tighten up as a group . This displaces the water like when you bosom a subway system of toothpaste . When you brine a turkey and denature the muscle fibre , they do n’t contract and deform as much , so not as much water is forced out .
Boom .
Chef Kenji articulate a properly brine turkey will only lose about 15 - percent of its exercising weight after cooking for 6 to 8 hours ; a no - brine joker loses 24 percent . So that means a brined joker will be about 12 - percent juicier . Yum ! Fun fact : plainly imbue the dame in plain water will actually make your Republic of Turkey about 4 percent juicier . But why would you do that , when you may get so much yumminess with a little saltwater ?
To make the best seawater , Lopez - Alt advocate a solution of at least 5 percentage salt by weight . ( Salt can deviate immensely in weight . ) A litre of water is a kilo so you want 50 grams of salt per liter . If you do n’t palpate like doing the mathematics , here ’s a cheat mainsheet : Check outKenji ’s full brine formula here .
Photo : Shutterstock / Medvedev Vladimir
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