Enhanced Turkey

I don't brine enhanced birds. Not sure where the flavor might go.

Enhanced birds don't require brining. Brining an enhanced bird would be pointless.

No brining needed- did one for Thanksgiving stuffed with slices of onions, oranges, and apples. Came out great and I've been asked to do the same for Christmas.

No, i was always afraid of what type of flavor i would end up with, I never buy an enhanced bird.

The only point of brining an enhanced bird is to put other flavors in, but in my opinion, turkey flavored turkey tastes good to me and doesn't need all that other stuff inside it, so an enhanced bird is ready to go here in my house. Just my opinion of course.

Bbq Bubba said:

Enhanced birds don't require brining. Brining an enhanced bird would be pointless.

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Don't agree, for me it's more a "it depends"

What's the strength of the enhanced. I've seen 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 up to 23%. Plus they vary so much with what they enhance with I look at the ingredients.

For me, I recommend in Brining 101 that if it's less than a 12 or 16% bird, brining it will work and carry some of the flavors that you've added to your brine.

Do you HAVE to? No.

Can you? Yes

Do I? Yes

SmokinOkie said:

Don't agree, for me it's more a "it depends"

What's the strength of the enhanced. I've seen 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 up to 23%. Plus they vary so much with what they enhance with I look at the ingredients.

For me, I recommend in Brining 101 that if it's less than a 12 or 16% bird, brining it will work and carry some of the flavors that you've added to your brine.

Do you HAVE to? No.

Can you? Yes

Do I? Yes

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I agree. I actually take it one step further. I soak the enhanced bird in water for 12-24 hours and change the water every 6 hours or so. You'll be able to smell the liquid that comes out of the bird and see the discoloration as well.

After that, I brine the bird with the flavors I want but I cut the salt content in half.

I came up with this once becuse of a mistake. I bought some bone in breasts and never looked at the lable in terms of solution added. So, this is what I tried and it was supurb. Did the same thing on purpose with the past Thanksgiving Day turkey to see what would happen. Again, it was Very Very good. That bird ended up on the cover on the current Smoke Signals magazine much to my surprise.

I just brined one for thanksgiving - I think it was 18% solution by weight. It was a free turkey from work, and it was my first time brining (we had another turkey being cooked in the oven, so this was just a test bird.) I used an apple brine and used 3/4 the salt called for. I really couldn't tell it was brined in the dark meat, but the breast turned out great! The entire turkey was moist, and the breast had a great flavor to it from the brine. I will be doing this again with just a frozen turkey breast and slice for sandwiches, although I may try and find one that isn't inhanced.