RECIPE
Dry brining is an easy way to enhance meat succulence. Adding herbs and spices to the dry brine enhances flavor and texture, creating a personalized flavor experience that can be rather hard to achieve on a turkey. Salt on the skin extracts moisture, fusing with herbs, spices, reabsorbing into meat, delivering succulent, flavorful results. Air drying the salted skin ensures extra crispiness when roasting, infusing flavors into chicken skin through chicken fat.
Herbal Roots Chipotle Cranberry Mezcal Herbal Brine melds bright tangy cranberries, butter fried sage, earthy Mexican spices and mezcal into a sultry herbal salt. The smokiness of the Mezcal pairs well with the cranberries. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, in particular adds wonderful vegetal tones. It smoky, savory and fruity with a tinge of chipotle spice that tends to stick to the skin. The skin of the turkey is laced with flavors from spice to smoke to tang, and the “drippings” from the salt brine penetrate deep into the meat so each bite is an experience in gratitude for life.
Figure about 1½ tablespoons of salt per 4 pounds of turkey; so an Herbal Roots 2.5 ounce jar of salt will accommodate a turkey up to 18 pounds. If you have a bigger turkey, add a bit more kosher salt to the mix. If you don’t have a jar of this brine mix, don’t worry you can create a similar blend using the recipe below, altering your spices as you desire.
1 turkey (12-18 lbs.)
1 2.5 ounce jar of Herbal-Roots Chipotle Cranberry-Mezcal Herbal Dry Brine
1 cup finely chopped fresh fall herbs of choice: sage, rosemary, marjoram, thyme
2 tablespoons orange zest
Mix together the salt, fresh herbs and zest and first start by placing some of the salt underneath the skin and into the cavities. Once you have placed some salt inside the skin, cover the entire bird with the remainder of the salt, packing it onto the skin all over the bird.
Set the bird on a tray or baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered for 36-48 hours. If you must cover it, draping a bit of plastic over the top is ok, but ideally you want to leave it uncovered so the air circulates around it; this will give you super crispy skin.
Once you have brined your bird, you can roast or bake it as normal. Do not rinse off any of the brine; all the salt will have been absorbed into the bird and all that will be left on the skin are remnants of herbs and spices which will add flavor to your skin. Let your turkey come to room temperature before cooking.
To roast a turkey easily, use a roasting pan and place a few cups of liquid in the bottom, covered the turkey loosely with foil, and place it in a preheated 350°F oven. Calculate the cooking time as 13 minutes per pound for unstuffed and 15 minutes per pound for stuffed birds. During the last 30 minutes, remove the foil and increase the heat to 400°F. A 15-18 lb turkey typically takes about 3 ½ to 4 hours. While some start with 30 minutes at 400°F, it's a trickier method that can lead to overcooking if not carefully monitored.
The turkey is ready when a meat thermometer inserted into the breast registers 150°F, and the thigh reaches 165°F.
You’ll need to dry brine your turkey or chicken 2 days prior to cooking which means you need to have your bird totally thawed out 2 days prior to cooking. Rinse it off and pat it dry. Make sure to get the salt mixture under the skin and leave it uncovered in the refrigerator until you cook it. The skin will get dried out which is what yields a crispy skin.
To make your own herbal salt brine combine 2/3 cup Maldon flake salt with 1 cup of fresh herbs of choice, spices of choice (about 1 tablespoon) and about 2 tablespoons orange zest.
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