I think we all know the disappoint that comes with a dry bland turkey. You feel bad for Grandma, she's been making turkey with the same recipe for 30 years, but no one has had the courage to tell her that her turkey is a dry, tasteless, death trap. Turkey should not require gravy to be edible.
I could get into a whole debate involving cooking methods, but I'd rather talk about a solution to that problem. That solution to our problem with dry meat is a brine. Brining is a process somewhere in between marinating, and curing/preserving.
Brining makes meat moister primarily by introducing water into the cells of the muscle tissue. The brine surrounding the meat has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells of the meat, while the meat has a higher level of other solutes. The salt in the brine defuses into the cell of the meat, while the solutes inside can not escape due the cell membrane. Increased salinity in the meat forces the cells to absorb more water via osmosis. Once the meat and brine have reached a state of equilibrium, whatever else is in the brine can freely enter into the meat, introducing flavour where you couldn't otherwise. In addition, the salt (and whatever acids you may add to your brine) denature the protein, which tenderizes the meat, and allows the meat to retain more moisture. The denaturing process coagulates the proteins, forming a matrix that traps water (and flavour!) inside of the meat.
On the most basic level, a brine is obviously just salt water. In the culinary setting, a brine is almost always a solution of salt AND sugar, along with herbs and spices. In the ten years of brined turkeys, I've found that the optimal ratio of water:salt:sugar for a brine for poultry (in ounces) is :128:4:2. So that would be one gallon of water, one cup of salt, and one half cup of sugar. Using plain water is a waste though when you can substitute other liquids to introduce interesting flavors to your turkey. You can play it safe and use vegetable stock, go crazy and double up and use a stock that's the same as the meat (Ie turkey stock w/ turkey), or you can use a liquid that will compliment your meat and enhance it's flavor, juice. Apple juice/cider is a great liquid to use for turkey/pork brine. You can actually find an existing brine recipe (or use mine) and just add apple juice concentrate on top of whatever liquid you'd use.
Here's an example recipe that I've used for a brine in the past:
Apple Herb Brine
(note this recipe is for a large turkey, and should make enough brine to cover one as such. reduce the recipe if you're doing anything other than a turkey)
1 gallon of apple juice(you can skip the water and use all apple juice, but lower the sugar by 1/2 cup)
1 gallon of water
2 gallon pitchers of ice
2 cups salt
1 cup brown sugar
20 black peppercorns
one cinnamon stick
sprig of thyme
sprig of rosemary
two-three leaves of sage
two apples, quartered
Peel of one orange
Bring water/juice to a light boil. Take off heat, and stir salt, sugar, and dried spices until salt/sugar are completely dissolved. Let cool for a half hour, and then add the remaining herbs, apples, and orange peel. Add the ice and stir the brine solution until it cooled all the way through. You should have ice floating around if you've done this right.
Take your meat and submerge in the brine for one half hour per pound of meat. For turkey, I recommend doing this overnight, and this recipe is specifically for a large turkey. For a pork roast, I'd suggest half the amount since nothing is nearly that large.
Once your ready to cook your meat, take the meat out of the brine and roast as usual. You'll find that makes a huge difference. As to cooking methods, well, that's a whole different story.
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