vacuum-sealing machine like the FoodSaver If you don’t have either of those options, wrap your meat tightly in a double or triple layer of plastic wrap, followed by a tight layer of aluminum foil (which isn’t breathable) In any case, poultry can’t be stored much longer than months in the freezer before toughening becomes noticeable WHAT ABOUT BRINING? Let me start this off by saying I don’t brine my turkey Ever Not for Thanksgiving, not for my Sunday supper, and certainly not for a quick weeknight meal It’s a personal decision, and you may well choose to the opposite Let me lay out both sides of the case It seems to me that as little as fifteen years ago, dry turkey was a given The yearly Thanksgiving ritual at my family’s table did not include any ill-mannered offspring crying out “DAAAAaaaad, Mom ruined the turkey again”—turkey wasn’t something that could be ruined It was always dry, tough, and stringy, and that was a fact of life Then, about a decade ago, brining entered the scene.* Thanks to an overnight soak in a saltwater solution, gone were the days of dry breast meat, salvaged with extra servings of gravy I, for one, welcomed our new moist-breasted overlords Even my mother could throw a turkey in the oven and pull out something edible a few hours later It was positively magical! These days, everybody and their grandmother (better known as the typical Thanksgiving gathering) has heard of brining, and more and more folks are doing it before Turkey Day But it’s not all pie and gravy There are a few distinct and definite downsides to wet-brining, and many folks are now making the switch to dry-brining (aka extended salting) The question is, which method is best? How Brining Works Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s a quick recap of brining basics The process involves soaking meat (usually lean meats like turkey, chicken, or pork chops) in a tub of heavily salted water overnight (most brines are in the 6- to 8-percent salt range by weight of the water) Over the course of the night, the meat absorbs some of that water More important, that water stays put even when the meat is cooked By brining meat, you can decrease the amount of total moisture loss by 30 to 40 percent To demonstrate, I cooked three identical turkey breasts in a 300°F oven to an internal temperature of 145°F One was brined, one was soaked overnight in plain water, and the third was left as is All three breasts came from nonkosher, nonenhanced birds (i.e., the birds were minimally processed) I charted their weights straight from the package, after brining, and then after cooking Both the bird soaked in brine and the one soaked in water gained a significant amount of weight prior to roasting, but the watered bird lost nearly all of that weight as it cooked and the brined bird retained significantly more This corresponded to a juicier texture on eating So, what’s going on here? Some sources attribute it all to osmosis—the tendency for water to move across a membrane from an area of low ... 6- to 8-percent salt range by weight of the water) Over the course of the night, the meat absorbs some of that water More important, that water stays put even when the meat is cooked By brining meat, you can decrease the amount... plain water, and the third was left as is All three breasts came from nonkosher, nonenhanced birds (i.e., the birds were minimally processed) I charted their weights straight from the package, after brining, and then after cooking. .. package, after brining, and then after cooking Both the bird soaked in brine and the one soaked in water gained a significant amount of weight prior to roasting, but the watered bird lost nearly