This year, we are spatchcocking and smoking our Thanksgiving turkey. If you want to do it like we did, follow this recipe for the dry rub that we put on our turkey for a 2-day dry brine.
What is a brine? You may have heard of brining before, which essentially is a method of locking in flavor and moisture to your meat prior to cooking to avoid drying it out and boosting its flavor. During a brine, the salt will initally draw out the moisture of the meat, but after time, it reabsorbs that moisture and locks in the additional flavor for juicy flavorful meat. There's two types of brine: wet and dry. A wet brine means that you submurge your meat in a salt water solution with other arromatics (bay, orange, etc.). A dry brine means that you use a salt and spice/herb mixture to throughoughly cover the meat before leaving it to rest in the fridge for several hours. Typically a good rule of thumb is to brine for at least 1 hour per pound of meat.
Why did we dry brine? The goal was to do a wet brine, but we don't have the fridge space to hold the turkey in a giant pot for two days. Dry brining requires less tools and space. Also, we wanted really crispy skin, so we aren't covering the turkey. This is because while the meat will reabsorb and lock in the juices, the fridge enviornment will dry out the turkey skin, which will mean that it'll be nice and crispy afterwards.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 c kosher salt
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp chille powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chipotle chille pepper
Place all ingredients together in a container and whisk or shake (if you have a lid) to combine. Make sure the brown sugar doesn't clump. Store or use immediately.
Prep time = 2 min | Cook time = 1 minute | Makes enough to substantially cover a 12-15 lbs bird.
Tips:
You can use this a a regular marinade as well as a dry brine.
The ingredients are measured out to cover a 12-15 pound turkey. If you are using a smaller piece of meat, adjust the measurements or save the mixture for later.
Make sure that you season liberally from a high of abut 10-12 inches to make sure that you have a more even coverage. Do not rub in. If needed you can pat it into hard-to-reach areas. I repeat: do not rub.
Make sure that your meat is dried throughoughly before seasoning.
You can make this ahead of time and store it on the shelf to use when needed. Be mindful that if you are using dirty meat-covered hands to touch the mixture, that the rest is contaminated and needs to be tossed. You could pour what you need out into a separate bowl and keep the rest in the storage container.
Note: This recipe was inspired by an article in Food & Wine.
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