[Sca-cooks] Brined Turkey Warning

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 26, 2008, at 8:30 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> LOL. I was wondering originally if Master Cariadoc's comments were a  
> bit of hard-won advice.

I thought so, too, but didn't see much point in acting as of this were  
a present-tense problem, so went for the pure theory instead, leaving  
the implicit "next time, do such and such" to speak for itself.

> I remember having a similar problem with a salted duck recipe. And  
> duck drippings are even better than turkey. IF they aren't loaded  
> with salt. :-(
>
> Isn't there a kitchen trick of using raw potatoes or some such to  
> remove some of the salt from such overly salted drippings?

If we're talking about fat as opposed to pan juices, it can be melted  
and mixed with water, stirred, chilled, and separated again, repeating  
the process as needed. Essentially you flavor the water with the salt,  
and then throw it away. From a physics standpoint it seems to me you  
can never get rid of all the salt this way, but each time you do it  
you'd be cutting the salt content roughly in half.

> (hmm. Roasted duck is sounding pretty good right now...  Just wish  
> the antibiotics I'm on weren't upsetting my stomach)

Uh, yeah, lots of animal fat on an upset stomach doesn't sound like  
it'd sit too well for some people. Hope you're feeling better!

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter