I’ve wet brined for years and never have a dry turkey.

I deep fry and like Lukki, use a dry brine for a Cajun bird. Salt, pepper and cayenne rubbed in well overnight, then I inject with Emeril's marinade. Not sure how that translates to oven roasting.

"dry brine"??? You mean a rub?? We brine water/salt/sugar, over night. My bird is presently stuffed, in a cooking bag and ready for the oven. 18lbs and will take 2.5 hours according to the cooking bag directions. We have never had a dry bird. The bag collects the juices for perfect gravy. The bird will be golden brown and perfect every time. We prefer turkey on the grill, smoked but one doesn't get the juices needed for gravy nor can one get perfectly delish stuffing that way so for Thanksgiving we go old school and use the oven.

No brine. But my frozen turkey was injected with a salt/sweet solution, so it's not exactly as nature made it.

Arcy, I guess it is called a dry rub and not a dry brine. I never tried a cooking bag. That is something I will have to look into. I have done turkey on a rotisserie in the grill during the summer. They are very good, but as you say, no drippings for gravy.

llukkirish and olychick, I'm from SW PA, not exactly Cajun country . lol We do the basic boring oven roasted bread stuffed turkey. My family would think I went off my rocker if I cooked anything Cajun. I never done any Cajun cooking. Wouldn't even know where to begin.

Thank you everyone and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Function I lived in Cajun country for years but am in Michigan now and it’s available in the stores but t’s not really a cajun “thing” spice wise. It’s a marinade.

These are the two that I’ve used and each brand comes with a variety of flavors, but you can make your own and buy the syringes separately too. It kind of reminds me of a self made butter ball.

I dry brine the breast and then air dry in the fridge for a couple days.

We used to go to friend's house for Thanksgiving. He used the Cajun injectables for his fried turkeys.

CindyMac, what dry brine do you use, if you don't mind.

I tried a dry brine as a last minute impulse this year. I came across the instructions while looking at Martha Stewarts page on spatchcocking (which I also did). I had a 12 pound bird.

I ended up combining a couple of different recipes, so I made a combination of kosher salt, a bit of white sugar, and some herbs to rub all over the bird then placed it in the fridge for 24 hours. Then when ready to roast, I used Clinton Kelly's lemon sage recipe (with a few tweaks -- for example, I infused the olive oil with some dried thyme stems (the only thyme I had) overnight).

This turkey was just a tad too salty in spots for me, but otherwise was just about the best I've ever cooked. The combination of dry brine, rub, lemons and spatchcocking produced a lovely flavored, juicy and tender result. I'll be doing it again next year!

Raee, you might want to consider less time in the salt. I try to go no longer than twelve hours. I have been doing it for at least thirty years. I use crushed pepper, lots of herbs, onions, and lots of kosher salt to sit over night. I rinse off the salt mixture, dry the bird and then lightly herb and pepper before I either lightly smoke or not depending on the weather before I bake it. Very moist and not salty.

Thanks, patriciae! Interestingly, non of the recipes that I looked at about dry brining mentioned rinsing off the salt before roasting! In fact the NY TImes actually said no need -- but they did say to pat dry. It was only in a few spots -- one thigh in particular-- maybe I had a heavier concentration of salt there.

CindyMac, what dry brine do you use, if you don't mind.

I just use Kosher salt. A couple tablespoons or a little less. After salting I cover the breast with plastic wrap for 24 hours, then uncover for 2 days. Before roasting I make a compound butter with fresh thyme, parsley, lemon zest, and pepper. Put some under the skin and the remainder rubbed over the skin. Roast at 425 for 30 minutes then lower the temp to 325 until done.

I order a fresh turkey every year, and it is moist without adding anything. Lots of juices in the roasting pan.

It’s a long story, I ended up cooking 2 small (fresh) 8 lb turkeys instead of a larger one and I have to say, I kind of liked it! Both turkeys fit in my large roaster and cooked in 3 hours. They were much easier to handle and I liked that I could do one one way and the other a different way seasoning wise. And, since they didn’t need to cook as long, they were moist and had a lot of flavor.

I ended up using a dry rub of kosher salt, brown sugar, and thyme. Put it on 2 days before I roasted the turkey. I used 1 tablespoon salt per 5 pounds of turkey. I didn't rinse. I didn't find the turkey salty. But I also didn't find any difference in the taste than any other way I have made a turkey.

Since most frozen ones have been injected with various substances technically they have been brined since one of the ingredients I have seen in every one lists salt as part of the injected liquid. The one time I purchased a "fresh" turkey the butcher slipped a tag in with the bird and I was surprised that even the fresh ones are sometimes injected. Not what I expected from that shop.