Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
wrong? Help!

"Muckerheide" > wrote in message
...
> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!
>
>

More water. You didn't use enough to dissolve the salt. Remember your
chemistry?

saturated solution: a solution in which no more solute can be dissolved.

supersaturated solution: a solution that contains more solute than it would
if the dissolved solute were in equilibrium with the undissolved solute.

In article >,
Muckerheide > wrote:

> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!

Yuh gotta stir it. The salt solution is heavier, and so stays at the
bottom.

Just brined our turkey this morning, for the first time ever. I think
we used 3 quarts of water, 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cups of salt. It took
several minutes of stirring.

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005, Muckerheide wrote:

> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!
>
>
>
Put it in a pot on the stove and heat, stirring a lot.

Elaine, too

Muckerheide wrote:
> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!

Not too clear what you're saying there... but try boiling 4 cups of
water while stirring in the two cups of salt a little at a time until
no more will dissolve, then let it all cool. Are you sure you have
the correct recipe, I don't think so, not unless your recipe is for
growing huge salt crystals.

Sheldon Saline

Muckerheide wrote:
> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!

Two cups of water cannot dissolve two cups of salt. At least you can be
assured that your turkey *will* float whether your salt fully dissolves
or not!

You've got way, WAY too much salt there for a turkey brine. That's
saltier than the Great Salt Lake!

Muckerheide wrote:
> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!

Holy crap! Thunderbird's spell checker just ran "Muckerheide" and the
result was... was... well, I never!

Muckerheide wrote:
> Making a brine for my turkey, I put 2 cups boiling water in a bowl and
> added 2 cups water to dissolve it. Was then going to add additional cold
> water once the salt disappeared. Well, an hour later, the salt is still
> sitting, several inches deep in the bottom of the bowl. What am I doing
> wrong? Help!

Without knowing how much salt you used, there's no real way to diagnose
the problem. Looks like not enough water at first glance, but maybe not...

How much salt to how much water?

Pastorio

Thanks for all the advice. You are perfectly right that when I added the
remaining gallon and three quarters, the salt disappeared almost entirely.
No, I was not planning to brine in a 50-50 solution LOL. I was just trying
to try to start the process of dissolving by starting with a small amount of
boiling water. The rest would be cool water, so I could put the turkey in
without having to wait for 2 gallons to cool.

As for my name.... I was once a nice Irish girl with a nice Irish name.

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:22:05 -0700, pennyaline
> wrote:

>Holy crap! Thunderbird's spell checker just ran "Muckerheide" and the
>result was... was... well, I never!

So YOU say!

--
-denny-
"Do your thoughts call ahead or do they just arrive at your mouth unannounced?"

"It's come as you are, baby."

-over the hedge