I thought dry brining a whole bird was overhyped until a cook in Amarillo proved me wrong

Ben Lee · 2026-10-01T02:45:04.352414+00:00

A line cook named Marcus at a spot in Amarillo swore by salting his birds 24 hours ahead with just kosher salt, no wet brine, nothing else. I told him it was a fad and kept doing my wet brine for months. Then I tried his method on a 14 pound turkey for a staff meal and the skin came out shatter crisp while the meat stayed juicy all the way through. Now I want to know where people land on this: is dry brine actually better, or does wet brine still have a place for bigger birds?

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I thought dry brining a whole bird was overhyped until a cook in Amarillo proved me wrong | Chefs - Discusd