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Sodium absorption from basting a turkey

 
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LSDave



Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:27 pm    Post subject: Sodium absorption from basting a turkey Reply with quote

I’m on a low sodium diet. Is there anyway to get even a rough estimate of how much sodium is absorbed by a roasted turkey from the liquid used to braise it? I guess you have to start out with the amount of meat on the bird, in my case a 10-12 pound bird. Are there any sources or rules of thumb for figuring this out? The amount of sodium in the braising liquid is easy to find from reading the labels. But obviously not all of the sodium will be absorbed, some of the liquid will evaporate, some will be reserved for the gravy (which I’ll simply pass on) etc.
I’m not looking for precision here, I know that’s impossible. Turkey runs in the range of 20mg/oz so I’m trying to figure out if brazening doubles that, triples that, or maybe has minimal effect.
Any help or pointers to relevant information sources would be greatly appreciated.
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GaryProtein



Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 535

PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe very little of anything used in basting a turkey winds up INSIDE the meat. Basting may concentrate some salt on the skin and help keep the skin from burning if you use a hot oven and don't tent the bird, but very little enters the meat. Consider that a minimum time for brining is 12 hours, and Cooks Illustrated recommends 24-48 hours. They said 96 hours made the bird salty tasting. With that in mind, based on a cople of hours to roast a 10-12 pound bird, basting a few times would have a minimal effect on the meat.

Just in case, basting isn't injecting, and that would probably increase sodium.
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