Dry brine turkey with table salt: weigh it, don't scoop

You can dry brine a turkey with table salt or fine sea salt as long as you measure it by weight, not by the spoon. Use about 3 grams of salt per pound of turkey, roughly 1/2 teaspoon of table salt per pound. For a 14-pound bird that's about 42 grams, or 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon.

The recipe says 1/4 cup of kosher salt, and the only box in your cupboard says iodized table salt. If you scoop the same amount, you'll ruin a $40 bird.

Weigh the salt.

Why the spoon lies to you

Kosher salt crystals are big and hollow, so a spoonful is mostly air. Table salt grains are small, dense cubes that pack tight. Same spoon, very different amount of salt:

• Table salt or fine sea salt weighs about 6 grams per teaspoon.
• Morton kosher weighs about 5 grams per teaspoon.
• Diamond Crystal kosher weighs about 3 grams per teaspoon.

If your recipe was written for Diamond Crystal, use half the volume of table salt. If it was written for Morton kosher, use about 20 percent less. If the recipe doesn't say which brand, ignore its volume and go by weight. Coarse sea salt varies too much by brand to convert, so put it on the scale.

Iodine is fine at these amounts. Most people can't taste it spread across a whole turkey, but if you're sensitive to it, fine sea salt behaves the same as table salt with no iodine.

How do you spread fine salt evenly?

Fine salt sticks wherever it lands and starts dissolving fast, so you can't push it around afterward the way you can with flaky kosher. Coverage has to be right the first time.

1. Dry the bird. Pat the turkey dry inside and out with paper towels. Wet skin grabs salt in clumps.
2. Weigh and split the salt. Measure 3 grams per pound into a small bowl. Set aside about a third for under the breast skin.
3. Get under the skin. Loosen the breast skin with your fingers and rub the reserved salt directly onto the meat. The breast is the thickest part and the easiest to underseason.
4. Sprinkle from high up. Pinch the rest from about 12 inches above the bird over the thighs, legs, back and wings, with a light pinch in the cavity. Height spreads fine grains more evenly than rubbing does.
5. Refrigerate uncovered. Set the turkey on a rack over a sheet pan and leave it 24 to 48 hours. The USDA says to cook raw poultry within 1 to 2 days of thawing or buying it fresh, so count the brine time inside that window.
6. Roast without rinsing. Rinsing undoes the dry skin you just spent two days on. Cook until the thickest part of the breast, the innermost thigh and the wing all read 165°F, the USDA's minimum for poultry, then let it rest before carving.

Under 24 hours, the salt hasn't had time to dissolve and work into the meat, so you mostly get salty skin.

Related: Dry Brine Beats Wet Brine (Here's When and Why)

When should you skip the dry brine?

Read the label first. Turkeys sold as kosher have already been salted during processing. Self-basting or "enhanced" birds have been injected with a salt solution, and the label will say something like "contains up to 8% of a solution." Adding 3 grams per pound on top of either one gets you ham with wings. For those, skip the salt or keep it to a light sprinkle on the skin the night before.

The 3-gram rate works for a boneless turkey breast too. Bones count toward a whole bird's weight but don't take up salt, so a breast that's all meat doesn't need less.

Related: Spatchcock turkey cooks in about 80 minutes at 450°F

I keep a $15 scale next to the salt and never convert spoons at all. Salt the bird Tuesday night, and by Thursday the skin looks like parchment. If it's frozen, start thawing it two days earlier than the thaw chart says.