Does brining a turkey actually improve flavor/juiciness or is it just bullshit that does nothing?

It's not just water that seeps out of the turkey and into the water, but also the flavours in that water.
Seriouseats recommends just salting heavily and leaving it overnight. It's not quite as moist as brined turkey but it tastes better.

Anyone here brine chicken, specifically breasts? Is it worth the hassle?

I brined some butterflied breasts I made into chicken piccata by tenderizing/flattening them into cutlets. It was good but given that I tenderized them, wasn't sure if brining mattered.

Not Ann argument

>Is it worth the hassle?
The hassle of putting them in a bowl of saltwater?
Yes, it is.

If you want chicken with actual flavour you're better off buying legs, though.

This is what I do (not because of serious eats, because it's how my grandmother and mother made turkey), and I end up with moist, juicy turkey every time.
I make a highly seasoned compound butter, using the amount of salt I want for however big a turkey I have, plus other herbs and spices, and coat that bird up in it. I do it at least 24 hrs ahead, but b Ave done it as much as 48 hrs ahead, and the turkey turns out fantastic. I don't put stuffing in the bird, so before cooking, I throw a cut apple, cut onion, lemon quarters, and a bundle of fresh herbs inside the cavity.
I also do a butter rub like this before I smoke a turkey as well, or rotisserie a turkey. We've been rotisserie cooking our turkey for the past couple years instead of oven roasting, and I doubt I'll go back, it's so awesome. Not just because of how the turkey turns out, but because it frees up the oven, which makes everything so much easier.

if you actually bother to remember then yes, especially if you make something like chicken katsu it really improves the texture and improves the amount of moisture it retains

I like to flatten a couple of boneless legs and then dry brine em

I always brine, spatchcock, and smoke my turkey and serve it with melted herb butter. Very bomb.

it's easier to cook a moist and tender bird every time but the reality is you lose flavor and replace it with whatever you brined it in. A properly basted bird at a low temp will taste more like poultry and can be just as juicy. I don't brine anymore unless it's garbage to begin with.

ps a lot of poultry is brined already, it's called injected meat and it usually sucks cock

I like to use pickle brine for chicken. If you ask, a lot of restaurants will give you their old pickle buckets thats usually half filled with pickle brine. Just throw in a bag of leg/wings and a day or so later throw them on the grill. Game time!!

IT makes the meat taste and feel like processes lunch meat.

If you cook it right it doesn't need this.

Absolutely. I've started doing this with almost all chicken I cook recently. Trim the breasts, cut in half lengthwise (or butterfly), and add to a zip-lock bag with 1/4 cup salt and 1/8 cup sugar. Brine 4-6 hours and cook as you normally would. Works fine for baking, pan frying something like piccata, even to go in a stew or curry, though not as good if it's going to go in a slow-cooker for hours or making pulled chicken.

If you have 5 minutes and a little foresight, might as well!