re: Anyone ever add crab boil to a brine?

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Not doubting you at all, but link?

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Brining, whether a traditional water-based brine or a dry-brine, improves a turkey's ability to retain moisture. Certain muscle proteins are naturally dissolved by the salt in the brine solution. Once these proteins are dissolved, muscle fibers lose some of their ability to contract when cooking. Less contraction leads to less internal moisture being squeezed out, which in turn leads to juicier meat in the cooked bird.

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SHOULD I USE AROMATICS IN MY BRINE?

There's no need.

Many brining recipes call for bringing a number of aromatics—carrots, celery, onions, spices, herbs, etc—to a boil in your brine before letting it cool completely. While this does a great job of making your brine smell great, it doesn't affect the flavor of the turkey or chicken much beyond the skin. The problem is that because a brine is packed with salt and because salt is much more likely to enter your turkey's cells (due both to its size and its magnetic charge), most of those larger flavorful compounds don't actually make it into the meat.

For the time and effort it takes to make a flavored brine, heat it up, and let it cool completely, you're much better off making an flavorful rub or herb butter. You'll get just as much (if not more) flavor into the bird, use fewer ingredients, and save yourself some time in the process.

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