Never brined a chicken... Give me your best brine recipe

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TuscaloosaQ

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I am doing horn of plenty cook Saturday... Brisket.... Butts... Beef ribs.. Spare ribs... Chicken halves... I would like to brine the chicken.... How long do I brine... Do I dry it before cooking... Looking for a good basic brine.. Help me out guys and gals...����... Thx in advance
 
Brine

TuscaloosaQ said:
I am doing horn of plenty cook Saturday... Brisket.... Butts... Beef ribs.. Spare ribs... Chicken halves... I would like to brine the chicken.... How long do I brine... Do I dry it before cooking... Looking for a good basic brine.. Help me out guys and gals...����... Thx in advance
Click to expand...

Check out Morton Salts web site for basic brines.
 
Brine for at least 24 hours. Water, sugar, salt, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, spices, fruits, honey, and whatever else you like.
 
I highly recommend a simple dry brine with just salt for 12 to 24 hours. Then apply a dry rub just before throwing it on the cooker.

A dry brine will draw liquid out of the bird. That liquid will then dissolve salt. Then the salted chicken juice will soak back into the bird. It gives you a chicken that tastes like chicken.

If you insist on a wet brine, just use salt and water. Anything else you put in a brine is wasted. The molecules are too large to penetrate the muscle fibers. The wet brine will make for a more forgiving bird. It's less susceptible to overcooking because of all the water that gets absorbed by the meat. The downside is that the absorbed salt water displaces the natural chicken juices, leading to bland meat.

I actually tested this firsthand last Thanksgiving. We did two small birds, one with an elaborate wet brine and one with just a simple dry brine. Both were equally juicy because we were careful with cooking times. But the dry brine was MUCH more flavorful. It tasted how turkey should. The wet brined bird was bland, mostly served as a vessel for gravy. None of the flavors present in the wet brine were detectable in the finished product.
 
PatioDaddio's turkey brine works well on any poultry. It isn't basic, but it is awasome.

http://www.patiodaddiobbq.com/2009/11/ultimate-thanksgiving-turkey-brine.html
Ingredients
1 1/2 gal Ice water (lots of ice)
1/2 gal Hot tap water
2 cups Dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups Kosher salt
1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning (available in most grocery stores)
1 tsp Chinese five spice (Asian section of most grocery stores -- I like the Sun Luck brand)
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 oranges
Extra ice as needed

I would brine chicken halves 4-8 hours. Remove from brine, rinse, pat dry, then let air dry in a fridge for a couple hours. Air dry step isn't necessary, but I think it does a lot for getting the proper skin. Smoke how you normally do your poultry.
 
vtron said:
If you insist on a wet brine, just use salt and water. Anything else you put in a brine is wasted. The molecules are too large to penetrate the muscle fibers. The wet brine will make for a more forgiving bird. It's less susceptible to overcooking because of all the water that gets absorbed by the meat. The downside is that the absorbed salt water displaces the natural chicken juices, leading to bland meat.

I actually tested this firsthand last Thanksgiving. We did two small birds, one with an elaborate wet brine and one with just a simple dry brine. Both were equally juicy because we were careful with cooking times. But the dry brine was MUCH more flavorful. It tasted how turkey should. The wet brined bird was bland, mostly served as a vessel for gravy. None of the flavors present in the wet brine were detectable in the finished product.
Click to expand...

I must disagree with some of this. Firstly, I wet brine chickens 2-3 per week. For many years. Simple salt / water brine tastes great. Add pickling spices and its very noticeable in the meat, not just the skin and surface protein. While I respect some of the experimentation and explanations, there's just no getting around the fact that a brine can deliver flavor.

I've got two 3.5 pound birds in a Briner Jr right now.

And I've never produced a bird that sounded anything remotely like your gravy vessel. Just sayin
 
Your choice of Garlic or Onion powder. 1 cup powder per gallon of water. Soak submerged iced or fridge overnight. That's it!
 
Most wet brines have 1C salt per gallon. This really is a range, since 1C of Kosher salt weighs less than 1C of Pickling Salt like I use.

I also believe in a sweet source. I can't distinguish between honey and table sugar, so I use table sugar. 1C of that per gallon

2 Tbs of McCormick Pickling Spice. I have all those spices on hand individually, so I just mix them all by eye and memory. I also add black Cardamon and 2-3 Tbs ACV (vinegar). 2-3 Bay Leaves, and I go a bit heavier on a mild chile pepper flake. Lastly some alcohol source. Could be white wine, vodka, Everclear. I just want to solublize the alcohol-soluble flavors.
 
Dry brine all the way.

It has been shown to be superior to a wet brine by more than one taste tests.

Use 1/2 (heaping) teaspoon per lb. or 1 tablespoon per 5 lbs. of coarse (kosher) salt.
Or 1 teaspoon per lb of our Naturiffic Gourmet Salts (Garlicky Lemon used as a dry brine is amazing) Using all the salt, liberally cover the bird all over.

Put in bag or container and let sit in fridge for at least an hour per pound (up to 3 days)
When it is time to cook, there is no need to rinse.
Take out of bag/container and let air dry in fridge for a couple of hours (while you are getting cooker ready)
Cook as normal.
If you want to use a rub, apply it right before cooking and use a low salt rub.

I will be posting a series of dry brine tutorials and recipes over the next few months leading into Thanksgiving.
 
Anyone personally experience mushy meat from a wet brine? After doing literally hundreds of wet brine, and 1/2 that many unbrined, I have yet to observe a mush meat.

I often winder if these observations and conclusions might help the article writer or product seller.
 
TedW said:
I must disagree with some of this. Firstly, I wet brine chickens 2-3 per week. For many years. Simple salt / water brine tastes great. Add pickling spices and its very noticeable in the meat, not just the skin and surface protein. While I respect some of the experimentation and explanations, there's just no getting around the fact that a brine can deliver flavor.

I've got two 3.5 pound birds in a Briner Jr right now.

And I've never produced a bird that sounded anything remotely like your gravy vessel. Just sayin
Click to expand...

Speaking of the "gravy vessel", I was exaggerating a bit. If the bird was by itself, I would have probably enjoyed it. Hell, I used to always wet brine my birds and I thought they were great. Next to the dry brined bird, however, there was no comparison. There was only one person that liked the wet brine better because the dry brined bird was "too flavorful". This person is obviously someone I never look to for any food related opinions.

Like I said, I used to wet brine all my birds. All it took was a single dry brine to realize what I'd been missing. You should really try it before knocking it. If you want more information check the link below.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html
 
TedW said:
Anyone personally experience mushy meat from a wet brine? After doing literally hundreds of wet brine, and 1/2 that many unbrined, I have yet to observe a mush meat.

I often winder if these observations and conclusions might help the article writer or product seller.
Click to expand...

Wet brine and dry brine are both effective methods.
It is possible to get more moisture in the bird using the wet brine technique.
To some the added moisture is not desired.

Depends a lot on cooking temp too.
If you are cooking hot n fast (I cook my chicken at ~375-400), then you won't lose as much moisture as you do when smoking chicken low and slow.
A wet brine works well in this instance.
 
vtron said:
... But the dry brine was MUCH more flavorful. It tasted how turkey should. The wet brined bird was bland, mostly served as a vessel for gravy. None of the flavors present in the wet brine were detectable in the finished product.
Click to expand...

That's why I stopped wet brining: watery-tasting chicken. If I brine at all it's a dry-brine.
 
Up O... I opened a can of worms.... Thank all of you for the replys and comments.... I'm sorta torn now as to what to do... My chicken is usually fine to me... But doing the halves I did not want the breast to get dry on me.. I might toss a coin... Both the wet and dry Brine has obviously worked...hmmm .. I will go back and read again tonite .... As I am sure there will be more post... I will say this the last thing I want is watery tasting anything... I as told that a wet brine infused taste and moisture... But now the dry brine has me thinking... What is the difference from a dry brine... And rubbing the bird down with olive oil and my favorite rub the day before and putting in a zip lock bag.....
 
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