Chicken Brine

[mrb627]

I swear I will never grill another piece of chicken that hasn't spent some time in a salty brine. What a HUGE difference an hour in a soak makes in the end result.

Anyone else brine before grilling?

I used a simple recipe of 2 quarts of water combined with 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of sugar.

Best chicken I have ever made!

Malcolm

 

[washdaddy]

I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of having chicken done that way. Living in an apartment complex kind of puts a crunch on the outdoor grilling. But I have heard repeatedly on different occasions that soaking the chicken in a brine solution before grilling is the absolute only way to go. It makes the chicken so juicy and tender as well as adds flavor to the meat.

 

[mrb627]

Winter Time

In the winter time, I will usually BBQ chicken breast in the crock pot. Next time around, I will try the brine method and see how the crock pot effects the result.

Malcolm

 

[frigilux]

Malcolm--- I often brine chicken roasting, baking or grilling for the very reasons you discovered. Do the same with pork, which tends to be very low fat and, consequently, kind of dry. Makes a big difference.

I've never brined anything cooked in a slow cooker. The extended cooking time may cause the brine to seep back out of the meat, but that's only a hunch. Let us know the results if you try it.

Don't bother brining beef; the results are pretty awful.

 

[super32]

tried once

I did recently try it once. Did a couple quarts of water and a good hand full of salt. It did make the chicken juicy and tasty.

 

[jakeseacrest]

I've been presalting meats and brining poultry for a few years now. Amazing difference!

 

[rp2813]

I may have to try this, although when I do a whole chicken, 90% of the time I use my Roto-Broil rotisserie, no brine, and it comes out very juicy. 

 

We brined a Thanksgiving turkey one year and were not at all impressed with the results.  Maybe a brine is best left for things you intend to grill as opposed to slow roasting at a relatively low temperature.

 

[mikael3]

Brining is best for high-temp cooking, like roasting, broiling, grilling, and baking. I'd be skeptical of brining for braising, poaching, or slow cooking.

Brining is not recommended for meats cooked to medium or less--beef steaks, rib roast, leg of lamb, that sort of thing. I've never tried it on these meats, but if someone has and likes it, I'd like to know about it.

I brine my turkey every Thanksgiving and people love it. It is very juicy and cooks a little faster than a non-brined bird.

I also brine whole pork roasts, and I even rub kosher salt into pork chops about an hour before I grill or fry them.

A word of warning--a lot of turkeys and some other meats are injected with a brine at the factory, and they will be sickeningly salty if you drop them in a brine at home. A friend of mine made that mistake one year.

 

[sudsmaster]

I also almost always rotisserie a whole chicken.

The process has changed over the years, my latest variation with the outdoor rotisserie covered BBQ:

1) Fire up the BBQ, over down, with all three burners on full. This generally raises the temp to about 500 degrees.

2) Meanwhile, rinse and pat dry a whole chicken. Mount it on the rotisserie spit, trying to keep it balanced and so it will be positioned later at the center of the side/back infrared ceramic burner on the BBQ.

3) Tie the legs together with stainless wire. Tie the wings against the body with a big loop of wire.

4) Brush olive oil all over the bird. Then rub in some salt-free herbal seasoning (I use the organic stuff from Costco). Also put a teaspoon of the dried herb mix inside the bird.

5) Place a stainless warming tray on top of the burners (I remove the BBQ grill for this) and allow the temp to get back to up to 500. Place spitted bird in BBQ and turn on rotisserie motor. Keep burners on full and close cover. DO NOT LEAVE THE BBQ. The object here is to subject the bird to high heat for a short period in order to sear it. Without the drip pan, oil and bird fat will ignite on the burners and incinerate the bird. Not good if you don't like eating charcoal.

6) When dripping fat from the bird starts to smoke in the drip pan, turn off the center burner but leave the two outer ones on. Leave the bird in this state until the skin has yellowed, indicating searing. This generally takes about five minutes.

7) Turn off all burners and light the back side rotisserie burner, on full.

8) Oven temp will gradually drop to between 150 and 200F. Don't worry, the bird temp is higher from the rotisserie burner.

9) I've found that using this technique, a five pound chicken might take between 1 hour and 1.5 hrs to cook to suitable internal temp. Smaller birds cook faster than larger birds, so one needs to monitor the process. I generally cook to an internal breast temp of 165 to 170.

10) The final result is tender and juicy, with some delicious drippings in the drip tray for flavoring the cooked chicken or side dishes later.

My only reservation about brine treatment is that salt tends to draw juices out of meat rather than keep them in. I suppose with searing, however, the juices can be sealed into the meat so it isn't lost in cooking, even if brine has been used.

I do brine cabbage when I make Kimchee... LOL...

 

[mrb627]

Brining in progress!

I just took some chicken breasts for a dip in a salty bath. After about 90 minutes, they will transfer to a blend of herbs and wine. Soak some hickory chips at lunch. Then to the grill mid afternoon for a smokey que.

Can't hardly wait!

Malcolm

 

[frigilux]

Sounds delicious! Do you use a charcoal or gas grill, Malcolm? I have a gas grill--which some purists don't even consider grilling---because of the convenience and ease of maintaining a set temperature.

One important rule of thumb about brining: Chicken parts need less time in the brine than a whole chicken. Cooks Illustrated did a thorough examination of the brining process and found that leaving parts in the brine too long causes the solution to reverse and leave the meat. They suggested 30-45 minutes for chicken parts.
Small cuts of pork (chops, etc.) can brine for an hour.

Large pieces of meat take several hours. I'll try to locate their recommendations and post them later.

 

[mrb627]

Gas Grill

Which is showing its age. I have taken to inserting a pouch of wood chips to impact the grilled flavor with a smoky punch.

I try to keep brining to about 1 hour.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

I just saw a segment on "America's Test Kitchen" about brining. They said before brining stab the chicken a few times with a fork. And limit the time in the brine to 30 minutes lest too much salt get absorbed by the chicken.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Eugene,

I was just reading some older issues of CI that had brining explanations in them. They recommend one hour for a whole chicken and 1/2 that for pieces/parts. They don't recommend brining beef, like steak or a tenderloin roast. Instead, they salt it 1 hour before cooking.

Chuck

 

[perc-o-prince]

From another issue:

 

[frigilux]

Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country are great resources. Thanks for posting these brining guides, Chuck!

 

[perc-o-prince]

You're welcomed, Eugene. I've been using a stack of them for "library" reading and happened across these guides this past week!

I've never brined my chicken, having adopted different cooking methods for different cuts and cooking processes, but may try it. I try to avoid the addition of salt when possible since I'm already on 2 BP meds.

Chuck

 

[mrb627]

WOW

I am off the charts on this, I guess. I didn't bother to rinse the chicken after brining, but then my chicken went into a marinade for six hours.

Perhaps I will back off next time and see if there is a huge difference.

Malcolm

 

[mikael3]

I've used the Cook's Illustrated methods for brining, and their process definitely works.  It's overly fussy, though. I always seem to be taking their approach and re-working it into common sense.

 

With a chicken for roasting, I cover the bird with water, throw in a fistful of kosher salt (maybe 1/2 cup or so), and leave the bird to soak for about an hour.  Then I rinse it and dry it as thoroughly as possible, and I'm ready to go.