Need help. Brined Chicken

[bigsteve]

I'm going to grill some Brined Chicken pieces today. The recipe does not say if the chicken should be rinsed, or patted dry before going on the grill. I've grilled Brined Pork chops before, and the recipe said to blot them dry before grilling. Whadda-ya think about chicken???

 

[pineywoods]

Rinse the brine off then pat dry

 

[the dude abides]

I've never rinsed off my brine. I usually just lay them out on paper towels and let drip for an hour and pat off the tops. Then I dust them with rub. Never had any compalints.

 

[erain]

my brine uses brown sugar in it so i do rinse mine off too help keep the carmelization down a bit...

 

[rivet]

I've never "patted anything dry" that I'm gonna cook. The heat will do it. I know it sounds crazy, but I don't want "bits" of fibres from the cloth or paper towel on my food.

Just me

 

[sumosmoke]

Not crazy, Rivet, I have done that before and have ended up rinsing it off again and placing it in a collendar, then putting on the smoker/grill. Works just as well

 

[travcoman45]

OK, how bout a rinse an then dry with a hair dryer on low?

 

[pineywoods]

I find patting dry with a paper towel allows the rub to stick much better but thats just my opinion

 

[bbq engineer]

The only thing I ever pat dry is fish that I'm smoking. And the only reason I do that is to speed the pellicle formation. If I had my act together and could allocate my time properly, it could air dry just as well.

I have never thought of the fibers attaching to my food, but now I will. Thanks for pointing this out Rivet.

Big Steve,

When I do chicken, I find that after rinsing, it sits in the collander for a bit and then has the appropriate amount of moisture to grab and hang onto rubs. I would vote no patting on the bird!

 

[tn_bbq]

I rinse my chicken before brining.

The moisture helps the rub stick to the chicken (makes a bit of slurry/slather)

 

[roksmith]

Only reason I've heard to rince the chicken is to get some of the salt off of the skin.
If your skin isn't too salty..no reason to rinse.
As to patting down? I just spent 6 hours trying to get moisture into my chicken..I'm not wiping any of it off.

That said..if you find your seasoning sticks better to a dry bird....wipe away..

I don't season my bird much..that brining gets all of the flavor I need in there and I like a light glaze of sauce on there at the end.

 

[rons]

Hey cool your doing some chicken, bet it comes out good. You know from my posts that I've had temp troubles and am the beginner-est beginner here, but I will say my biggest sucesses have been with chicken. I've done a rack of legs a few times, never dried or patted, didn't know I was supposed to lol, then last time I did a whole bird and just let it drip off a bit and put the rub on while it was just moist. Every chicken project I've done so far has come out killer good. I think poultry really works in the smoker well. Looking forward to your q-view and hearing how the first bite tastes

 

[ronp]

For saftey reasons I like to rinse and dry some on the rack over the sink. After 15 minutes apply spices or whatever, then on to the smoker.

 

[the dude abides]

I've never had a problem with papertowel parts sticking to my patted off chicken. Must be using good paper towels. I just pat them off then sprinkle with rub, but I ususally don't rub it in. Just let it sit for a while.

 

[richoso1]

What he said.

 

[bigsteve]

Well, I rinsed and patted dry before putting it in the brine. Then I rinsed and patted dry when I took it out of the brine. Grilled it on the Weber and it came out okay. The Weber didn't get quite hot enough. I'm too cheap with charcoal I guess.

Besides salt, the brine had onions, garlic, bay leaves, brown sugar, black pepper, and chili pepper.

 

[rons]

So it was just OK, not really good? What was lacking to make the taste better?

 

[athabaskar]

I'll pat something dry if I'm going to use mustard or olive oil or whatever else to help a rub stick. I don't really see any reason to dry off brine. Any brine that is too salty to drip off and dry naturally was probably too salty to begin with.

 

[flash]

Don't bother brining. Still nice and juicy.

 

[bigsteve]

Who knows? The family loved it. I never think anything I make tastes good. Every time I try making something new, I guess I expect it to be the best food in the history of mankind. So far, I haven't hit that mark.