To Brine or not to Brine?

[fat gary]

A friend and I have a friendly arguement over bringing poultry or not...

If I am cooking a bird of any kind I brine that thing first...I use my brine for two things 1) add flavor 2) ensure juicyness

He states never brine it is a wast of time and does nothing for the bird.

Not looking to say I am right or he is....just wanted to see other's people opinions on this.

 

[ecto1]

I brine don't think I could go back.

 

[mballi3011]

I brine when I have time and don't when I don't.

 

[weberlamp]

I will always brine, you add a depth of flavor that complements the smoke flavor and  you are right, it does produces very juicy meat.

 

[diesel]

Well.. he is wrong when he says that it does nothing.  Brining is science.  It works very well and really helps when smoking meat.  It was used to preserve foods back in the day.

I always brine my birds...

 

[plj]

He states never brine it is a wast of time and does nothing for the bird.

Your friend is uninformed, didnt he learn about osmosis in grammer school?  10 minutes with google should be sufficient to rectify that.

 

[smokinhusker]

I brine...don't think I could do it any other way anymore!

 

[uncle_lar]

definately brine!  pretty hard to go back to no brine once you have done it!

 

[shoneyboy]

A brine is the best way to go......

 

[daveomak]

Gary, morning.... Invitite him and family over for dinner.... Pretty hard to convince a "hard head" (written with love and affection) with words.... when his family says, "that was the best bird I ever ate", take it from there.....  be sure to take pics....   Dave

 

[chef jimmyj]

My Ckicken is the most requested meal from family guests coming to visit...I Brine...Here is some info to show him...JJ

http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/science_of_cooking/brining.htm

 

[SmokinAl]

Always brine! Makes a juicier bird and pulls in any spices in the brine.

 

[berninga87]

I cooked a lot of dry bird and couldnt figure out why, until I discovered brine, now I couldnt do without, its just not the same! Juicy and delicious!

 

[caddmonkey]

I just started to brine chickens and turkeys myself after reading the information from this site and now I recommend brining every time for all cooking applications from grilling, smoking and deep frying…the best tasting bird hands down!

 

[jno51]

I have never used brian. Do you buy the stuff off the shelve or are most of you making your own. I noticed Acadamy has several different kinds of brians. How long do you hold your birds in the brian ?

 

[uncle_lar]

I like to brine about 10 -12 hours never more than 24hrs

I mostly use the slaughter house brine recipe from on here.

 

[sprky]

I am a firm believer in the brine. Here is the short version of what made me a believer. Several Thanksgivings ago I had turkeys in the smoker. My niece had an accident at the house, that required medical attention. I was only adult there, so I took her to hospital. We were there long enough that the turkeys were way past the 165 degree temp. I thought for sure they were toast. I went ahead and carved them sampled, and they were edible. Much dryer then my normal but not so dry you couldn't eat them. Had they not been brined I know they would have been dog food. 

 

[caddmonkey]

I use a variation of the slaughter house brine recipe that is from on here. I tend to use whats around like oranges and fresh thyme or other things just thrown in the pot simmered and cooled back down with ice. I did find a how to brine chicken time table somewhere so you might want to try a search.

 

[jno51]

Thanks for the info men "UP IN SMOKE" from Texas

 

[udt007]

I don't know much about brine, since I just started smoking meat.  I really need to look into this, but I just got done smoking two approx 5 lb chickens with the soda can method and they turned out incredibly juicy.  My family absolutely loved them.  If brine can add more flavor then the birds I cooked today, I definitely am gonna check it out.