To brine or not to brine?

[mcmelik]

As far as I am concerned brining a Turk is a must. I did mess up the last one I did by not cutting back on the salt when I mad my brine because the Turkey was already flavor enhanced.It turned out just a little on the salty side. I do like to do chicken but just for a few hours. Not over night like I do with Turks. Just my way of doing things.

 

[hhookk]

I find that a brined bird is ALWAYS jucier, no matter the cooking method. I brine whenever possible.

 

[dalglish]

So I decided to smoke some chicken today, a whole chicken cut up into portions.

I purposely (not really, just forgot!) didn't brine one of the chicken portions. They were both the same size before smoking...



As you can see the top one is noticeably bigger, it was waaay juicier and had a much better smoked flavour which can only be due to the brine. Portions were off the same bird. Smoked for exact same time in the same area of the smoker too.

Just a simple 3 hour brine 1 cup salt, 2/3 cup brown sugar, soy sauce, few different herbs, peppercorns and chilli flakes to a gallon of water.

As close to conclusive as I can get, sure no chicken will be completely symmetrical but that's a big size (juice!) difference.

Brine, Yes!

 

[ltslewis]

I personally Brine and think it really does enhance flavor. Personal opinion and all.

That post above with the two pieces of chicken made me laugh tho cause a image of a commercial about this egg cracking device popped into my head. People not using the egg device might as well just been throwing the eggs at the bowl with the way they just seem to explode, but people with the egg thingy made perfect eggs every time. (Like cracking eggs is really that hard.)

I know that is not what you meant but the way it sounded at first just got me laughing thinking it was a infomercial.

~Joe

 

[dalglish]

Ha!I know that commercial. I know Idaho Falls too, no wonder you have a good imagination.