brining?


 
I brine my chickens.

However, lately I've been intrigued with the dry-brining process (salting chicken, with or without rubs -- usually with, for 6 hours to overnight) before cooking. I like the more intense chicken flavor and texture. I'm still playing with the proportions of salt though.

Rita
 
My last two cooks I have done with chicken I have brined them and found them to come out a lot juicer. I have done skinless breast and leg quarters. Both came out a lot tastier and not as dry. I also brined a turkey for the first time a few months ago and it was the juicest turkey I have ever had.
 
I don't know if you read Cooks Illustrated, but they run a test kitchen (sort of like a Consumer Reports for food). End result was the recommendation to brine chicken and pork. Short brines. I've done this frequently, especially for the mass produceds chickens (Foster Farms) versus the free-range chx. It really does firm up and add more flavor to the chicken (or pork) for any method of cooking.
 
We always use Alton Brown's brining recipe for turkey at Thanksgiving. The one time in the last several years that we didn't use it, the turkey sucked compared to the ones we did brine. We swear by it.

However... this year I might have to try the apple... mmmmm, apple.

Anyway, I'm sure there's a link hereabouts but for those interested.... AB's Turkey Recipe
 
dry brine? never heard of it. how do you add moisture without water?
 
Brining is more about salt denaturing protein and its effect on preserving moisture, rather than adding it so much. "Dry" brining can have a similar effect.
 
Jerry, I'm down to about 2 teaspoons (table) salt or 4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt for a 4- to 4 1/2-pound chicken. That's pretty good for me at the moment but I might try cutting back a bit more if I can. If I could make a chicken once a day for a few days straight, it would be easier to taste the differences, but I'm afraid that Jack would sprout wings and fly out the window!

Is anyone else doing this? What are your salt proportions?

Rita
 
brining works very well with chicken and it is difficult to get the meat to salty.

to address the comment a few posts up, brining works by denaturing proteins AND osmosis. when you surround a piece of meat with salt-water, you cause the semipermeable cell membranes in the meat to pass solution back and forth until the two areas (outside the cells and inside) are of a similar concentration. during that process, the salt can denature proteins.

this would lead one to the conclusion that you actually remove water from the meat and replace it with salt. surely, this would simply make the meat saltier and drier, not moister.

the conflict is that the semipermeable membrane of the cells in the meat will not allow denatured proteins (among other things) to pass through them (SEMI-permeable). osmotic pressure, then, allows more water into the cell to compensate for the imbalance, which addresses the issue of why brined meat is moister.

in other words, the cells draw and hold more water due to this osmotic pressure than they did originally because of the action of the brine on proteins and triggering of osmotic action. a "dry-brine" is infeasible for the whole piece of meat, but it makes sense that on a large cut of meat the water would be drawn towards the surface which, given proper resting, might redistribute throughout in a different method than had you done nothing (plus, worst case, some proteins have been denatured). but, it's important to remember that the total water within a piece of meat cannot increase with a dry-brine.to me, that's sort of like rubbing ginger on the outside of a piece of meat and then squirting lemon juice on it.


don't forget that a marinade is usually made up of an acid to denature proteins in the connective tissue, an oil to moisten and carry flavor, and other flavorings. without a mechanism for permeating deeply enough, on a large piece of meat a salt-coating would have a fairly muted effect.
 
I have always used basic brine for chicken.

Brine for a few hours, cook wide open for about an hour, eat. It's about the easiest meal I can get on a WSM, and it's good. I'm sure I could zest it up without too much extra effort, but it works every time.
 
The point of dry brining is not to add water, it is to flavor, via the addition of salt, the interior flesh of the bird.

Rita-- I use a scant 3/4 t of fine sea salt (or so) per pound. I do not do this often as chickens tend to be cooks I don't plan and I think the process works best if allowed time. I dry-brine my preferred small chickens (<=3lbs) for 18-24 hours, larger chickens (3-3.5lbs) for longer. I much prefer smaller chickens, poussins and game hens for roasting as I prefer to cook at temps approaching 500. When I do have planning time quite often I marinate as I so often have interesting things to marinate with so dry-brining is a fairly seldom endeavor.

The other thing about dry-brining is that pan juices (if collecting them) tend to be salty. It's important to remember to make your sauce base nearly or totally salt-free and to flavor and, consequently, salt the base with the pan juices, tasting as you go so as not to overdo the salt level.
 
Thanks, Kevin. So I'm in the neighborhood of getting it right. I'm purposefully cutting back on the salt to 1/2 teaspoon fine salt per pound so that I can use the drippings; with a 6-hour cure the salt levels in the drippings don't seem over the top and I can adjust with a little good salt-free roasted chicken stock if needed. It's been a while since I did a 24-hour cure and will have to test that soon.

I usually add a salt-free rub at the same time as I salt the chicken and these are some of the best I've turned out.

I agree that planning ahead is a nuisance, but it's good to get some of the prep work done ahead of time.

Rita
 
I like the planning part--it's just that road/ranch so often don't lend themselves to doing so.

When I am planning chicken and I have 6 or 8 hours (or a bit more) I'll often marinate or, occasionally, flavor-brine. I've not done much pointed experimenting with dry brine timing--I simply 'know' (it wasn't a controlled, conscious thing) that less time didn't seem to do it. I stand to be corrected(!) so let me know what you discover as you test.

I either tuck fresh herbs under the skin (in breast and thigh pockets) when I salt, or I apply a dry rub.
 
Kevin,

So I'm understanding you correctly, the dry-brine is applied under the skin so as to interact with the meat and not be "blocked" by the fatty skin?
 
I'll let you know, Kevin. Right now I've been without a sink faucet for a week and repairs are creeping at a snail's pace.

So far I feel that the chickens retain more of their natural flavor with this method, rather than diluting them with the absorbed brine, even when it's a flavored brine. Not better, mind you, just different. The jury is still out...still working on it. A side-by-side comparison would be worth trying when I have time.
 
I agree with your assessment and your feeling that one way isn't automatically better than the other. I think that depends on the chicken quality and method of cooking--which can certainly vary.

Eric-- No, the salting is done on rather than under. Neither the skin nor fat will block it if given enough time. (I put whole fresh herbs under the skin sometimes, a la Judy Rogers, just before salting--small thyme sprigs, sage leaves, parsley sprig tips--which are removed after cooking or just before eating; dry spices, if using instead, I put on the skin or under--or both--depending on what they are.)

One could put salt under the skin instead, which would cut the brine time, but it would be important to make the application fairly evenly.
 
I guess the term dry brine is confuses me since brine is defined as a salt and water solution
 
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