Soaking chicken in brine

[Surprised]

I saw something on TV where they mentioned soaking chicken in brine overnight before roasting makes it a juicer, more tender and tastier chicken.
Doe anyone do this and say whether or not the meat is noticeably better? It seems a long process to go through if not.

[sted]

I often soak it in milk...that works.

Never tried brine

[ctibbits]

I brine things all the time and yes it works. However depending on the amount of salt you make your brine with 24 hours could be too long for chicken. I typically will get it in there when I leave for work in order to cook that evening.

Brisket is a completely different time frame if you are ever going that route.

[Surprised]

I was thinking 24 hours was a lot and 8-12 is better. I might chuck in garlic and herbs so would need to boil the brine before letting it then cool down. I heard some people add a bit of sugar to slightly counteract the salt but others have said very little salt gets into the chicken.

@Sted: I might use buttermilk but would need a fair bit to cover a chicken

[ctibbits]

Yes typically a little sugar is added and I ALWAYS put garlic in mine because I love garlic. I have also found you can get a good amount of spice throughout the meat with a proper pepper.

If you are brining brisket or pork shoulder it is also good to add some acidity to it like lemon/lime juice or apple cider vinegar as it helps break down the connective tissue and fat.

[Surprised]

Yes typically a little sugar is added and I ALWAYS put garlic in mine because I love garlic. I have also found you can get a good amount of spice throughout the meat with a proper pepper.

If you are brining brisket or pork shoulder it is also good to add some acidity to it like lemon/lime juice or apple cider vinegar as it helps break down the connective tissue and fat.

I love garlic so will put a few cloves in

A chilli pepper or peppercorns?

[WilBert]

Friend of mine swears by cooking beef in coke - never got it to work to my liking though.

[ctibbits]

Yes typically a little sugar is added and I ALWAYS put garlic in mine because I love garlic. I have also found you can get a good amount of spice throughout the meat with a proper pepper.

If you are brining brisket or pork shoulder it is also good to add some acidity to it like lemon/lime juice or apple cider vinegar as it helps break down the connective tissue and fat.

I love garlic so will put a few cloves in

A chilli pepper or peppercorns?

Chili pepper such as jalapeno, Serrano etc. Whatever level of heat you want. I suppose you could probably add some hot sauce instead but then you would be adding flavor rather than just heat.

[jpk]

Seems a bit cruel to me.

[ctibbits]

Friend of mine swears by cooking beef in coke - never got it to work to my liking though.

I saw an Iron Chef once where the Chinese Chef boiled an entire piglet in coke before smoking it. In theory it seems nice but I cant imagine it being good for beef.

[Surprised]

Friend of mine swears by cooking beef in coke - never got it to work to my liking though.

I saw an Iron Chef once where the Chinese Chef boiled an entire piglet in coke before smoking it. In theory it seems nice but I cant imagine it being good for beef.

I have a friend who cooks chicken wings in coke. The sugar caramelises and they are quite nice.

I might do the chicken in brine thing at the weekend with a hot chilli or 2 or 3

[Surprised]

Seems a bit cruel to me.

Pluck them first so their feathers don't get wet and tie string around the beak to keep them quiet

[sted]

@Sted: I might use buttermilk but would need a fair bit to cover a chicken

I couldn't imagine it with semi-skinned. Might as well use water.

I do bang some mustard and chili in there mind.

Gonna try the brine at the weekend.

Done the coke thing with a ham...works well

[WilBert]

Forgive my ignorance (but you must have by now) by Brine do you just mean a heavily salted pot of water?

[sted]

Forgive my ignorance (but you must have by now) by Brine do you just mean a heavily salted pot of water?

Unless you live near the sea buddy

[ctibbits]

Forgive my ignorance (but you must have by now) by Brine do you just mean a heavily salted pot of water?

Pretty much. Salt is main component but "tweaking" it can lead to some nice flavors.

[sted]

I've cooked lobster and crab in sea water.

yeuch

Too much salt I think (plus probably undesired spices)

[WilBert]

A saline point. Thanks.

[Surprised]

Forgive my ignorance (but you must have by now) by Brine do you just mean a heavily salted pot of water?

Pretty much. Salt is main component but "tweaking" it can lead to some nice flavors.

Theory behind it all is that the meat absorbs water so is more moist when you start cooking than it otherwise would have been. Therefore it us not as dry after cooking.

The dissolved salt causes some of the proteins in muscle fibers to unwind and swell. As they unwind, the bonds that had held the protein unit together as a bundle break. Water from the brine binds directly to these proteins, but even more important, water gets trapped between these proteins when the meat cooks and the proteins bind together. Some of this would happen anyway just during cooking, but the brine unwinds more proteins and exposes more bonding sites. As long as you don't overcook the meat, which would cause protein bonds to tighten and squeeze out a lot of the trapped liquid, these natural juices will be retained.

[Jonathan]

Soaking chicken? In brine? The dirty bas........

[WilBert]

Forgive my ignorance (but you must have by now) by Brine do you just mean a heavily salted pot of water?

Pretty much. Salt is main component but "tweaking" it can lead to some nice flavors.

Theory behind it all is that the meat absorbs water so is more moist when you start cooking than it otherwise would have been. Therefore it us not as dry after cooking.

The dissolved salt causes some of the proteins in muscle fibers to unwind and swell. As they unwind, the bonds that had held the protein unit together as a bundle break. Water from the brine binds directly to these proteins, but even more important, water gets trapped between these proteins when the meat cooks and the proteins bind together. Some of this would happen anyway just during cooking, but the brine unwinds more proteins and exposes more bonding sites. As long as you don't overcook the meat, which would cause protein bonds to tighten and squeeze out a lot of the trapped liquid, these natural juices will be retained.

Our meat is injected by so much water to plump it out so replace it with nicer tasting water?

[Surprised]

I guess so.

[unc.si.]

Our meat is injected by so much water to plump it out so replace it with nicer tasting water?

They use salty water as well to plump it out, so the brine idea must be a good one.
Frozen meat's got even more water in it. Stopped buying frozen meat when I did some work for a poultry farm years ago. The shelf life for frozen turkeys was something like 5 years. Perfectly safe to eat, but did put me off a bit.

Chicken's cheap because it's from fast grown chicks and it's enhanced with brine

I've got a good chicken supplier - proper high welfare free range farm (ie not just a farm that gets allowed to sell chickens as free range just because they leave a door open). It does taste better (and not as likely to have Campylobacter).

Cheap meat is generally shit meat. People want cheap meat though. Better to buy better meat but less of it.

[Surprised]

Chicken is now roasting away after spending 8-9 hours in a brine, garlic and herb mixture.
Within 1.5 hours I will know if it is better than not soaking in brine

[DrBunker]

Within 1.5 hours I will know if it is better than not soaking in brine

[Surprised]

Best roast chicken I have ever tasted!

[jpk]

The brine will be nice and chickeny as well and could be frozen and made into Heston blumenthal type lolly starters

[ctibbits]

Best roast chicken I have ever tasted!

Fantastic news! Did you put any peppers in there?

[Surprised]

Best roast chicken I have ever tasted!

Fantastic news! Did you put any peppers in there?

Didn't have any fresh and I'm not sure dried chillies would work.

Chicken was juicy and so much more flavoursome than usual and the juices left in the dish after cooking have amazing flavour. Why i haven't done this before I don't know.

Next time I will make the brine the night before so it's cool by morning as it took 3 hours to cool down this morning.

[Surprised]

The brine will be nice and chickeny as well and could be frozen and made into Heston blumenthal type lolly starters

Would be very salty too!