Brine time for chicken?

[New Hampshire]

I have a simple brine I want to use for some boneless/skinless chicken breasts (my mother ran into a special at the supermarket, so this is what I have to work with right now.) Now, I was reading a few sites while looking for brine recipes and I saw it mentioned that chicken parts should only be brined for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, yet the manual that came with my smoker (Luhr-Jensen Big Chief) mentions a 2 to 6 hour brine. The claim of the site stating the 1-1 1/2 hour brine is that too long a brine can lead to an over salty taste.

So, anyone care to comment or suggest a good brine time, not just for boneless/skinless, but whole chicken and parts?

Brian

[chef_hog]

You do have to be carefull with the length of time that you brine chicken and I would only do this with bonein chicken. Brining provides flavor and help to get rid of the blood that is at the bone (the salt in the brine pulls it out) if the chicken stays to long in the brine it will be over salty depending what size chicken part or whole chicken I would stay at 1 1/2 to 2 hr mark.

Boneless skinless chicken breast I would marinate them instead of brining to add flavor because the will absorb the brine faster and be very salty. There are an ulimited amout of marinates that you could use from EVOO with garlic and herbs, to commercial ones to your own mix of herbs and spices.

[southernsmoke]

Id defiantly wrap some bacon around those.

[OddThomas]

[mutha chicken bbq]

Well see' n how it's after 5:00 and your probly eat'n em

I have made my brine and added a bottle of italian dressing to it and then soaked my chicken for 4 hours and had great results. Again as OddThomas wrote it depends on the salinity of your brine. But I think your salinity and sugar content should be equal. With the addition of the dressing you get a little hint of the vinegrette taste plus the moisture content.

Hope all turned out to be good eats!
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[New Hampshire]

Hey everyone,

Actually they are going to be cooked up tomorrow for Memorial day. I am going to give OssThomas' suggestion a go of 6-1/4-1/4 and see how it turns our (maybe add some allspice berries too.) I have a killer dry rub for them, Ill smoke them for about 45 minutes, then off to the grill with a slathering of homemade Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce! YUM.

Thanks again for the help, I appreciate it.

Brian

[whoppr]

Hey Brian....

I guess a couple of things to add. Brining as a few have already pointed out does a couple of things. First a little comment on my experience level. Cooking for me has been a really great hobby, however, Im a novice at BBQ so I cant really comment on its usefulness when BBQing. I use brining in every day cooking especially for chicken and pork. It does a couple of things. First it adds a little bit of flavor. Brines that add anything but sugar and salt I think for the most part complicate things although some people do add things like apple cider vinegar and other things to their brines. It becomes more of a marinade if you add too much. I use kosher salt and sugar (brown or table sugar are fine). The second thing a brine does is pull water into the meat. It does this through osmosis and the salinity differences between the surrounding medium and the meat. Cook's Illustrated has a good one pager explanation; Ill see if I can dig up a link. The last thing a brine does it makes it harder to overcook. The window of time you have to remove the meat after it is cooked and when it becomes too dry is longer because of the moisture added.

As others have pointed how it works depends on the salinity, the time the meat spends in the brine, and the thickness of the meat. Ill try and brine a pork roast longer than chicken breasts. If it is soaking for a while, Ill add fill a pot up with water and maybe some ice and add a 1/4 cup of sugar and salt. If I want quicker brining, Ill add 1/2 cup or more of each.

Ive brined a 27 lb Thanksgiving turkey overnight in a cooler with water, sugar, salt and ice and it makes the Turkey come out great. I use a 1-2 of cups of the sugar and salt because of the water volume and the mass of the turkey.

Lastly, my experience with how brining works with BBQ is next to nothing.
Im still learning about BBQ Others have already commented and can comment further on its usefulness. I would think the benefit is not as great as with other cooking methods since with BBQ its generally low and slow.

Oh and one last thing, I saw from your login "New Hampshire" that you might be in NH. Im in NH as well if that is where you are. Im in the Nashua area.

While my post is too late for you Memorial Day celebration, I still hope that it helps

whoppr

[whoppr]

For those interested, here is a link to the Cook's Illustrated Brining Guide. It provides a good explanation of brining as well as a How-to.


http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/howto/ND01_ISBriningbasics.pdf

[New Hampshire]

Hey whoppr, Goffstown is where I hang my hat.

Things went superb (except for the Brats which never having cooked before I never knew were like tiny bombs when they started leaking juice onto the propane flame!!!! ) I went with the 6 cups water, 1/4 brown sugar, 1/4 kosher salt, threw in some Allspice berries, nuked it to melt the sugar and salt then let it cool in the fridge for a few hours. Then, last night about 8, I threw the chicken into the brine and let it set in the fridge overnight to about 7 the next morning. Got the smoker warmed up around 4 pm, added my favorite rub, grilled em up, then added my homemade sauce. The reviews I got........

.....simply amazing! My sister is not the biggest fan of grilled chicken because she says my mother tends to dry it out (again, skinless/boneless). My chicken she wound up eating 2 pieces, which for her is unheard of!!!!! She kept saying over and over "it's so juicy!". I have to admit, it did come out better than I thought! So thanks again to Odd Thomas for the great advice. The long soak and it did not come out overly salty in taste!

Brian

[whoppr]

Brian...

Glad things worked out well...

I actually did some ribs in the smoker for about 5 hours this weekend. They came out pretty good although I think I added too much wood to the smoking process... I used hickory and Mesquite... Did both some pork ribs and some beef back which were on sale at Shaw's.

My brother actually lives in Goffstown. He just built a house there. I actually live in Hollis. I work in MA so I need to be close to the border

With chicken, I know mutha chicken bbq mentioned Italian dressing, but I do the same... She is right .. it comes out great after brining... About the only I would add is the I butterfly them to make them half the thickness and throw them on the grill.. Either butterfly them or pound them flat. Comes out great and they are good either right off the grill or in a sandwich....I like onion rolls but do what you prefer...

Again, nice to hear it worked out.. I think next weekend Im gonna do some pork butt or chicken wings.

whoppr

[OddThomas]