First Time Processing

[donrae]

I'd never brined, either. But most of the chickens offered at the grocery store are brined, and I've been reading the Cook's Illustrated books and they're fans of brining and give the science behind it, so I thought I'd give it a try. I may do a comparison with my two birds, brine one and not brine the other, to see how much difference it makes.

 

[MungoSummer]

Good idea to try one of each. Could you taste the salt in the one you'd brined previously? We use little/no salt when cooking to help the blood pressure so we notice if food is very salty.

 

[TedSheckler]

I have settled on a "half brine" method after doing both full brine and no brine.

From my experience if you brine even with small amounts of salt for the entire resting period the effects of the salt breaking down fat in/under the skin + being waterlogged makes it more rubbery and the resulting clear goopy gel gathered in the thigh cavity is hard to clean off before freezing or cooking, If you want a brined bird I would suggest just doing it a few hours/over night before cooking as you would with a regular brine recipe.

"Raw resting" of course is fine but with it you also get that raw smell and later raw flavor.

My half brine method is to lightly dust the bird with salt and pack it in ice (We use a cooler with a drainage spout + 15 trays or so of ice to start with) but if you are only doing a few birds bagging them with ice in the fridge would be the same I would assume. As the ice melts drain the liquid and rotate the bird, Add a little more salt if you think you need it.

This method has resulted in the most tasty and "fresh" birds for me.

 

[MungoSummer]

That sounds like and interesting method Ted. I didn't know there would be a 'gloopy gel' - sounds a bit nasty. Does brining make the meat taste salty? I have ignored my first bird (raw resting) in the fridge since Sunday (cooking today) so hope it's not too stinky! I was a little concerned when I bagged it and put it in the fridge that the singed feather smell from flaming off the little 'hairs' might taint the meat. I did give the bird a rinse but have fingers crossed for when I take it out today.

 

[TedSheckler]

The only instance I tasted a lot of saltiness was when I was testing (One bird in a freezer bag full of brine in the fridge) and did 1 table spoon of salt for the first two days then changed the brine with a heaping teaspoon for the next two days.

Ones where I did light teaspoons didn't have the over saltiness but did still have the "Issues" before mentioned.

Edit: With my "Half brine method" with a rinse before freezing there was very little salt flavor.

 

[donrae]

the bird I brined was not salty. My brine was very salty to the taste and I was worried about that, so I only brined maybe 4-6 hours.

maybe I should actually start measuring things like how much water and salt

I'll do those two birds today or tomorrow and let ya'all know how things go.

 

[MungoSummer]

Ted
Good to know it wasn't salty tasting. Do you use I've just because you use a cool box or do you find it beneficial anyway?

Donrae
Will love to hear how your next birds turn out. Handy to know the saltiness of brine mixture not significant.

We ate the Buff Sussex today. Cooked him two and a half hours at 140/284F in a cast iron casserole dish with lid, with 2" cider in the bottom, shallots, carrots, celery seed and paprika. It fell apart and was moist and tender - really pleased. Amazingly it had enough breast meat for three of us (looked like he had hardly any til we carved). Meat was whiter than expected (he was a very lazy unadventurous bird, which may be why?). Really looking forward to the next five now RIR and Speckled Sussex) ready week after next. Be interesting to see how they compare and try some brining.

 

[donrae]

Dinner report

I brined one bird according to the directions in Cook's Illustrated. I used 1 cup of ice cream salt, 3/4 cup sugar in 1 quart of water. Brined the bird for 90 minutes in a Ziploc baggie.

The recipe I used doesn't have salt until the sauce at the end, and that's soy sauce, not salt. We didn't notice any saltiness in the meat. The brined bird was maybe a touch moister than the non-brined, but really not much difference to our tastes.

I don't think I'd use the sugar again, and I'll probably try the next bird with no brine and see how it goes. But, I had two cockerels eating a ton, now I have a plate of picked clean bones and a happy, full family. I call that a win!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've only used sugar once with the brine.

Another advantage I see of a brine is that the salt will kill bacteria.
When I used to drink lots of coffee at work, I'd bring half and half to work with no way to refrigerate it but chill it again when I got home. After about 2 days it went sour.
I started adding a dash of salt when I opened it and it lasted a couple more days.

I think that's why they used to always salt butter.

 

[MungoSummer]

Definitely worth a try with the brine then. How about the using ice instead of water? Is it just because you use a cool box or does it have some other benefit?