(Wet) Salt brined chicken?

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(Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Chasdev » Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:13 am

I've been looking all over the intertube for wet salt brine chicken tips and there's no consensus as to how long a whole bird should swim or how much salt to use.
Any info floating around hereabouts?
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Norway Joe » Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:19 pm

I've done this s few times. I follow Meathead Goldwyns method. I make a 6.3% salty brine. According to him you must have 2-3 times the weight of the bird in brine. The brine take 1/2 to 1 hour to penetrate 1/2 inch. 1-2 hours for 1 inch. 4-6 hours for 2 inches and 12-16 hours for 3 inches.

I always brine the chicken 12-16 hours in the fridge. Has worked great with a nice, moist chicken.

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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Txdragon » Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:31 pm

^^ Sounds about right. Saltiness varies from taste to taste. I go a little less potent than seawater, and I give a minimum of 1 hour per lb, up to overnight. Now when I season said bird, I use no more salt.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby k.a.m. » Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:56 pm

A whole bird 4 to 5 lb. bird that is not packaged in a solution such as Pilgrim pride can handle a 12 hour brine of 1 gallon water, 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup of brown sugar. ( Make sure your brine is below 40° before soaking the bird) This is a simple brine that works.
I have found that it is much easier for turkeys to take in flavored brine's than a chicken I contribute this to their size and grainier meat.
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.



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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Chasdev » Thu Jun 06, 2019 5:08 pm

I found more than one cooking related site that suggests 1 gal of water to 1 and 1/4 cup kosher salt and then soak for 24 hours..
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby k.a.m. » Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:16 pm

As Dragon said salt taste varies from one to another. When I broke out cooking years ago Smoki'n Oakie's Holiday brine was the absolute best for turkeys and we still use it today. He has some great reading on brining Here: http://www.cookshack.com/brining-101
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Copasspupil » Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:53 pm

I use a spiced cider with 1 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of brown sugar throw in some lemons limes oranges too. Garlic bay leaves and whatever herbs you wish.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby suckaass » Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:23 pm

Smokin' Okies holiday brine is fantastic for turkeys, but for chickens,I've been using this brine for the last few years http://lousmostexcellent.blogspot.com/2 ... brine.html and have been very happy with the results. I typically use a 4-5 lb bird and while the recipe says not to exceed a 60 min soak, I let it go for 2 hours after forgetting about it in the fridge one night and found the flavor was better after 2hrs, and the chicken did not get too salty.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby sinfony78 » Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:57 pm

for one chicken, 3 cups water, 1/3 cup salt, 1/3 cup brown sugar. overnight.

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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Chasdev » Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:19 am

I ended up using 2.5 cups coarse kosher salt 2 gal water, soaked a 4.5 lb bird for 10 hours.
Cut bird in half and baked at 400 on top of red onions, sweet potato, white potato and asparagus with garlic and thyme.
Bird was slathered with creamy mayo sauce every 20 minutes resulting in a dark bark.
Wings were a tad hammy but the breast meat was delish, very tender and juicy while the veg cooked in bird juice was super too.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby DanaXLives » Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:49 pm

I've used Ruhlman/Polcyn's all purpose brine recipe for years and been pleased with the results. 1 gal water, 3/4 cup of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, seasonings as desired. For chickens I brine 3-4 lb for 8-12 hours, larger birds 18-24 hours. Moist, moist, moist.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby Papa Tom » Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:16 pm

I am with those saying 3/4 C Salt and 3/4 C sugar/gal soaked overnight, this is basically the Smokin' Okie ratio.
Now my words of caution:
Rinse the bird thoroughly or soak a bit in fresh water after pulling from brine you will not dilute the seasoning in the bird but will off the outside surfaces where moisture will evaporate during cooking.
Keep it simple until you've tried brining don't get sucked into "special" ingredients but a few spices like bay or poultry seasoning are fine.
Do not add anything acidic like orange juice...... will cause mushy meat. If you like that flavor stuff an orange in the cavity while cooking (I usually do)

Enjoy you'll like it.
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Re: (Wet) Salt brined chicken?

Postby PeterB123 » Wed Jul 03, 2019 12:54 pm

My only tip comes from a refrigerator incident.

Now, I put my birds in an oven bag (2 bagging it) and then an icy cooler overnight.

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