To brine, or not to brine?

[Morrigan]

In the past, I've always just let my birds rest for a couple of days in the fridge, and then bag and freeze. I heard mention on another thread of brining the chickens post-butcher and wondered if others have tried that and if so, what their brine was -- I assume it can be as simple as water and salt, how long to brine, and how they liked it.

My only experience with brining is that I do a fairly elaborate herb and citrus brine for my Thanksgiving turkey every year. It never occurred to me to pre-brine my chickens as part of the butchering process and wonder if it is worth the trouble.

Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Some brine recipes call for salt and sugar in the initial ice bath.
I add salt just to help keep bacteria at bay.

Edited for a mistype.

 

[RUNuts]

My understanding is if you are BBQ, roasting or rotisserie, brining adds moisture to the meat. If you are making a soup, more water won't make it wetter.

To me, it is a more salty flavor. I'm not big on noticeable salt. Don't care for potato chips. If you like the salt, great.

My brine was 1 cup of salt to a gallon of water. Added rosemary, basil and black pepper corns. Depending on the brine, stronger brine penetrates faster for less time. Weaker brine allows longer soaking. I did mine for 3 days and that was too long for me.

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Hawgfan]

Immediately after processing a chicken, I do a 24 hr soak in the refrigerator. I add around a half cup of salt and a couple splashes of vinegar to my water. After that, I let the meat rest dry, but in a covered container. It's something I've always done with venison. It seems to help get some of the blood out of the meat and give it a milder flavor. I'm not sure there is much benefit with chicken, but it's a habit I guess. I do not believe brining, or even soaking is necessary. I actually plan on doing a head-to-head some time to see if there is a noticeable difference.

 

[Morrigan]

Immediately after processing a chicken, I do a 24 hr soak in the refrigerator. I add around a half cup of salt and a couple splashes of vinegar to my water. After that, I let the meat rest dry, but in a covered container. It's something I've always done with venison. It seems to help get some of the blood out of the meat and give it a milder flavor. I'm not sure there is much benefit with chicken, but it's a habit I guess. I do not believe brining, or even soaking is necessary. I actually plan on doing a head-to-head some time to see if there is a noticeable difference.

I'd be interested in what you find out. My un-brined chickens have always tasted good, but I don't have a comparison point.

 

[FenwayFieldFarm]

After processing, I let my meat birds "rest" in the refrigerator for 24-30 hours. Then, I put them in the freezer till needed. In the past, I've cooked a chicken a couple hours after processing and it was a lot tougher than a "rested" chicken.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

X2 I always let them rest at least 2 days. It may be different if they are cooked immediately at slaughter before rigor mortis sets in.

On a side note, I've been using a vacuum sealer but am seriously ordering some shrink wrap bags.

 

[Morrigan]

X2 I always let them rest at least 2 days. It may be different if they are cooked immediately at slaughter before rigor mortis sets in.

On a side note, I've been using a vacuum sealer but am seriously ordering some shrink wrap bags.

I made the switch from vacuum seal to shrink wrap and have been very happy with the results. Better seal and they take up less freezer space. The only downside is you need a huge pot of boiling water, which means we have to drag out our scalding pot and refill it a couple days after the initially processing. Still worth the extra hassle tho.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks for that. I'll probably have about 10 cockerels/roosters to process in the next 3 months. I think I'll order some soon. I have use of a turkey fryer I plan to use.

 

[STxChickenman]

There is a restaurant chain around the country called Pollo Loco, (Spanish for crazy chicken). They have a very delicious grilled chicken that you crave because it tastes so good. We had a similar restaurant in Corpus Christi that made a very similar chicken but are no longer in business so my cravings go on so I plan to use this brine to marinate my chicken and maybe even vacuum seal some chicken in this brine. The ingredients are

• 2 Garlic; minced
• 1/2 ts Dried Oregano; Crumbled
• 6 oz Pineapple juice
• 1 tb White vinegar
• 1/8 ts Ground pepper
• 2 tb Lime juice
• 1/4 ts Mild Chili pepper; (Anaheim
• 1 tb Vegetable oil
• 4 lb Frying chicken; Cut Up
• 1/2 ts Salt
• 8 dr Yellow food coloring

This is a copy recipe that is said to taste just like Pollo Loco. The yellow food coloring is optional. Directions are to mix all of the ingredients but save 1/4 of the liquid to use for basting while grilling.

I will definitely try this recipe out with fresh chicken when I get to that point. I have tried it with store bought chicken and it is pretty tasty. (I used much more garlic (6-8 cloves) thinking that this recipe was a little on the weak side when it comes to garlic flavor).