Brine bath after plucking? What kind of "brine"?

[al6517]

Yes it's purpose is to draw out impurities, but at the same time imparting some mild subtle flavor. Salt brine does this by not drawing moisture out as is the common perception but to draw it through the muscle. The brine opens the porus meat muscle cells allowing the solution to penetrate the deep muscle and then nutralize it while drawing it back out. What this does is tenderize or soften the muscle releasing the rigor without leaving any excess salt residue in the meat. if the salt content % is too high or too little it will not do a proper job of passing through the meat effectively. store bought chicken which has it's brine in the shrink bag while in transit to stores and while in the meat fridges and then while at your home prior to use, it may soak for up to many several day's. Note the label which say's the chicken may contain up to 5-10% moisture, this is from the water/brine solution. BTW yes you do pay for the extra wieght in water and 6% can be alot when it's only a 3-4lb chicken

AL

 

[SmokinChick]

That first brine, as I understand it. Is to clean and kill anything nasty on the carcass. A strong saline solution is a very hostile enviornment to germs and yuck.
The brine that the supermarket bird has is equivalent of soaking the bird in a 1/2 cup of kosher salt to a gallon of water overnight. That moves the salt into the meat which retains moisture during the cooking process. If you donot do your first brine for hours, then the salt is not penetrating the meat.
I only use kosher salt, no iodine. Sea salt can have other things in it. When I brine for cooking I do it for moisture retention and mild flavor.
Hope this helps?

 

[FeedYourself]

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