Just butchered my first bird. 10 Month old rooster had white kidneys?

[3KillerBs]

Why do you soak them in salt water?!

I keep wondering this myself.

One of my primary reasons for wanting to raise my own meat birds is to be able to get chicken that hasn't been contaminated with "tenderizing and flavoring solution" -- which is, at best, selling salt water for the price of meat or, worse, contaminating the meat with a mystery chemical which causes my DH to experience violent intestinal distress.

Doing it to your own meat on purpose always seems strange to me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why do you soak them in salt water?!

I keep wondering this myself.

Three things:

Aging them is to get past rigor mortis. I think you understand that.

Brining pretty much means salt and a wet solution, usually soaking in a liquid. The salt keeps moisture in, either water, natural juices, or stuff in the water. This is helpful if you cook them with a dry method like grilling, frying, or roasting. If you cook them with a wet method I don't think it does much, if any, good. You can add salt flavor any time you wish in the cooking process.

Marinades get confused with brining sometimes because some people do both together. A marinade is acid based, wine, vinegar, or tomato products being pretty popular but there can be others. The acid breaks down fiber which tenderizes the meat. This is helpful with older birds, not all that useful for young birds like Cornish X butchered very young. Marinades can also be used to add flavor. They don't absolutely have to be acid based, it could be just for flavor, but usually they are.

 

[3KillerBs]

Why do you soak them in salt water?!



Three things:

Aging them is to get past rigor mortis. I think you understand that.

Brining pretty much means salt and a wet solution, usually soaking in a liquid. The salt keeps moisture in, either water, natural juices, or stuff in the water. This is helpful if you cook them with a dry method like grilling, frying, or roasting. If you cook them with a wet method I don't think it does much, if any, good. You can add salt flavor any time you wish in the cooking process.

Marinades get confused with brining sometimes because some people do both together. A marinade is acid based, wine, vinegar, or tomato products being pretty popular but there can be others. The acid breaks down fiber which tenderizes the meat. This is helpful with older birds, not all that useful for young birds like Cornish X butchered very young. Marinades can also be used to add flavor. They don't absolutely have to be acid based, it could be just for flavor, but usually they are.

Yes, I know the difference.

I just don't see the point of brining. If your grilled, fried, or roasted bird is dry it's because you either choose the wrong sort of bird for the method -- too old, etc. -- or because you over-cooked it.

To preserve the natural moisture of the meat you need to coat it with fat and make sure that the outside is quickly seared to lock the moisture in.

The point of making meat salty and waterlogged like grocery-store meat on purpose eludes me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll try one more time. For someone who cooks them differently than you and uses a dry method, brining can help keep the meat moist. Not everyone uses fat and sears.

I often see people complaining about the meat being mushy. To me that is not because of bringing, that is more likely to be because they marinaded meat too long that was already tender.

 

[3KillerBs]

Not everyone uses fat and sears.

Well, I suppose that if you're determined to cook it by a method that guarantees that the meat will dry out ... *shrug*

 

[hysop]

Well, I suppose that if you're determined to cook it by a method that guarantees that the meat will dry out ... *shrug*

I don’t cook with fat. I remove the skin off my birds. I don’t eat skin.

If you cook them with a wet method I don't think it does much, if any, good. You can add salt flavor any time you wish in the cooking process.

Yes! In my experience both birds tasted the same if I boiled them regardless of if I brined them or not. It was a learning experience for me

I just don't see the point of brining. If your grilled, fried, or roasted bird is dry it's because you either choose the wrong sort of bird for the method -- too old, etc. -- or because you over-cooked it.

We’re not all great chefs that know the perfect way to cook And if we don’t want to use young birds for roasting and just want to use our old birds then knowing how to make it as tender as possible will help us be more sufficient

But if you don’t like brining of course don’t do it. I haven’t roasted an old bird yet so I don’t know how different an old bird tastes with and without brining.

 

[iwltfum]

I'll add my two cents. I cooked professionally for a long time. And I work with restaurant chefs in my new business. The point of brining is to break down the protein chains in the meat, brining can be done both in an immersion of super saturated salt and sugar liquid or as a dry rub. Generally its salt and sugar either way (some times with other flavors). I agree that brining a piece of meat that is already tender can make it mushy and seem "waterlogged". For example, you wouldn't brine a beef tenderloin or a rib eye steak. They simply don't need it and shine in succulence without tampering with the proteins. Same goes with a very young chicken (no matter how much it weighs). A cornish cross or even a dual purpose bird butchered before 13 weeks will be tender no matter what (assuming it was healthy, butchered properly, and was rested properly). They don't need any extra attention. That's why they are known as fryers or grillers, because you can take them out of the fridge and toss some salt and pepper (maybe some breading) on them and they are good to go fast and hot. The older a chicken is when it's butchered, the more it will benefit from brining, marinading, slow cooking, or braising, but in the world of professional cooking, you don't want to take meat that already has a tender mouth feel and make it more tender, because the proteins will just break down too much and it will literally, physically become mushy because of how much the bonds in the muscle tissue have broken apart from each other. You could easily not brine a young chicken and still end up with mushy and waterlogged meat if you cooked it wrong. Everyone's tastes are different too, so mushy to one person might be heavenly to the next, just as a more textured meat could be best to another person.

 

[Mosey2003]

I keep wondering this myself.

One of my primary reasons for wanting to raise my own meat birds is to be able to get chicken that hasn't been contaminated with "tenderizing and flavoring solution" -- which is, at best, selling salt water for the price of meat or, worse, contaminating the meat with a mystery chemical which causes my DH to experience violent intestinal distress.

Doing it to your own meat on purpose always seems strange to me.

This has become a real problem for me because my mother is in kidney failure, so the sodium is a huge no-no. Sadly, she has it in her mind that my DP culls aren't any good, so I'm probably gonna have to raise some broilers this spring. Which I hate, because she (and my dad) basically only ever want the breast meat, so....