I watch the Food Network so often that Kelly calls it my “Food Porn”.
To explain why it fascinates me so much would be rather difficult but I could watch for hours and hours. Immediately after I watch a show though I want to try cooking what I just watched them make on television.
Last year, just before Thanksgiving, I saw a show about brining meat such as turkey and chicken and how it makes it tastier and juicier than preparing it any other way. It made Kelly super nervous that I was bound and determined to brine our turkey for the first time we had Thanksgiving in our new house.
The Cuban in Mocha Momma's Kitchen
If you haven’t heard of brining meat it is a very simple process, similar to marinating, only you use a very high concentration of salt. I know what you’re thinking, “Gah!! Salt is bad for you! You can’t do that!” That’s what Kelly said anyway. But she soon found out that the salt simply acts as a chemical reaction and doesn’t make the meat too salty or cause you to feel like you just crossed a desert and need water.
But she has learned to let me be when it comes to cooking. If for no other reason than I will whine about it long enough she finally gives up on trying to talk me out of it.
The resulting turkey was an amazingly succulent, moist, great-tasting bird.
Since last November I have tried probably dozens of different brines and, if last night’s chicken was any proof, I have the recipe refined enough now to share it. So…
Here’s the stuff you need to get together:
- A pan big enough to hold however much poultry you are cooking
- About a gallon of warm, almost hot, water
- A cup of regular table salt (other salts don’t seem to work as well)
- About a half cup of powdered sugar (again, other sugars don’t work as well)
- ¼ cup or so of poultry seasoning
- ¼ cup or so of smoked paprika
- ¼ cup or so garlic salt
- A good sprinkle of ground black pepper
You can fool around with any other spices you’d normally season your poultry with. I’ve used ground chipotle, seasoning salt, ground mustard, etc. The thing to remember is that whatever you put into the brine will be all the seasoning you will be using. After the meat comes out of the brine you do no further seasoning.
Dump all of the seasoning into the warm water and stir long enough that most of the seasoning is dissolved. Not all of it will actually dissolve. (If it does you didn’t use enough salt). Then place the chicken (or whatever poultry you’re using) into the brine. Place in a zip-lock bag or cover with plastic wrap and let sit for no less than one hour depending on the weight. For bigger things like turkey you will want to get a brine bag and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.
*Key safety point here. Remember you are handling raw poultry so clean your hands, counters, etc accordingly*
When it’s time to remove the chicken from the brine, take a pan big enough to hold the amount you have and layer it with paper towels. Remove the chicken and immediately place on the pan. Then cover with more paper towels. Make sure to pat the chicken dry because any moisture left on the outer skin will boil. When this happens you end up boiling the meat instead of baking or grilling it.
Kelly and I both prefer the grill to the oven but either way is the same as you would normally make any poultry.
The biggest thing to remember is to not overcook the chicken. I fully believe that most people cook a bird till it’s dead and not necessarily until it’s done. If you overcook your chicken it won’t be juicy no matter how you prepared it.
The next thing to remember is that chicken, or any meat for that matter, needs time when it comes off the heat for the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. Before I learned this I would cut into a chicken breast right when I took it off the grill. I couldn’t understand why the bed of rice the chicken was sitting on tasted so good but the chicken breast was dry. It was because the rice soaked up all the juicy goodness that should have been in the chicken. And I wasn’t hearing the comments I do now like, “Oh. My. God. This is the juiciest chicken I have ever tasted!” and, “Would you look at that! This chicken is so juicy it’s dripping!”
This has my own homemade BBQ Sauce
All in all, I can assure you that both Kelly and I are pretty pleased that we experimented with brining. Actually we have even brined pork chops and steak as well as chicken. It just seems to have a greater effect on poultry. Has anyone else ever tried brining? Any other recipes?
If you haven’t tried it, I can’t stress enough how easy it is. Try it tonight and see if I’m right.
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I am SO glad that you cook like this for me every day.
How soon before we open that restaurant, honey?
Looks fab! I have seen brining on the food networks but haven’t personally tried it. Looking forward to more of your palatable delights. V.
Sweet mercy! I am definitely going to try this this week. Looks outstanding!
Looks delicious! I haven’t started brinning yet, but I’ve been working with a cola marinade for steaks. Cola, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. A weird combination, but it makes steaks even juicier.
That sounds really good. I’ll try that next time instead of the normal way I do steaks.
Nooooooooooo. I like the way you make our steaks. It almost made me propose marriage to you that one time, remember?
Ha! Just kidding. I’d never propose to you. To one of your steaks? Maybe.
Be careful, these steaks are potent. May get you past the proposal and all the way to the honey moon.
Oh, wow…that looks/sounds so delicious! So if I’m going to bake it in the oven, can you suggest a sauce to use and time to bake? I’m going to make this with boneless breasts. So glad you’re blogging!
One of my favorite sauces for boneless breasts is pretty simple but tastes great. Saute some onions or shallots until tender in olive oil, add some mushrooms then a good amount of white cooking wine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper but remember the chicken will be plenty flavorful by itself. Wait to start the sauce until the chicken is at about 150 degrees on a digital meat thermometer. Take the chicken out at about 158. by the time the sauce is ready the chicken will have continued to heat up but will have had time to rest.
Just a note, I use kosher salt and regular and brown sugars, and the key to using them is boiling half the water then using the other half to cool off the boil… but you are right it is the best way to make chicken and turkey
In all the numerous ways I played around with my brine recipe I had never thought to boil it first to dissolve the salts and sugars… Now you’ve sent me back to the drawing board…
I’m somewhat of a food network junkie myself and saw the episode on brining but haven’t yet tried it myself either and yet, soaking my chicken overnight in buttermilk (sans salt) may have been my first unwitting experiment with it. I am a huge fan of cooking and a great home cook. Have noted many times Kel’s lavish comments and boasts of the fabulous Cuban, I’m anxious to meet you. I could use your help with frying that chicken though because after seeing the movie “The Help,” all I can think about is Minni Jackson’s fried chicken. I attempted yet again to fry my own but am an epic failure there. My momma knows how to fry and I love her fried chicken but she doesn’t cook much any more and I am lost. I say instead of starting out with the restaurant first, start with a mini-cooking class for friends with wine, of course, and we can watch the Cuban in action. Perhaps Kel won’t appreciate her girlfriends drooling over her boyfriend but that’s the breaks chickie. ;+) Anyway, looking forward to meeting you.
Juli
I can do mini-cooking classes.. it will be like the blind leading the blind a little bit but the wine can handle that…
I tried your brining technique twice, on 1) a whole chicken and 2) turkey legs. It really gave the dishes an enhanced taste and the resulting poultry was indeed juicy and delicious.
I will note that I tried a gallon of water the first time and it was just too much for me to work with in my tiny New York kitchen. I halved the brine ingredients and made sure it at least covered the poultry. Everything still turned out great and it was fun to take the time to prepare the food in a simple way beforehand that had such a dramatic effect on the meal’s outcome. I’m definitely ready for the winter holidays now!
I’m so glad you gave it a try! I’m also glad it worked out well. A gallon of water to begin with is a lot to handle and you make a good point that less of everything works better if you are only brining a small amount of meat. I love the simplicity of the preparation compared to the huge effect it has on the dish. Now that you know the secret though you won’t be as impressed the next time you guys come to visit.