favorite whole chicken brine

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Yes. I find all poultry benefits from a wet or dry Brine. Even Enhance Turkey...JJ
 
Should I brine leg quarters too?

You can but the dark meat does not require it only the white meat or whole birds (because of the white meat).
You can simply season and cook leg quarters or separated thighs and drums even boneless skinless thighs.

When I avoid buying chicken the #1 reason is that it is white meat that I have to brine and I don't have the time or want to make the time or take the effort hahaha.

Split chicken breast was on sale last week and I didnt want to fool with brining it so I didnt get any.
If it was boneless skinless breast you can get away with cutting flat cuts about as thick as your index finger season and grill with no brining but thicker and you get back into needing to brine. Also cutting strips about the same thickness works well. Grill over hot flame like a steak.

I hope this info helps :)
 
Salt water & white sugar and that's it.

I have tried a lot of fancy 10 -12 ingredient brines and 90% of them the added flavors don't carry over very well at all. The only reason I brine at all is that it changes the texture and moisture level in the bird.
 
Brines are great for getting flavorful salt into meat, esp poultry. But the tricky thing about wet brines is it's easy to oversalt if you leave in too long. 12 vs 24 hours makes a big difference--set a timer on your phone once you find what works for you.
The other more complex flavors I believe are best added at time of cook...but then go easy on anything commercial since they tend to come with salt and the idea is you've already done the salting at that point.
 
Brines are great for getting flavorful salt into meat, esp poultry. But the tricky thing about wet brines is it's easy to oversalt if you leave in too long. 12 vs 24 hours makes a big difference--set a timer on your phone once you find what works for you.
The other more complex flavors I believe are best added at time of cook...but then go easy on anything commercial since they tend to come with salt and the idea is you've already done the salting at that point.

bill1 bill1 is correct about over salting, especially when finding a lot of recommendations online or from people in general.

The way to avoid over salting is with an Equilibrium Brine. The short story is you weigh the meet and water and then put like 1.5-2% of that weight as salt.
This means that you will never have more than 1.5-2% salt in your meat since salt wants to distribute evenly and I believe salt penetrates 1/4 inch ever 24 hours.
Leave it in for 24 hours or 124hrs, you cannot go above 1.5-2% salt.

The precision and simplicity just can't be beat. Now the only thing you have to figure out is if you like the lower end 1.5% or the higher end 2% and you are set to never over salt again.

FYI, I've found the 2% salt rule to work with dry brines as well for bacon and fish I smoke.

I do the simplest brine known to man, water + salt. Then I season the meat when I pull it out but excluding salt or any seasonings that have salt in them :)

I hope this helps :)
 
...Leave it in for 24 hours or 124hrs, you cannot go above 1.5-2% salt....
Definitely true regarding the over-salting, but even 24 hours may then result in UNDER-salting, particularly for thick cuts. I suppose you could always add salt at the dinner table in that case...

So do you have a rule of thumb for length of brining given this approach? Something like 48 hours per inch of minimal meat thickness for red meat, 24 hours per inch for poultry, 12 hr/in for fish??? I wouldn't think what works for turkey breasts works for chicken drumsticks.

A similar approach is just a dry brine...just salt the meat to the levels you like (1-1.5% salt-to-meat mass is typical for me). Then the question with not "brining" long enough is not under-salting, just how the salt is distributed thoughout the meat. Dry brining poultry this way even for just an hour is better than just adding it at time of cook. And after all, most of the other flavors we add to meat only reside on the surface or just a millimeter underneath anyhow.
 
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Definitely true regarding the over-salting, but even 24 hours may then result in UNDER-salting, particularly for thick cuts. I suppose you could always add salt at the dinner table in that case...

So do you have a rule of thumb for length of brining given this approach? Something like 48 hours per inch of minimal meat thickness for red meat, 24 hours per inch for poultry, 12 hr/in for fish??? I wouldn't think what works for turkey breasts works for chicken drumsticks.

A similar approach is just a dry brine...just salt the meat to the levels you like (1-1.5% salt-to-meat mass is typical for me). Then the question with not "brining" long enough is not under-salting, just how the salt is distributed thoughout the meat. Dry brining poultry this way even for just an hour is better than just adding it at time of cook. And after all, most of the other flavors we add to meat only reside on the surface or just a millimeter underneath anyhow.

Great question.
The magic solution is.... I just inject the brine into really thick cuts like whole chickens, bone in chicken breast, turkey breast, whole turkeys, etc. I then submerge.
This greatly reduces the need to have to brine and let the salt distribute the long way :)

Thin meats like fish or boneless skinless chicken there is no need to inject unless they are massive whole boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Anytime I add cure the brine for cured chicken or turkey I also inject with the mixed up brine/cure water as well to ensure the cure is in there then let it cure along the same time tables. Works like a charm.

For dry brines this is for meat that is also not too thick. Pork bellies and brisket flats u can just dry brine and wait the amount of time needed, especially if cure is involved. Vac sealing helps as well.

Oh one final thing with the wet brine. If you inject the brine into the meat then you can also add the seasoning to it which works well also. I usually dont bother with this much because the amount of seasoning to add can be a lot when you would add much less if just seasoning after brining. I WILL add some garlic and onion and cracked black pepper to my brine though and then inject as those flavors permeate much more easily but nothing much more than that :)
I often just skip adding the extra seasoning to the brine and just do salt + water (and cure#1 when curing).

I hope this info helps :)
 
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While Legs and Thighs tend to stay juicy and tender, not needing those characteristics achieved Brining them...They DO benefit from the Salts flavor penetration into the Dark Meat.
The 1/2 Cup Kosher per Gallon Water in my Brine results in 3% Salt per gallon. Add 4 pounds of Chicken, a typical Family Pack of Thighs...

4oz Kosher Salt / 192 oz Chicken and Water × 100 = 2% Salt in equilibrium.

Been using my Family's Favorite Brine 30 Years, leaving Chicken soak up to 3 Days, with No mushy meat or overly salty meat...JJ
 
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...The magic solution is.... I just inject... hope this info helps :)
Certainly a good way to get flavors into the meat. Thanks!
But if you do it with cure, I'd think you'd leave a colored trail of each path the needle took?
I've been known to put a little cure in my brine as well, which was in the back of my mind with the over-salting concern, and with liquid brine it certainly follows any fissures in the meat, coloring wise. Mumbling about smoke rings somewhat dismisses the issue but I think a couple dozen needle pokes would be a bit less excusable.
Feature, not bug?
 
I was looking for rules of thumb...better yet, Greg Blonder has calculators;
https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/saltbrinecalculator.html
Note there's 3 tabs there for 3 physical concepts.

Thighs are my "go to" chicken dinner too. The difference in saltiness between overnight brining and 1.5 days is considerable, both empirically and by the calculator. I'm liking the idea of shooting for the equilibrium approach....my problem has not been too much salt per chicken mass, but not enough water to keep the final percentage below 2%. I've transitioned to brining in zip lock bags but that greatly reduces the amount of water I use and I need to reduce salt accordingly and be consistent about brining for at least 1 full day.

It's always good to re-think one's assumptions. Great topic; thanks to all posters.
 
While Legs and Thighs tend to stay juicy and tender, not needing those characteristics achieved Brining them...They DO benefit from the Salts flavor penetration into the Dark Meat.
The 1/2 Cup Kosher per Gallon Water in my Brine results in 3% Salt per gallon. Add 4 pounds of Chicken, a typical Family Pack of Thighs...

4oz Kosher Salt / 192 oz Chicken and Water × 100 = 2% Salt in equilibrium.

Been using my Family's Favorite Brine 30 Years, leaving Chicken soak up to 3 Days, with No mushy meat or overly salty meat...JJ
I totally agree. You will get better flavor with brining hands down on dark meat.
Also, yep your brine becomes a 2% equilibrium brine and I 100% believe in your family favorite brine really pleasing everyone. I've don't recall ever having to brine/cure chicken or turkey for more than 3 days (maybe a turkey to defrost faster but cant remember) and I have never had mushy poultry at all.
Once I learned about equilibrium brines I've never had a dry over salted piece of chicken or pork loin since hahaha.

Certainly a good way to get flavors into the meat. Thanks!
But if you do it with cure, I'd think you'd leave a colored trail of each path the needle took?
I've been known to put a little cure in my brine as well, which was in the back of my mind with the over-salting concern, and with liquid brine it certainly follows any fissures in the meat, coloring wise. Mumbling about smoke rings somewhat dismisses the issue but I think a couple dozen needle pokes would be a bit less excusable.
Feature, not bug?
I see where it would be easiy to think that the cure would leave streaks or migrate to the holes but the cure (curing salt) want's to distribute evenly like the regular salt. So when you inject and then submerge and leave for long enough the salt and cure distributes evenly throughout the meat and the water thereby leaving no streaks since it moves to be even!! C
Crazy how it all comes together aye hahaha.

Now if you don't brine it long enough then yeah you can get differences in coloration. I have seen this before where I rushed some cured smoked turkey drumsticks. I didnt inject these guys and they needed about 1/4 inch more penetration of the cure near the bone at the thickest part but it was fine since I hot smoked them and the cure is only for the flavor on poultry not for slow long smoking.

When injecting and brining for an adequate time I've never had an issue and brining time is greatly reduced since salt and cure is spreading from inside and out :)


I was looking for rules of thumb...better yet, Greg Blonder has calculators;
https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/saltbrinecalculator.html
Note there's 3 tabs there for 3 physical concepts.

Thighs are my "go to" chicken dinner too. The difference in saltiness between overnight brining and 1.5 days is considerable, both empirically and by the calculator. I'm liking the idea of shooting for the equilibrium approach....my problem has not been too much salt per chicken mass, but not enough water to keep the final percentage below 2%. I've transitioned to brining in zip lock bags but that greatly reduces the amount of water I use and I need to reduce salt accordingly and be consistent about brining for at least 1 full day.

It's always good to re-think one's assumptions. Great topic; thanks to all posters.

I've used that calculator and it is good to go for BRINE ONLY, NOT CURE #1.
If using cure #1 to cure something in an equilibrium brine then I recommend this calculator:

So for clarity:

Yeah you had the right idea with the bags and salt for brine you just have to adjust the numbers. I would suggest going with a 1.75%-1.8% starting point and see if you want to bump up or down. When I do a cure #1 brine I use that range or when I do a fish brine. When I do all other brines I think I do 2%, need to check my notes.

Bill my friend you are on your way to brining heaven and nailing it EVERY time! :D
 
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tallbm tallbm The 3 day Brine time was by circumstantial accident. I had planned an overnight smoke an then caught a Bug that laid me out for two days. You read about Brining too long making the chicken meat Mushy and Overly Salted. But most recipes go by is 1 Cup Kosher per Gallon and as much as 1/2 Cup Salt per Quart Water!!! The recipes call for 4 to 8 hour soak. But S#!T happens and having tbe bird soaking beyond recommended in those higher salinity brines, will make the bird inedible.
Having those particular Chicken Thighs soak 3 days and be delicious, confirmed that I had gotten that brine recipe just right..JJ
 
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tallbm tallbm The 3 day Brine time was by circumstantial accident. I had planned an overnight smoke an then caught a Bug that laid me out for two days. You read about Brining too long making the chicken meat Mushy and Overly Salted. But most recipes go by is 1 Cup Kosher per Gallon and as much as 1/2 Cup Salt per Quart Water!!! The recipes call for 4 to 8 hour soak. But S#!T happens and having tbe bird soaking beyond recommended in those higher salinity brines, will make the bird inedible.
Having those particular Chicken Thighs soak 3 days and be delicious, confirmed that I had gotten that brine recipe just right..JJ

I am right in line with your findings.
I'm pretty sure I've brined Turkeys for more than 3 days with no issues. I'm with you and I think it is an improper salt to water+meat ratio that messes up the chicken/turkey.

With an equilibrium brine I have no fears of going too long until it actually bites me :)
 
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