a good brine recipe please

[franco61365]

I am planning to butterfly two whole chickens and smoke them on Saturday afternoon, now who has used a brine, and how should I go about making one, and then how long should I let it soak in the brine, is there a time limit?, any help???????????????????

 

[richtee]

Try searching "brine".
Standard is 1 cup kosher to 1 gallon water. For poultry I add onion, rosemary celery and thyme in about a quart and simmer for a while. Add salt to that, dissolve, and pour into 3 Qts icewater.

 

[pitrow]

This is the brine I use for all kinds of poultry... turkey, chicken, duck basically anything that has wings...

For each gallon of water add:
3/4 cup non-iodonized salt such as pickling salt
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups apple cider
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 oz maple flavoring
1 tsp ginger
3 Tbsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup dry minced onions
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

I usually make a two gallon batch for a whole turkey, but it really depends on the size of your container and the size of the bird.

Soak it overnight in the fridge.