Wet brining chicken before smoking them?

[Daryn]

I recently made chicken halves on a WSM. I coated them in olive oil, used a dry rub, and cooked them at 160 C / 320 F, with oak wood. In the last 15 min I basted them with sweet baby rays honey sauce.

While the skin was not crispy they still tasted good. I would describe them as a sticky chicken.


I plan to try this again with a few tweaks. Last time I didn’t cook the chicken skin side down at all. This time I will begin by doing that for 30 min before turning it.

I’ll probably try cherry wood for a change this time.

Now for the controversial part. I would like to introduce a lemon flavour to this. I was thinking of doing a wet brine as per one of these recipes
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemon-brined-smoked-chickens

Grilled Honey-Lemon Chicken

Lemon juice and zest, honey, and Dijon mustard add their flavors to a sweet and tangy marinade that will make basic grilled chicken breasts into a family-pleasing treat.

www.allrecipes.com

What are your thoughts on this? Is wet brining a bad idea for this chicken and this style of cooking?

Should I just mix lemon juice and zest into the sweet baby rays sauce?

Should I just add a lemon spice to the rub?

I look forward to seeing the responses, thanks

 

[chopsaw]

I did some lemon thighs once . Don't completely remember what I did . Looks like garlic , basil and lemon juice and slices . I held it overnight .

Grilled indirect with some of the lemon . Skin side up , no flip .
I take the internal temp of thighs to 185 to 200 .

I don't look for crispy skin on this . I look for a roasted and rendered tender skin .

 

[normanaj]

I've wet brined chicken with just about every flavor there is. I really like lemon and or cranberry based brine, though my absolute favorite is Ocean Spray's cran/blackberry as a base.

 

[chopsaw]

favorite is Ocean Spray's cran/blackberry as a base.

You mentioned that before , and it caught my eye . Sounds good .

 

[mr_whipple]

I've wet brined chicken with just about every flavor there is. I really like lemon and or cranberry based brine, though my absolute favorite is Ocean Spray's cran/blackberry as a base.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but the cranberry brine sounds intriguing. Care to share how you did it?

 

[gmc2003]

I haven't used lemon juice for a brine, but I often use pickle juice for chicken breast. Both are acidic. So I don't see why lemon juice wouldn't work.

Chicken breast sleeping in pickle juice.

and out on the kettle.

Chris

 

[DemonPit]

I like brining in buttermilk and seasoning for 12hrs, then into the smoker. Popeyes chicken secret is soaking in buttermilk before deep frying.

don't leave in the buttermilk longer than 12hrs. It will break down the fibers too much and will be mushy

 

[zwiller]

I used to wet brine but find it sorta wasteful now. Dry brine works as good or better. Injection is best and fast but I often am busy and don't want clean up the injector or mess. My best to date. Dry rubbed with Marliss Florida (citrus pepper) a few days. I think longer is better and try to go 5-6 days especially with big breasts LOL. That said, recipe looks tasty but chicken is best done a little hotter, like 325F. I have fooled with lemon juice brines am somewhat convinced you need to use a little lemon extract to get it they way you expect. The Marliss was excellent.

 

[normanaj]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but the cranberry brine sounds intriguing. Care to share how you did it?

Depending on how strong you want the flavor I go with anything from a 50/50 juice water mix or sometimes 100 percent juice, enough liquid to completely cover the chicken.Generally I use 1/4 cup kosher salt and tablespoon of minced garlic and let it sit overnight.

The cran/blackberry gives the white meat a really cool color too!

 

[thirdeye]

I do plenty of brining on chicken, but will always inject some of the brine. This just gives me better coverage and shortens the brine time. If you have a farm and ranch supply store, they will have inexpensive syringes (1.5 ounce capacity) and #14 needles that are about 1-1/4" long. This set-up also works great for ribs and chops.

Lemon juice can be added to your brine/injection or lemon pepper as part of your rub platform is another option.

If you really want to explore products, there are a number of commercial injections that are marketed for competitions, but can be mixed with a lighter ratio for general use. Kosmo's makes a product called Chicken Soak that some Ace Hardware stores carry. And I've been experimenting with a product from LC called Fowl Play that I like on chicken and ribs.

 

[SmokinAl]

This is a brine many of us use & it works for chicken & pork.

Tips Slaughterhouse Recipes For Poultry

I hope that Tip doesn't mind that I've listed his Slaughterhouse recipes here. These recipes are well-received and deserving of a WIKI entry. Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles 1 ½ Gal Water ½ C Salt - Kosher ½ C...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

We use it all the time!
Al

 

[jcam222]

You can wet brine overnight with Pops brine. Cornell / Fireman's chicken is wet bro me too. I wet brine Souvlaki as well.

 

[chopsaw]

You can wet brine overnight with Pops brine.

That's my go to for poultry .
1 gallon of Pop's with 1/2 to 1 tsp of lemon extract added .
Inject as much as it will hold and soak over night .
It's to the point if I don't do whole birds that way I get questions at the table .

Cornell / Fireman's chicken is wet

And fantastic . If anyone hasn't tried it , check it out . The smell of it cooking brings people out of the house .

 

[tallbm]

I recently made chicken halves on a WSM. I coated them in olive oil, used a dry rub, and cooked them at 160 C / 320 F, with oak wood. In the last 15 min I basted them with sweet baby rays honey sauce.

While the skin was not crispy they still tasted good. I would describe them as a sticky chicken.


I plan to try this again with a few tweaks. Last time I didn’t cook the chicken skin side down at all. This time I will begin by doing that for 30 min before turning it.

I’ll probably try cherry wood for a change this time.

Now for the controversial part. I would like to introduce a lemon flavour to this. I was thinking of doing a wet brine as per one of these recipes
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemon-brined-smoked-chickens

Grilled Honey-Lemon Chicken

Lemon juice and zest, honey, and Dijon mustard add their flavors to a sweet and tangy marinade that will make basic grilled chicken breasts into a family-pleasing treat.

www.allrecipes.com

What are your thoughts on this? Is wet brining a bad idea for this chicken and this style of cooking?

Should I just mix lemon juice and zest into the sweet baby rays sauce?

Should I just add a lemon spice to the rub?

I look forward to seeing the responses, thanks

Hi there and welcome!

I think there is nothing wrong with the idea at all.
I do have one issue with recipes like this concerning wet brines.
The issue is that they NEVER give you good info on the amount of salt used vs what is actually needed. It's all a guess work BUT doesn't have to be.

So basically I always suggest doing an equilibrium brine.
This means get the weight of your chicken + the weight of your brine liquid (water, water+ other liquids, whatever just the total liquid weight).

Add the weight of the chicken + the weight of the liquids used to brine and get it in ounces or grams.

Now take that total weight and multiply it by 0.0165 (this is 1.65%) and that is weight in salt that you use for your brine.
Doing this means you will NEVER get too salty. Doesn't matter if you brine for 12 hours or 48 hours and you will never be too salty.
I also suggest you mix up the liquid with the salt and inject it into the breast meat of the chicken and then let it brine as well. This helps the brine and salt distribute faster and better.

If you follow this practice for any wet brine/cure then there is never any mystery in how much salt is actually needed AND you NEVER get too salty or too bland. Perfect :D