Brining chicken is an important step to follow before cooking it. The purpose of brining is not to make salty as it is misunderstood most of the times. Brining makes the meat tender and locks moisture inside by the process of diffusion and osmosis. When you have already treated the chicken with brine before cooking it, the meat does not dry out while cooking. It also provides a crisp layer to the meat skin after you have cooked it. Generally, people like brined chicken, but do experiment with this process and ensure that you like the taste before serving it to other people. Here is the process to brine chicken.
Complexity level: Basic
Time required: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Resources required:
- One large non-reactive container
- Water
- Sugar
- Salt
- Seasoning
Instructions
1. Preparing the Brine
a. Cold brine: Take a large container made of glass or stainless steel (non-reactive metals). Pour in one liter of cold water for two pounds of meat and increase the ratio according to the amount of meat you are brining. Either kosher salt or table salt can be used in the process. If you are using kosher salt add ¼ cup in one liter of water and in case of table salt dissolve 1/8 cup. Sugar is another important ingredient in chicken brine. It is good to add sugar in order to balance the taste afterwards. Adding sugar in brine is significant because it caramelizes the chicken and gives it a lovely brown color when cooked. Add 1/8 cup of sugar to one liter of water. Stir until sugar and salt is dissolved.
b. Hot brine: If you want to add much seasoning the chicken, treat it with hot brine. The hot brine extracts the best out of the flavoring agent you are planning to use. Take a stainless steel container and boil water in it add sugar, salt and seasoning to it. Let it all dissolve properly. Put the chicken in the brine only when you have cooled it. Refrigerate the brine to cool it. Dip the chicken in the brine only when it is at normal temperature.
2. Dipping the Chicken in Brine
Completely submerge the chicken in the brine and keep something heavy on the top to restrict it from floating on the surface. For every pound of meat, the soaking time will increase with one hour. You should not keep the meat in the brine for less than an hour and limiting time would be 12 hours.
3. Refrigerate the Chicken Submerged in Brine
Keep the container in a refrigerator. You can also allow the container to rest in a tub of cold water. Add ice to the water in the tub.
4. Pat Dry the Chicken
Now, when the time is over, rinse the meat thoroughly and dry it with a paper towel (pat dry). Leave the chicken uncovered in the refrigerator after drying to obtain crispy skin when cooked.
FAQs
Is there any fast method to brine the chicken?
Ans. If you do not have much time, you can add more salt to make the process go faster. However, the fast process is not that great as it may leave the outer layer, if the chicken is too salty.
Quick Tips
- If your recipe demands the chicken to be cooked at high temperature, you should add less or no sugar. Adding sugar speeds up the burning of the meat.
- In case you are roasting the chicken, adding sugar in brine will lead to sweet drippings. Put sugar only if you like that slightly sweet taste.
Things to Watch Out
- Never use warm water to brine the chicken or else you will allow the bacteria to breed and you will fall ill eating that meat.
- Never reuse the brine, it can be poisonous.
