Kitchen

[Poodlepet2]

I'm brining a chicken and it's my first time. The recipe is off the back of the Morton Kosher Salt box. The brine is made by combining 3/4 cup sugar with 3/4 cup kosher salt in a quart of water. You put chicken pieces in with the brine in a zip lock bag squeezing as much air out as possible. You let it sit in the fridge for an hour, rinse it off, dry and bake.

The problem? My son is insisting this will not work-that in order for a brine to work, it usually has to sit for at least 24 hours. To be sure, every Turkey Day I see the TV chefs brining turkeys and yes they do sit for at least 24 hours....and I don't know if this was a good thing to do or not, but I did not see how the sugar and salt was going to possibly dissolve in room temperature water, so I dissolved it over heat and cooled it down before giving Miss Chicken her bath.

If you think this will work, please let me know. Dinner will be done for tonight! OR....should I allow Miss Chicken to hang out overnight in her salty/sweet pool?

Thanks,

Poodlepet

[Deadeye Daisy]

You were right in dissolving and cooling the brine first.

Chicken and chicken parts don't need long term brining. The chickens you buy or get from your egg person are generally only about 11 - 12 weeks old; they haven't been doing a lot of 'work', and their flesh is really quite tender an permeable. One or two hours should do it. Maximum time to brine in a salt/sugar solution for chicken would be 3 - 4 hours.

If you're 'brining' chicken parts in buttermilk for frying, these should live in the buttermilk in the fridge for 24 hours.

Also, not necessary to brine pork overnight.

[lasvegasfoodie]

For chicken pieces an hour should be more than enough. Longer times are for larger meats such as the turkey or a pork roast. You should be all set for dinner.

[Poodlepet2]

Thank you both so much! I'm really craving baked chicken today....and now the next issue for me is, conventional oven or in the Ninja-steam roasted? I adore the Ninja 3-in-1 for chicken: if you use it for nothing else, it's worth it for the chicken...but will the chicken be "mushy"? I keep hearing how brining makes a bird moist and tender-maybe steam roasting would be overkill. If anybody has any experience with brining chickens and cooking in the Ninja, please let me know!

Thanks,

Poodlepet

[Desertdi]

I believe you "Koshered" the chicken, not marinated it................

[Poodlepet2]

Kashering is different-I'm of the Jewish faith and this is not kashering.

Poodlepet

[Desertdi]

On 3/11/2014 Poodlepet said:

Kashering is different-I'm of the Jewish faith and this is not kashering.

Poodlepet

OOPS.......I'm patrilinealy Jewish........and nobody really taught me how to cook............

[Debbie1426]

I do this all the time and an hour is plenty of time. I do 20-30 minutes if I am just doing chops or chicken breasts.

[Poodlepet2]

Desertdi, I did not mean to sound nasty-and we are not Talmudically Kosher-but kashering is a proccess and if you are interested, there are some interesting rabbinic opinions about it. That being said, it essentially uses salt-and nothing else....but there could be different opinions by rabbis about using salt and water. That being said, I am no scholar of Talmud.

....and with everything I said there-if you ever have an Empire turkey or chicken, do not brine it-it will be inedible because it's been kashered-but the outcome is different than "brining" in salt and water-or with the addition of sugar....and I bet you are a great cook: I did not mean to come off as saying that anybody who is unfamiliar with Kosher cuisine is less than-by any means. My apologies to you is you felt that way-and I sincerely mean that.

Once again, I apologize if you were hurt by my comment-and not everybody would know, but there is a really big difference between kashering and marinading.

Poodlepet

[camochef]

Let me start by saying I used to brine all my poultry. Still brine all my turkey, at least 12 hours. Through the process of osmosis it carries moisture into the meat and many impurities out. The main ingredient to brining is the salt. The sugar and any aromatics that are used in the brine are what I would call extra flavorings and are not needed for the process to be successful.

That said, your measurements seem a bit excessive. Most brines use that much salt to a gallon of warm water...not a quart.

You must also be careful nowadays as many chickens are already brined when purchased, to add more would leave you with a very salty bird. Possibly inedible.

Since purchasing the ninja 3 in 1 back in Sept, I no longer brine chickens cooked in it, preferring to simply wash them well before adding them to the ninja with my choice of herbs and spices. The two cups of chicken broth I add to it keeps my chicken more than moist enough.

I do on occasion use Mojo Criollo marinade for an hour or so before cooking.

Enjoy!

Camo