brined vs. no-brine spatchcock experiment

Beaumonty

Since cooking with the Egg lends itself to tasty experiments, I decided my first would be to find the best way to roast chicken. After I saw a Grandpas Grub suggestion to also add a pan of potatoes below the chicken, I decided the best variable to test was whether to brine. The inspiration was a Cook's Illustrated/Country method that suggested a couple of factors for "perfect" roast chicken (1) brine, (2) poke about 15 holes in the skin, (3) start breast side down on a rack at 375* and flip and finish at 450* and (4) separate the skin.

After some input from Grandpas Grub, I decided to cook indirectly with the plate setter, brine it, do it spatchcock style, flip it but not go up to 450* due to the risk of burning my taters.

I had recently cooked a similarly sized chicken with the same rosemary/garlic/olive oil paste, so I repeated. Based on my far-from-scientific experiment, here are my essential conclusions:

Brining works. It doesn't add thatmuch flavor but it does add flavor and the extra moisture was helpful when my breast skin peeled away. After an hour and twenty minutes of cooking, the breast meat remained tender with no skin protecting it.

Holes in the skin doesn't hurt, and it may help the fat render again, because it's brined, you're less concerned with losing moisture. I still didn't get super crispy skin but I took it off a little too early. Very hungry.

flipping seems unnecessary I'm not going to flip. I should have stirred my potatoes when I flipped it halfway through. I didn't think it was any different from my no-flip spatchcock.

Granpas Grub knows what he's doingI loved putting in a dish of potatoes and getting almost a full meal.

Here is my pictorial grilling story, including my little garden I like to cook near:

You'll notice I cut a hole in the skin to make the drumstick stick between the thigh and breast. I think it makes it look cooler. I learned that from S. Raichlen.


[img size=150][/img][img size=150][/img]

berrygood

Thanks for taking the trouble. Food looks delectable.

chudn

What did you brine with and for how long?

Sure looks great.

Beaumonty

Cook's recommended 1/2c sugar, 1/2c salt to two quarts of water. they said 30-60 minutes. I accidentally went to an hour and a half. Most brine recipes I saw say 3-4 hours.

My wife found some brining bags. It worked really well.

NibbleMeThis

Never tried poking holes through the skin like that but I really haven't had any problem with the skin.

I also like to do my spatched birds indirect but that's just me. I think most on here like to do them direct but with a raised grid. It takes longer my way but I like the results. That's what is so great about this forum, to each his own but we can all learn a little from each other.

Thanks for sharing your experiment. Keep on egging!

EGGARY

I have do the same thing with the potatoes underneath the chicken. I also make a mixture of margarine with seasoning or rub and put it underneath the skin of the breast and press it as far as it will go.

Another thing you might want to do is raise the pan of potatoes from the Plate Setter. By doing this the potatoes won't burn.

Were your potatoes fully cooked ? If not, put them, already cut up, in the microwave to pre-bake them. I do it twice.

I bet everything came out delicious.

I hope I wasn't too wordy.

Gary

Egging Flock

I tried the pan of potatoes under spatchcock chicken a while back as a lark, glad to know it's accepted practice.

It was really good, though a bit blackened against the plate setter so raising the foil pan a bit seems like sound advice. Still, very flavorful and very little wasted with easy cleanup... What can you not like about that?

Haven't tried brining, as even typically dry parts seem very moist, but to infuse additional flavor it's definitely on my radar now.

2Fategghead

Great post. If I may suggest when posting pictures hit the enter key after the pic every time that way you will only have to scroll down to see your great post and not across as well. I like your experiment and love a good chicken cook. Tim

eenie meenie

Thanks for the CI type analysis. on the roasted chicken. Your chicken looks delicious.

BTW, love the trees. Lovely pics.

The Naked Whiz

I've never found brining a chicken necessary, frankly. When I cook the birds, they are dripping wet inside it seems.

If you want really crispy skin you have to get the moisture out of the skin. You can put the bird in the fridge uncovered for 24-48 hours to dry the skin. Some folks put corn starch on the skin to help dry it.

Have fun!

thirdeye

You are right about Eggsperimenting. It's fun doing the fine tuning.

I'm guessing that CI was basing their advice on oven roasting, which is good because an Egg can perform that task well. I'm okay with the brining, and do it on all white meat. I poke holes in the skin when doing the Dizzy Pig Crispy Wings or legs and it works great on those. When CI mentions breast down, I believe they are trying to shelter the breast from the heat (and to let the dark meat get a head start), there is however an alternate method that Mad Max enlightened us to which is icing the breasts for an hour to cool the white meat down. Separating the skin does work and you can even go so far as to put things under there, thin lemon slices, fresh herbs, etc to add a little air gap and add some flavor too. This is a turkey breast, but you get the idea.



Once you disturb the skin, try pinning it back in place with toothpicks. I even do in on quarters and thighs.

thirdeye

The refrigerated rest to dry the skin is a good tip.

For folks that do opt to brine, especially when they use long brine times..... I'd like to mention that the chicken needs a long rest period in the fridge after brining to let all the liquids settle down. So, you can kill two birds with the same stone. Heheee.

evenwhenitsraining

Interesting. Brining does a LOT of flavor, but it does depend on your brine. Also, brining tends to produce a thinner and crispier skin on the chicken due to the fact that the salt dehydrates the skin and the sugar produces much more carmelization. I use the brine recipe from Thomas Keller's "Bouchon" cookbook and roast at 475. Yikes, hot! It works. Here's the brine recipe:

1 gallon water
1 c. Kosher salt
1/4 c. + 2 T honey
12 bay leaves
1/2 c. garlic cloves, smashed
2 T. peppercorns
1/2 oz. rosemary sprigs
1/2 oz. thyme sprigs
2 oz. Italian parsley sprigs
grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons

Bring to boil. Cool completely. Brine chicken for 6 hours. Omit the lemon and this can be used to brine pork chops. Brine pork chops for 24 hrs.

thirdeye

Is that amount right on the bay leaves and garlic?

evenwhenitsraining

LOL! The bay leaves are correct. The garlic should have read 1/2 c. not 12 c. I corrected my post so others aren't lead astray.