Brined chicken breasts: results

TRex

After brining three boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the "Basic Meat Brine" for about 20 hours, I pulled them out of the fridge last night, rubbed them with olive oil and lemon pepper, then threw them on a 500* Egg with some hickory chunks. I cooked two of the breasts for about 6 minutes a side, after which time an instant read gave me 165-170* internal, so I pulled them off. I let the third breast sit for another 8 minutes or so, so that its internal temp went above 180*. All three breasts were incredibly juicy and tender. The flavor was very good, just a bit too much of the salt flavor. I assume that I brined them too long--maybe next time I'll try 10 hrs instead of 20, or should I just decrease the amount of salt in the brine (I used 4 TBS sugar to 3 TBS salt)? Also, I would like to add more lemon juice to the brine, but I have read that it is important to balance the pH of the brine, so I might have to add some baking soda to balance out the acidity of the lemon juice. Any suggestions?

Marvin

TRex,
Thanks for the followup. My guess at a bit too much salt seemed to be correct. Since you like the flavor,I would just cut the brine time to 6-8 hours. For the added lemon flavor, take the zest from a whole lemon and throw that into the brine. There won't be enough acid in that over 6-8 hours to matter. Keep us posted.

The Naked Whiz

TRex,
How much liquid was in your brine? I've seen brines that are from 1/2 cup to 1 cup each of salt and sugar per gallon of water. [p]Also, I have read different things on how long to brine. In theory, after a certain amount of time, the salt concentration in the meat and in the brine should reach an equilibrium, at which point the meat cannot get any more salt into it. The limited brining I've done (1 chicken, 1 turkey breast) were both about 10-12 hours and neither one tasted salty to me. But again, we'd need to know how much liquid you used for the amount of salt.[p]TNW[p]TNW

The Naked Whiz

TRex,
One other thing about brining and acidity, Alton Brown's latest book has a brine which is 1 quart veg broth, 1 quart orange juice and 2 quarts water. So, take that as a guide as to what proportion of a citrus juice you can use.[p]TNW

TRex

Marvin,[p]After reading your post yesterday I did get a bit concerned about the time--looks like you guessed right. Regarding the lemon flavor--I did add the juice of one lemon, but would like to add more of a lemon flavor next time. Alton Brown's book says something about if you add a certain amount of vinegar you'll have to add some baking soda to balance the pH, so I was wondering how that would apply to lemon juice. Thanks for your continued suggestions and comments!

TRex

The Naked Whiz,[p]I used 1 quart of water, per the "Basic Meat Brine" recipe from WiseOne's cookbook. I followed the rest of the Basic Meat Brine recipe as well, except that I didn't have any bay leaves and I added the juice of one lemon. I did read through Alton Brown's brine recipe (thanks again, Whiz, for the recommendation on this book--I love it!), but didn't have any vegetable stock handy. Do you think chicken stock would work? And also, thanks for the guideline on acidity from your post above. By the way, I agree completely with the equilibrium idea--there should be a point at which the osmotic pressure between the walls of the cells in the chicken and the surrounding brine is balanced. My guess, however, is that this point isn't reached, perhaps, until sometime after 10 hours or so, which may be why my chicken was too salty. Thanks for your comments, Whiz!

The Naked Whiz

TRex,
Chicken stock should work. I'm sure it is just for the flavor and the added salt content that he uses it. On his show "Romancing The Bird" where he brines a turkey, he makes the comment not to use the low salt broths or stocks because you want the salt content. If you were just doing a basic brine with water, you'd just add more salt. My first attempt used 1 gallon water, 3/4 C sugar, and 3/4 C salt. I did a whole chicken and didn't notice any saltiness. Oh well, experiment, eat lots of chicken, and enjoy![p]TNW[p]

Unknown

The Naked Whiz,
What is the book called?
THanks,
Seth

The Naked Whiz

Seth Howard,
"I'm Just Here For The Food"[p]TNW

Marvin

TRex,
Try the zest (strips of lemon skin, coarsely chopped). That will add a ton of flavor and very little or no acidity. Have fun.