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Anybody use lemon juice to wet chicken?

RRP
RRP Posts: 26,514
in EggHead Forum
I was just reviewing some chicken recipes and a fellow swore up and down that his best chicken on his egg was wetted with lemon juice to make the rub stick. Anybody do that or have a thought why or why not it wouldn't work? I just might try it anyway.
Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,514
    BTW this same guy swears in marinating his chicken for 24 to 36 hours in EVOO, which also sounds different.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • johnnyp
    johnnyp Posts: 3,932
    Never done it.  I'd love to hear about the results when they're in, though
    XL & MM BGE, 36" Blackstone - Newport News, VA
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  • shtgunal3
    shtgunal3 Posts: 6,134
    I would think if you marinated in EVOO, the lemon juice would roll right off.

    ___________________________________

     

     LBGE,SBGE, and a Mini makes three......Sweet home Alabama........ Stay thirsty my friends .

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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Ron, I like zest and juice in a compound butter under the skin.  On the surface I wonder what effect it has.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,514
    bgebrent said:
    Ron, I like zest and juice in a compound butter under the skin.  On the surface I wonder what effect it has.
    Good point about "under" but I really think the juice wetted and tightened up the skin on top. It really was tight and tasty.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • XC242
    XC242 Posts: 1,208
    There's got to be some kind of science related to the acid in the juice?
    LBGE (still waitin' for my free T-Shirt), DIgiQ DX2 (In Blue, cause it's the fastest), Heavy Duty Kick Ash Basket, Mc Farland, WI. :glasses:  B)
    If it wasn't for my BGE I'd have no use for my backyard...
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    edited February 2016
    If it is wet it will allow the rub to stick, and add lemon flavor. That's about it

    you can't 'marinate' in olive oil, by definition. A marinade involves salt (see "marine", as in "ocean")

    meat is mostly water. You can dredge a chicken (meat) in oil, but it isn't going to get into the bird (meat). 24 hrs in oil is the same as four minutes in oil. 




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  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,989
    edited February 2016
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    24 hrs in oil is the same as four minutes in oil. 

    I concur^^^^^^.
    However on a side note, my grandmother use to coat raw chicken with "Wesson" oil, bag it with ice, and then refrigerate over night. I have no idea as to why. Looking back, I wish that I would have asked her. I remember the chicken being excellent, but I can't think of what the oil and ice brought to the table. Just thought I would share that. If anyone has any thoughts on the oil and ice, by all means, please share. 

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

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  • Fred19Flintstone
    Fred19Flintstone Posts: 8,174
    Marinades and brines for that matter has salt to get the flavor into the meat.  The lemon juice thing is about the skin.
    Flint, Michigan
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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
    Lemon kuice also comtains sugar, the carmelization of which happens when heat is introduced.   Lemon flavor underneath skin on bird is awesome.  As is white wine.   But i would guess the acid in lemon juice helped tenderize the bird, if on contact with meat long enough amd of course the bird skin has fat which renders and crisps up duromf cooking, all being enhanced by sugar in the lemon juice that carmelized. Never did CGH but i will start now.  The one depicted here looked incredible.   Cant wait to do em for the family
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    You don't have enough acid in the lemon juice on the skin to even begin tenderizing the meat. 

    Even meat tenderizers (adolph's, etc.) don't penetrate very far. Yes, their enzymes do tenderize the meat, but only yhe barest outer surface, making it mushy at best

    you'll see this with acids too, if you 'marinate' (really, soak) overnight in something like orange juice. No change in the interior, but slimy and mushy on the surface. 

    There's no chance the minimal acid from a brief wipe of the skin with lemon will do the same thing. Not sure you'd want it to anyway. 


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  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262

    I've got a spatch going on today.  While I've never had any problems with rub sticking, I'll give it a try and see if I can detect and difference. 

    Phoenix 
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    Do one half side of the bird. 


    [social media disclaimer: irony and sarcasm may be used in some or all of user's posts; emoticon usage is intended to indicate moderately jocular social interaction; the comments toward users, their usernames, and the real people (living or dead) that they refer to are not intended to be adversarial in nature; those replying to this user are entering into a tacit agreement that they are real-life or social-media acquaintances and/or have agreed to or tacitly agreed to perpetrate occasional good-natured ribbing between and among themselves and others]

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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Hmmm, since acids and alcohols can make meat tougher, according to McGee, I wonder if the bath of lemon juice is enough to pre-cook the skin a little, ensuring it gets crusty. Likewise an oil soak, since fats are mildly acidic.
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,514
    I never claimed the lemon juice tenderized the meat, but I do feel it must have had an effect on the skin as something drew it up tight.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    westernbbq mentioned that it might tenderize the meat. "But i would guess the acid in lemon juice helped tenderize the bird"




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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657

    gdenby said:
    Hmmm, since acids and alcohols can make meat tougher, according to McGee, I wonder if the bath of lemon juice is enough to pre-cook the skin a little, ensuring it gets crusty. Likewise an oil soak, since fats are mildly acidic.
    hard to attribute the acid in fat to crispy skin, since the fat also fries the skin. 

    backing way up here, RRP asked one question, whether the wet lemon would allow the rub to stick.  answer? of course it would. wet anything would allow the rub to stick.


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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,514
    Darby_Crenshaw said:


    backing way up here, RRP asked one question, whether the wet lemon would allow the rub to stick.  answer? of course it would. wet anything would allow the rub to stick.


    I did not ask that as I'm well aware that anything wet would make the rub stick - my exact words were "...a fellow swore up and down that his best chicken on his egg was wetted with lemon juice to make the rub stick." I merely summarized his post from 2001.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    so you weren't asking a question?  what was this part (your exact words)? about then:"Anybody do that or have a thought why or why not it wouldn't work? I just might try it anyway. "

    So, you said a guy wetted the chicken with the lemon, claiming the rubn would stick.  then you asked if it would work, or why not.  that does not sound like someone who was well aware it would work

    i have tried to answer your questions simply and directly, and no matter the answer you appear to take umbrage.

    and it appears you didn't read any of the other replies before jumping on me (or you would have known that someone else entirely ,ie. NOT you, asked about the acid tenderizing the meat

    you gotta n relax, i am not out to "get you" all the time.

    sorry for answering your question, the one you asked and which you said you had no idea whether it would work.

    as a follow-up, if you meant "would the lemon do anything specific to the meat in addition to allowing the rub to stick", then you ought to have asked that.  because all you asked was whether it would work (would the run stick, like this guy claimed)

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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
    I use equal parts lemon juice and white wine to marinate chicken over a couple of days.   The results are phenomenal
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  • HighSierraEgg
    HighSierraEgg Posts: 16
    Lemon juice has always been used on any chicken I cook. I use different spices but always lemon juice and the chicken comes out great whether on the Egg or on the rotisserie. I stuff the juiced rind into the cavity too.
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    RRP said:
    I never claimed the lemon juice tenderized the meat, but I do feel it must have had an effect on the skin as something drew it up tight.
    Seems to me, cooking a tiny spatched game hen for 50 minutes at 400° direct might have had something to do with that. Much longer and you would have had Mickey's wings! Can't see what lemon juice had to do with it.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    Carolina Q said:
    RRP said:
    I never claimed the lemon juice tenderized the meat, but I do feel it must have had an effect on the skin as something drew it up tight.
    Seems to me, cooking a tiny spatched game hen for 50 minutes at 400° direct might have had something to do with that. Much longer and you would have had Mickey's wings! Can't see what lemon juice had to do with it.
    yep. skin draws up on turkeys too.  no lemon involved.

    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
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  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,989
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
    Not a damn thing ;)

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    SGH said:
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
    Not a damn thing ;)
    Exactly what I was thinking.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,989
    bgebrent said:
    SGH said:
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
    Not a damn thing ;)
    Exactly what I was thinking.
    Hey, we all just make this **** up as we go ;)

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

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  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 10,310
    SGH said:
    bgebrent said:
    SGH said:
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
    Not a damn thing ;)
    Exactly what I was thinking.
    Hey, we all just make this **** up as we go ;)

    I KNEW IT!!!

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Foghorn said:
    SGH said:
    bgebrent said:
    SGH said:
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    but what the heck do any of us know. ;)
    Not a damn thing ;)
    Exactly what I was thinking.
    Hey, we all just make this **** up as we go ;)

    I KNEW IT!!!
    I thought that was bcc.  Shilt 
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,782
    This works better for me on CGN's:

    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Just given another Mini to add to the herd. 

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