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Old 11-04-2011, 09:50 AM   #9
SmokinOkie
is one Smokin' Farker
 
Join Date: 03-02-08
Location: Full Time RV on the road somewhere
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Brining 101 guy here, just some comments/clarifications as it's that time of year and a lot of new people have brining questions:

Quote:
Originally Posted by HeSmellsLikeSmoke View Post
...

Brine is intended to make things more moist, not to impart flavor, and is usually rinsed off after working its magic...
Then you've used the wrong brines.

One of the main reasons for brining is to add flavor deep. When you brine, any spices, flavors in the brine will be carried deep into the bird. So the flavor it adds is dependent on the brine you added.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saiko View Post
Brine is very salty, your meat will be salty enough. If you don't rinse you'll probably end up with an over-salted meal.
The brine is salty to make Osmosis work, but it doesn't make the meat overly salty. If it does, it's because your taste buds are sensitive more so to salt. Done right, with the right balance of liquid, salt, sugar, flavors, it should give more moisture, and more flavor and not be overly salty.

Ever since my first versionof Brining 101 came out in 2000 there just so much information, it's hard to know what's right, what's wrong.

Like rinsing. I don't rinse birds, when I teach, when I cook and no one has ever told me it's overly salty, even when I've used an overly salty brine for testing. One of the main reasons I DO hear people talk about rinsing is more to make sure you rinse, pat dry and let it air dry because they think it will help with a more moist skin.

Here's my suggestion. Test it yourself and Practice. Your taste buds will be the ones to know AND it's important, but if your rub is salty, I've seen that, when added to a brined bird actually increase the salt taste. Get some chicken. Brine some. Don't brine some. Experiment. Rinse, don't rinse. A little experimentation with cheap chicken will let you zero in on a brine that works for you.
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