Speaking Of Brining......?

[2ndchance]

I use a 5 gallon Igloo water cooler that I have dedicated to brining large poultry and cuts of meat. After the brining I wash it out and rinse then give it a good wipe down with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide.

 

[TedW]

I soaked chicken thighs in a brine before grilling last night. Next time I'm going to skip that step. They were almost too juicy. The BGE maybe doesn't need it for small thighs.

 

[QDoc]

I've given up on traditional brining and started doing it this way. More simple is good!!

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/holiday-guide/food/la-fo-calcook18-2009nov18,0,4954438.story

 

[TedW]

Oh QDoc... that is looking very promissing!!! A new twist on the old wet brine. I need to review this more.

I often wet brine chicken and pork. It's fast. But the dry brine sounds excellent. Do you have any idea how long you'd have to dry brine chicken parts of pork chops, let's say? Smaller cuts, not roasts or whole birds.

A small side note: I like to cook roasts like many others here. Low and slow to coax out protein-laden juices at 300F. Then when internal temp is up (100F to 120F depending on the mean, bone, etc) I hit it with the 500F heat to sear / crisp. I used to do it the other way around. I wonder if the dry brine technique might work better if you hit it with the heat first to crisp, then drop the temp

 

[southernsmoker]

Get yourself a great huge ziplock bag or I'll ship ya a bucket, I'll fill it fulla snow to boot..:thumb:
Brined turkey is fantastic!!

 

[TedW]

I like the description of adding ground flavors such as Rosemary, black pepper, etc with the salt. The article comments were that these powdered spices will piggyback the salt as it enters the meat, flavoring meat deep.

Very interesting!

 

[QDoc]

A similar article on steak recommends liberally salting and allowing to set for 1 hour per inch of thickness. This works pretty good for other meats as well. good luck.
Google dry brining. Zuni Chicken. salting steak.

 

[MikeR]

Where did that say food quality

Click on the "Tips" button on top of the web page. One of the first tips is for brining turkey.

 

[TedW]

Hmmm. I do that for steaks now QDoc. Saw that on Good Eats. So I could likely do that for the smaller cuts of chicken and pork.

Very exciting! I like the fact that the moisture levels are lower and you don't wind up with chicken soup as I did last night.

Thanks so much for this tip!

 

[42BBQ]

I use plastic bins. I wash them out good with regular dish soap then sterilize with a little bleach diluted with water and thoroughly rinsed. Two awesome Turkeys so far.

 

[Kack]

I Brine in my crab steaming pot. I'm not dead and nobody who has eaten my delicious birds is either.

 

[TedW]

Here's the intriguing part from that article:

Dry-brined turkey is, if anything, even more remarkable. While turkey sometimes can be dry and bland, after dry-brining, the meat is moist and flavorful. And in an improvement over wet-brining (which I enthusiastically practiced for several years), the texture of the meat stays firm and muscular, with none of the sponginess that can result from added moisture.

That last part is what is key for me.

 

[wnkt]

I use 2 gallon Ziplock bags
http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/FreezerBagsSmartZipSeal.aspx?SizeName=Two gallon

 

[Garyclaw]

Awesome ya'll!!!!