Experiment: Brine vs. Marinade

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

I know a lot of comp teams are brining chicken. I've only done it a couple of times, so I thought some off season practice and experimentation was in order.

I split a package of Tyson chicken thighs from Sam's Club. Trimmed each thigh the same way I would in competition. Brine and marinade time was 2 hours. Each batch was rinsed and weighed to see how much moisture was taken on during the process.

Brine
1 gal water
3/4 C table salt
1 C white sugar

Marinade
A-1 Jerk

Brined Chicken
Starting weight: 2lbs 4.5 ozs
Post brine weight: 2lbs 8.5 ozs
Increase: 11%

Marinated Chicken
Starting weight: 1lbs 10.5 ozs
Post brine weight: 1lbs 12.5 ozs
Increase: 7.5%

The brine retained 47% more moisture after 2 hours than the marinade.

A great resource on brining from Russ Garrett, the Smokin Okie.

MilitantSquatter · Jan 10, 2009

Interesting to see the %'s/

Do you think bone weight could have been a factor ? Would boneless have been a better option for this experiment ?

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

MilitantSquatter said:
Interesting to see the %'s/

Do you think bone weight could have been a factor ? Would boneless have been a better option for this experiment ?

Yes. There were two bonless in the brine version and one boneless in the marinade. So in theory, the brine numbers could have been higher.

You'd have to run this over hundreds of batches to get solid numbers. Bone size, age of chicken, meat density, etc. probably all play factors. I'd put my money on brining drawing more moisture each time, however.

MilitantSquatter · Jan 10, 2009

Plowboy said:
Yes. There were two bonless in the brine version and one boneless in the marinade. So in theory, the brine numbers could have been higher.

You'd have to run this over hundreds of batches to get solid numbers. Bone size, age of chicken, meat density, etc. probably all play factors. I'd put my money on brining drawing more moisture each time, however.

Thanks for clarifying !!

I look forward to the future results of your extensive testing plans !! :wink:

Jaberwabee · Jan 10, 2009

How can you say......Comp-Fever? Thats some cool info though.

Smokin' Joe · Jan 10, 2009

Very interesting numbers, thanks for sharing. I also have only marinated in my limited comp experience with average results at best (dry chicken cost us a GC:icon_pissed). Brining is on my practice list this winter. I would interested to hear your thoughts on end results.

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Jaberwabee said:
How can you say......Comp-Fever? Thats some cool info though.

Hell yeah! Cooking in a month. Gotta get ready. Got three racks on the pellet smoker now. Butts and briskets tonight. Doing all four contest entries this weekend.

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Just tried a piece of each. The brine was definitely more moist and more tender. I think 2 hours was too long for the brine.

Ron_L · Jan 10, 2009

I'm not surprised at the results. The main purpose of a brine is to add moisture to the meat whereas a marinade is to add flavor. Did you cook them yet, Todd? I'm interested in any difference in flavor, texture, skin, etc.

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Ron_L said:
I'm not surprised at the results. The main purpose of a brine is to add moisture to the meat whereas a marinade is to add flavor. Did you cook them yet, Todd? I'm interested in any difference in flavor, texture, skin, etc.

Texture was different. The brine acted like a tenderizer. Of course, the flavor was very different. I didn't sauce, so I'm not sure what the final comp flavor profile will be like. One step at a time.

Smokin' Joe · Jan 10, 2009

what about brining and marinating?

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Smokin' Joe said:
what about brining and marinating?

My guess would be that the meat would already be saturated with brine and not take on much of the marinade.

Brewmaster · Jan 10, 2009

Since you used sugar in your brine, do you think the color of the chicken turned out any darker? I cook my chicken at a high temp and would think the sugar would burn or at least give a darker result. Just curious.

Cheers,
Nate

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Brewmaster said:
Since you used sugar in your brine, do you think the color of the chicken turned out any darker? I cook my chicken at a high temp and would think the sugar would burn or at least give a darker result. Just curious.

Cheers,
Nate

A little bit darker skin, but not much. That can always be changed. Russ has some good starter brines on his Brining 1on1 site in the first post.

jbrink01 · Jan 10, 2009

Try the Alton Brown Turkey brine.......

cmcadams · Jan 10, 2009

Have you thought of salting instead of brining? I've seen it do well at competition, and it really is a very good way to do chicken. I did it with steaks last night, and it was great that way, too.

Steve_M9 · Jan 10, 2009

awesome information. How long do you think it should be in the brine if two hours was too long? As a beginner I tried a brine on chicken only once and went too long obviously because it tasted like bad turkey. I left it in overnight...what was I thinking? I always brine my turkey with great results.

Plowboy · Jan 10, 2009

Steve_M9 said:
awesome information. How long do you think it should be in the brine if two hours was too long? As a beginner I tried a brine on chicken only once and went too long obviously because it tasted like bad turkey. I left it in overnight...what was I thinking? I always brine my turkey with great results.

60-90 min

BigAl · Jan 10, 2009

Jaberwabee said:
How can you say......Comp-Fever? Thats some cool info though.
__________________
2 WSM
CG pro.
NB Hondo
OAC charcoal griller (OLD AS CHIT)
Deciding on:
Medium or Large Spicewine OR/
Not getting yelled at by the wife

You sound kinda young, won't tell you what to do about the "Spicewine" deciding deal, but as you age, you will learn that you will "STILL" be yelled at by the wife, regardless, so:eusa_clap:shock:.... get ear plugs or prentend you can't hear anymore and do what you want....just MHO...best wishes!:wink:

Spydermike72 · Jan 11, 2009

Hey Todd, good info. We started brinning this past year and had our best Chicken scores of our short comp career (was it the brine or the Yardbird rub ?? :idea::?

.

We only brine for an hour and then rinse and let air dry. The brine definetly holds the moisture really well. We basically use the same ingredients that you did.

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