First time brining, need advice

Gnarlbecue said:

So I finally got me some Oakridge Game Changer brine mix, and I want to try it out in a small batch before I mix up a whole gallon for Turkeys and such.

I'm currently thawing an 8 pack of chicken thighs and a 3.8Lb bone in pork butt. I plan on cooking the chicken after work tomorrow, and the butt on Wednesday or Thursday (my weekend).

I'd like to mix up a small enough batch of the Game Changer at half strength to brine the chicken thighs and have enough left over to inject the butt the next day.

Can anyone with experience with this brine mix offer advice about the amount of mix/water ratio I should use for these two cooks? I'd like to prep the brine right now, or tomorrow afternoon so I can prep the chicken before work and have it ready to go after work.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Your chicken thighs will only need to brine for about 2 hours, not to exceed 4 hours.

I used to brine my pork butts but found I had a lot of brine left over, so I started injecting. For Injecting I use 1 Tablespoon of Game Changer to 1 cup of apple juice, injecting 1 ounce per pound of meat. A 4 hour rest after injecting works best, but have started some cooks earlier while others rested12 hours after injecting. If you brine the pork butt half strength a 12 hour soak is good to go.

I personally would not reuse/share the brine between the two meats, as components of the first brine have been absorbed into the chicken. I know that you are cooking on heat, but it would be my preference not to inject brine, that chicken was soaked in, deep into the center of pork.

Food safety, cross contamination, and exposure time would be my concerns especially when injecting it into the pork.

If you are not repurposing the brine all is fine, you just were not clear on your intentions and I wanted to cover the safety issues.

You could inject the pork and start the cook and brine the chicken about four hours before cooking them.

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I recommend for your first time to follow Oakridge's directions and adjust the next time to your likely. For just 8 pieces of chicken you can scale the directions down and make up 1 quart at full strength. Will be more than enough and will prevent waste. Brine for 1 1/2 hours, rinse, rub and cook. It will not be salty.

Follow Madmans advise for the injection

Gnarlbecue said:

Thanks for the advice guys.

Just to be clear, I was not intending to re-use the brine, I want to mix up a batch and split it for the two cooks.

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You'll have a great cook.....

Dangit! I saw this too late or I would have suggested doing a couple thighs without the brine to see the difference.



Looking forward to your cook none the less though!:grin:

We did the Thanksgiving turkey using Game Changer, and Secret Weapon. It was so juicy and not salty, at all. This will probably be some of the best chicken you've ever cooked.

Matt

Looks alright to me. Should seen my first smoked thighs. The skin was as black as a tired and chewed just like one.

Try this