Brining - specifically chicken

[Guest guest]

Uh-kay, uh-kay, uh-kay ...

Will be defrosting a chicken. Nice approved free-roaming etc. In

case none of you have noticed, these tend to be a bit tougher than your

average Oven Stuffer Roaster. Was thinking I'd brine it before roasting

it, but I'm not in the mood at the moment to do a lot of expensive

experimenting.

I am extreme newbie to brining to begin with - have only done it twice,

both with pork, both using cookbook recipes. Did it once with a maple

brine with a pork loin, soaking it for 3-4 days. Next time I did it was

with a hunk of fresh ham (about three-four pounds, bone in), with a vanilla

brine, soaked it for seven days. (Yeah, I thought that was a good idea

at the time - fresh ham can be AWFULLY tough). Turned out *okay* - but

VERY salty and VERY vanilla. Figured if I ever had a hunk of fresh ham

to deal with again, I'd do it for maybe five days, and it would be tender

enough but wouldn't kill me.

Anyway ... I'm not a HUGE fan of either maple or vanilla, so those flavors

from the recipes were probably pretty stupid for me to do. And now,

5,682 words later, I get to the point ...

My next trick was going to be to try to just do a nice simple salt water

brine for the chicken, and only soak it for a day or so, hoping for the

tenderizing but not a huge salt flavor.

Is there anyone on this list that I can dub The Brining Guru? King,

Queen, Duke even? What proportion of salt/water would you recommend, and

are there any other " flavors " that you've tried that worked really well?

Total novice on this here.

Tankee!

MFJ

Any moment in which you feel like dancing is a perfect moment. Singing

works, too.