Guest guest Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Ruth, So you brine, and then freeze your raw chicken? I'm not familiar with brining chicken. Could you tell me what you brine it in, for how long, and what does that accomplish? , mom to When I have forgotten to > defrost, I baked chicken that was brined, butterflied and frozen, and > it cooked in only slightly more time than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Hi, ,Glad you have found this wonderfully supportive List. Brining chicken keeps it more juicy and more flavorful. I have been doing it for a number of years thanks to info first from a cookbook which explained that what I had been taught, ie, to never salt any kind of meat before cooking, was not good information. I tried brining and found that this was true. Eve a short half hour soak helps. I may have first read about this in a book by shirley Courriher, the food scientist, at a friend's house. A brine is just that: submerging your bird in salt water. It is a very flexible technique. Usually 1/2-3/4 cup salt per gallon of water. The brining can be done in a ziplock type plastic bag in fridge or in a cooler packed with ice packs, or in a pot in fridge. Put chicken/turkey in, and refrigerate. Remove after an hour or soak over night, and dry the bird. Cooks Illustrated recently described simply rubbing salt on the bird instead. [This may not be good reading for vegetarians.] Loosen the skin, then rub salt on the flesh. Allow to sit for an hour, rinse, dry, cook. I did this earlier today and made a really yum Chicken Cacciatore. Not sure I ever made it before. Would have liked the sauce a bit thicker, tho I cooked it down some. I thought I had saved Marilyn's recommendations for thickening dishes, and could not find it. How could it disappear! Anyway, , even tho I am writing a lot, brining is simple, and does make food yummier. I do it whenever at all possible. If you are running ragged, just do what you can!Butterflying a chicken. I love this, partly because they cook faster butterflied, but also because I can then store them in freezer in much less space. I've read about it in cooks Illustrated and elsewhere. I am confessing to each and all that I do not do it the way they suggest. The recommendation is to cut the chicken/turkey along the backbone, then with your hand, press on it and it will flatten. By accident one time I cut the opposite side, splitting the bird along the breast side. I think it cooked better that way. Otherwise, the breasts are sort of smooshed together. You know, chicken cleavage. So, I simply cut the chicken along the breast and flatten it, then cook or brine then dry and freeze.Part of me wonders why I am not a vegetarian..... writing about these hapless birds!Bon appetit!Cooks Illustrated is a wonderful magazine: takes no advertising. I get it on-line, saves paper, AND this allows for easy searches. When they did blind taste tests of chicken, they found that tasters preferred Kosher chicken. One of the reasons for this is because these chickens are salted, then rinsed in cold water. In effect, they are brined, and therefor more flavorful.Freezer Meals?--RuthPosted by: "julie46250" julie46250@... julie46250Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:10 am (PDT)Ruth,So you brine, and then freeze your raw chicken? I'm not familiar with brining chicken. Could you tell me what you brine it in, for how long, and what does that accomplish?, mom to When I have forgotten to > defrost, I baked chicken that was brined, butterflied and frozen, and > it cooked in only slightly more time than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Hi, ,Glad you have found this wonderfully supportive List. Brining chicken keeps it more juicy and more flavorful. I have been doing it for a number of years thanks to info first from a cookbook which explained that what I had been taught, ie, to never salt any kind of meat before cooking, was not good information. I tried brining and found that this was true. Eve a short half hour soak helps. I may have first read about this in a book by shirley Courriher, the food scientist, at a friend's house. A brine is just that: submerging your bird in salt water. It is a very flexible technique. Usually 1/2-3/4 cup salt per gallon of water. The brining can be done in a ziplock type plastic bag in fridge or in a cooler packed with ice packs, or in a pot in fridge. Put chicken/turkey in, and refrigerate. Remove after an hour or soak over night, and dry the bird. Cooks Illustrated recently described simply rubbing salt on the bird instead. [This may not be good reading for vegetarians.] Loosen the skin, then rub salt on the flesh. Allow to sit for an hour, rinse, dry, cook. I did this earlier today and made a really yum Chicken Cacciatore. Not sure I ever made it before. Would have liked the sauce a bit thicker, tho I cooked it down some. I thought I had saved Marilyn's recommendations for thickening dishes, and could not find it. How could it disappear! Anyway, , even tho I am writing a lot, brining is simple, and does make food yummier. I do it whenever at all possible. If you are running ragged, just do what you can!Butterflying a chicken. I love this, partly because they cook faster butterflied, but also because I can then store them in freezer in much less space. I've read about it in cooks Illustrated and elsewhere. I am confessing to each and all that I do not do it the way they suggest. The recommendation is to cut the chicken/turkey along the backbone, then with your hand, press on it and it will flatten. By accident one time I cut the opposite side, splitting the bird along the breast side. I think it cooked better that way. Otherwise, the breasts are sort of smooshed together. You know, chicken cleavage. So, I simply cut the chicken along the breast and flatten it, then cook or brine then dry and freeze.Part of me wonders why I am not a vegetarian..... writing about these hapless birds!Bon appetit!Cooks Illustrated is a wonderful magazine: takes no advertising. I get it on-line, saves paper, AND this allows for easy searches. When they did blind taste tests of chicken, they found that tasters preferred Kosher chicken. One of the reasons for this is because these chickens are salted, then rinsed in cold water. In effect, they are brined, and therefor more flavorful.Freezer Meals?--RuthPosted by: "julie46250" julie46250@... julie46250Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:10 am (PDT)Ruth,So you brine, and then freeze your raw chicken? I'm not familiar with brining chicken. Could you tell me what you brine it in, for how long, and what does that accomplish?, mom to When I have forgotten to > defrost, I baked chicken that was brined, butterflied and frozen, and > it cooked in only slightly more time than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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