How To Brine A Chicken
By: Gina Marie Barone
Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 5:56am

Ingredients




1 Fresh, Organic Chicken, giblets removed
1/8 cup Sea Salt
1/8 cup Sugar
2 Tbs. Garlic Powder
1 Tbs. Dried Mustard
1/2 Tbs. Dried Thyme
12 eachs Whole Black Peppercorns
2 eachs Dried Bay Leaves, crumbled

Preparation

1 Find a pot with a lid that will accomodate a whole chicken and fit in the refrigerator 2 Add salt, sugar, garlic powder, dried mustard, dried thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns 3 Add some warm water to dissolve salt, sugar and spices 4 Add whole chicken to the pot and cover with cold filtered water 5 Invert the lid of your pot and put into the refrigerator - this helps to keep the chicken submerged in the brine

About


If I plan on cooking the chicken for dinner, I will brine it first thing in the morning. At least 8 hours. Overnight is fine, remove the chicken from the brine the next morning and keep refrigerated until ready to cook. Do not over brine it! Vary your spices if you want to.
When you cook the brined chicken, go very easy on the salt. I roast it on the rotisserie or in the oven. Rubbed with olive oil, pepper, paprika and a very light sprinkle of kosher salt.

Comments:
Chris Paulk

Good idea to invert the lid- hadn't considered that before.