Brining Chicken

[giblet]

I am trying to find new ways of making spatchcocked / butterflied chicken on the bbq, as my standard go to of marinading it nandos sauces is getting a bit boring now. Has anyone tried brining a chicken? If so, any recipes you would reccomend? Most brines seem to be the same mix of sugar and salt, but I am thinking of adding chilli flakes etc to give it more flavour.

[21TonyK]

I experimented a bit with this. Tried a simple 5% salt solution for 24 hours which just make it salty, did the same for 12 hours and it was a bit better. Did 5% salt sugar, no difference. Tried chicken stock with about 2% salt added and that worked quite well.

[markoc]

Heston did this on his recent (ish) series - albeit with a whole bird prior to roasting. Think it was on Channel 4 so possibly available on 4 player - or I'd be gobsmacked if he didn't have a website for the series.

[Mobile Chicane]

I have Heston's book, and in that he recommends an 8% brine (ie. 80g salt dissolved in 1Kg tap water) for 5 hours, then rinse under running water for 5 minutes, then dry the bird thoroughly with kitchen roll.

[D1ngd0ng]

Slightly different to OPs request but can recommend this

Brazilian Beer Chicken

I found this which works really well. Mainly as I'll leave it for a day then take it out and leave it in dry rub for another day and then cook, birds get basted in bbq sauce for the last 10 minutes of roasting

Only then does the Nandos/Generic hot sauce go on.

[Blatter]

I've brined chicken and roasted it as per the Heston Blumenthal book, a couple of times and I can say that it really does make a difference. The meat is so much more moist and tasty. I think this is a combination of the brining and the low cooking temperature. (You cook the chicken until the meat reaches 60deg C)

HB's recipe here

[HeatonNorris]

60 degrees is a tad low for my liking. I'd want to see 75 degrees to be sure you've killed off any nasties.

[Use Psychology]

Mobile Chicane said:

I have Heston's book, and in that he recommends an 8% brine (ie. 80g salt dissolved in 1Kg tap water) for 5 hours, then rinse under running water for 5 minutes, then dry the bird thoroughly with kitchen roll.

don't you mean 80g of salt dissolved in 920g of tap water.

ffs heston, if you're going to pretend to be all scientific and stuff, at least get it right.

[SwanJack]

I brine the x-mas turkey in a large ex-home brew bucket. Really moist meat and reduces the cooking time.