Did you ever brine the chicken before, when cooking chicken?
If not, this is something that you really need to consider next time when you are preparing chicken for dinner. There is a huge difference in taste, and you will never cook your chicken any other way.
The only problem that many people have, is the fact that they don’t know how long to brine the chicken. The moment that you are not brining it enough, your chicken will taste the same as all the other chicken that you have cooked before.
These are everything you need to know about brining chicken correctly.
What is Brining?
Before you can know how to brine chicken or before you can know how long to brine chicken, you need to know what brining is first.
Brining is a cooking method that is going to give you much tastier chicken. You can use a whole chicken, or pieces of chicken to brine the chicken.
And, the basics of brining is simple.
You are basically just laying the chicken in saltwater for an hour or so. There are three different ways of brining that you can do, to ensure a tasty chicken.
Why is Brining Chicken So Important?
Why should your brine a chicken before you are cooking it?
There are many reasons why brining is so important, but there is only one that is essential to know.
With brining, you are ensuring that the chicken is full of moisture and that it tastes a whole lot better than other chickens you prepared.
Many people think that buying chicken that was brined, has just added weight to them, and that isn’t really best-tasting chicken.
However, this is completely wrong. Brining chicken before cooking it, is bringing out the flavor, and makes a great tasting dinner.
The Three Different Brining Methods
There are three different brining methods that you can choose from. It is all giving a different taste but is still tasting delicious.
You don’t need to make use of all three methods. You should just make sure that you know what the steps are.
With the dry brining, you are basically adding a wrap to the chicken with a variety of spices. You can get many recipes online for these spice mixes.
You wrap it to the chicken and let it sit for a couple of hours. The flavors will go into the chicken and leave the chicken with a great taste.
A taste that is completely different from the other brining methods. For many, the brining method is set up for all the girls that are working. The three basic brining methods are:
- Dry brining
- Wet brining
- The buttermilk brine
It is important to make sure that you are aware of what type of brine you should use for preparing what type of chicken meal.
Many people prefer dry brining, while others are saying that wet brining is the way to go when you are looking for a moist chicken meal.
How Long to Brine the Different Types of Brining?
Brining chicken is a process. You should make sure that you are aware of the brining time before you just go brining your chicken for a short while and ending up with tasteless chicken and time wasted with the brining process.
In general, it is recommended that you brine your chicken for at least a couple of hours up to 12 hours. The longer it is brined, the better the taste will be. Just don’t brine it for more than 12 hours.
However, there are some experts that are saying that you can brine your chicken for up to 24 hours. It depends on the type of brine that you are considering.
The buttermilk brine will be ready in just a couple of hours, but the wet brine can go for up to two days.
Tips to Consider When You Are Brining the Chicken for the First Time
When you are brining your chicken for the first time, you should consider which brining method is best to use. In most cases, people prefer wet brine.
You should also make sure that you know how to cook the brined chicken correctly. For example, for fried chicken, a buttermilk brine is best.
Try the different brining methods and make sure that you find the method that will work for you. And, you don’t need to brine only a whole chicken. Pieces of chicken or even pork can be brined.
With this guide, you will know for sure how long you should brine your chicken to get the best results. You will also learn the different brining methods that you can use.
If you never have brined a chicken before, then you should try it at least once. You will not regret it and never prepare chicken differently again.
