Last weekend I finally got myself together enough to try my hand at brining a chicken. I followed the advice of Mr. Ass's mother and Cook's Illustrated. Because it was my first time, I thought it best to abstain from any experimentation in flavor/liquids, and just try the straight up salt/sugar/water formula. I would say that the resulting roasted chicken was definitely more moist and flavorful than some I have made of late, and I didn't use a helluva lot of butter, which I often do when making my cilantro butter roasted chicken. Delicious. I then made stock and a garlic/chipotle carrot chicken noodle soup, which became a few lunches and dinners throughout the rest of the week.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Brined and Roasted Chicken
Last weekend I finally got myself together enough to try my hand at brining a chicken. I followed the advice of Mr. Ass's mother and Cook's Illustrated. Because it was my first time, I thought it best to abstain from any experimentation in flavor/liquids, and just try the straight up salt/sugar/water formula. I would say that the resulting roasted chicken was definitely more moist and flavorful than some I have made of late, and I didn't use a helluva lot of butter, which I often do when making my cilantro butter roasted chicken. Delicious. I then made stock and a garlic/chipotle carrot chicken noodle soup, which became a few lunches and dinners throughout the rest of the week.
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3 comments:
Brining is the best if you have the time and the refrigerator space for the all night brinefest. I hardly ever have the fridge space for a big container full of chicken or turkey and liquid so I usually wait til COLD weather and park that big container outside, secure from rampaging raccoons. A lid a bungee cord or two and some rocks have kept them out of the container, and it is too heavy for them to tote it off to open at their leisure. Thankfully.
The best brine I ever saw was I think Bittmans, it had juniper berriers for crying out loud. When in doubt, double sugar to salt, lots of water lots of garlic some pepper corns and then drain the bird thoroughly before cooking.
The resident teen has 10 meals per month to cook to "pay off" her insurance cost (oh my God she will so triple my car insurance when she actually gets her license later this month LATER THIS MONTH) so we have been experimenting with the slow cooker again. Did a whole chicken by itself with a million cloves of garlic a bit of water and a quartered onion, then added broth and vegetables and a bay leaf. Chicken soup to cure what ails ya! Nine more meals to go....Ideas welcome!
Ooooh. It is cold here all the time. And it was a struggle to find room for my stock pot full o' chicken....though it was actually a pretty small chicken (about 4 pounds) and one of the recipes said to brine about an hour a pound...so only four hours...
I'll have to work on fancying up my brine.
Um. I continue to refuse to believe that J. is old enough to drive a car! I still remember going to the hospital to see that itty bitty baby of a person lo' so many years ago.
I'll have to think of other meals. I think my next big thing may be a mushroom lasagna. Or mushroom soup. I don't know. Something with mushrooms.
When you do the mushroom lasagne send it on!
We are cold here and foggy some and expecting wallop no. 3 snowstorm wise altho we got nuthin' on what DC and beyond will get...2 feet of snow? Ow.
Yes driving...altho not in the last few days due to snow and ice. We have so much ice I have Ice Ice Baby rippling through my brain...stay warm!
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