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mindphlux posted:chicken brines are so good. mine is like 20 bay leaves, 2 heads of garlic, lots of thyme and black pepper, an onion, a lil cumin, a handful of black cardamom, fish sauce, a little worcestershire, and of course lots of sugar and salt. I don't worry about satchets or exact measurements, I just rough chop everything up, skin on, and throw it in the pot. boil 4 cups of water for like 20 minutes with all that poo poo, then dump into a container full of ice. it's always salty as poo poo, but that's what makes it so goooddddd. some of the herbs stick to the chicken even after you rinse it off, but who cares? While brining your chicken definitely improves it, it is by no means the only way to do it "correctly". Coming home from work, grabbing a $6 chicken from the grocery store, putting S+P and a bit of fresh thyme onto a chicken and throwing it into an oven is a super easy way to make tasty roast chicken.
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Jun 3, 2013 21:11
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How long do you brine it? in the past I've always limited it to 6 hours, at least for pork chops. I find there is a diminishing return past that.
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Jun 3, 2013 21:17
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I think brining makes a lot of sense for fried chicken, where you almost inevitably overcook the chicken, but it's unnecessary for chicken that you don't cook past 145. I think we traditionally brine chicken and pork because they used to be short on moisture 'cause we'd always overcook it. Roast chicken -may- be better with a brine, but I'd prefer to part out the legs after cooking and let them go a little longer (so as not to overcook the breast). I mean we don't brine meats that we cook rare/medium rare like steak and lamb, so I don't see why we'd brine chicken that we're keeping moist. My favorite chicken has always been "dry-brined" (ie, seasoned a day in advance) and then cooked to 145-150. Like, thinking about it, dry-aging steak but adding moisture to chicken seems strange. If there isn't a textural problem with the chicken, then it's better not to water it down, right? I think. Same applies to the modern pork chop.
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Jun 3, 2013 23:00
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 I just harvested the first batch of tomatoes from my little apartment garden, along with the usual chives, rosemary, basil and green onions. Threw it all together in a pot of broth to start, soon I will add my french apple chicken sausage and some rice. I love "throw poo poo together and see what comes out" nights. Dis gonna be good.
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Jun 3, 2013 23:05
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bunnielab posted:So last night my girlfriend took this rolled up hamburger bun and she put it You concept of what constitutes "kinky" disturbs me.
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Jun 4, 2013 00:08
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Doh004 posted:While brining your chicken definitely improves it, it is by no means the only way to do it "correctly". Coming home from work, grabbing a $6 chicken from the grocery store, putting S+P and a bit of fresh thyme onto a chicken and throwing it into an oven is a super easy way to make tasty roast chicken. oh doh004 ZetsurinPower posted:How long do you brine it? in the past I've always limited it to 6 hours, at least for pork chops. I find there is a diminishing return past that. It depends a lot on the strength of the brine and thickness of the meat. Parts are fine ~6 hours like you're saying, I usually do whole chickens overnight. Turkeys I'll let go for a couple days. No Wave posted:I mean we don't brine meats that we cook rare/medium rare like steak and lamb, so I don't see why we'd brine chicken that we're keeping moist. My favorite chicken has always been "dry-brined" (ie, seasoned a day in advance) and then cooked to 145-150. Brining, for me at least, is entirely about seasoning in the case of chicken. I agree you don't need to brine to have moist chicken if you cook it correctly, but I'd take a brined breast over a unbrined breast any day of the week. This for me is mainly because I don't think breast meat takes seasoning as well as thigh/leg meat for whatever reason. I'm a gambling man, but if I wasn't a gambling man I'd say something like "I'm not a gambling man, but if I had to wager a guess as to why breast meat doesn't take seasoning as well as dark meat, I'd gamble it had something to do with the protein structure of the meat". Not sure if that's actually what's up, but it makes intuitive sense to me. Dark meat is fine unbrined, but I think it tastes better seasoned all the way through too, so... why not? Anyways, I don't brine pork chops either, unless they're lovely supermarket type with no marbling and a really low pH/pale color. There's almost no saving those things, they're like the worst chicken breast x5 moisture wise.
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Jun 4, 2013 01:00
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mindphlux posted:oh doh004 Yyyyyyeeeesssssss?
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Jun 4, 2013 04:05
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Doh004 posted:Yyyyyyeeeesssssss? You are not good at roasting chicken, hth.
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Jun 4, 2013 04:22
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Totally Reasonable posted:You are not good at roasting chicken, hth. Because...
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Jun 4, 2013 04:38
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mindphlux posted:Brining, for me at least, is entirely about seasoning in the case of chicken. I agree you don't need to brine to have moist chicken if you cook it correctly, but I'd take a brined breast over a unbrined breast any day of the week. This for me is mainly because I don't think breast meat takes seasoning as well as thigh/leg meat for whatever reason. I'm a gambling man, but if I wasn't a gambling man I'd say something like "I'm not a gambling man, but if I had to wager a guess as to why breast meat doesn't take seasoning as well as dark meat, I'd gamble it had something to do with the protein structure of the meat". Not sure if that's actually what's up, but it makes intuitive sense to me. Dark meat is fine unbrined, but I think it tastes better seasoned all the way through too, so... why not? This is an article that ended up confirming most of my suspicions: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html However, I will still admit the virtues of fried-chicken brining due to the exaggerated textural contrast between the skin and meat.
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Jun 4, 2013 04:48
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I've read that article before, I think there are a few problems with its logic re: what happens with brining and the whole 'watery poultry' nonsense - but yeah I do agree just salting meat seems to work just fine. unrelated - man, I just saw an ad for this.   seriously that's like the laziest, least cost effective product ever - excepting maybe already-cooked rice. really, taking some red potatoes, wedging them, tossing them in garlic, dried herbs and olive oil is my "gently caress it, I'm so hungry I don't even care what I eat I just want it now" go-to side. it takes literally ~3 minutes to prep, minimal clean up, and into an oven at 450 where you forget about it for half an hour. I'm assuming you still have to put these in a pan, cook them in an oven, and clean up the pan - so it's just saving you ~3 minutes of prep for $5? christ.
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Jun 4, 2013 07:00
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mindphlux posted:seriously that's like the laziest, least cost effective product ever - excepting maybe already-cooked rice. I mean, rice takes 20 minutes or so, but loving toast? Really?
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Jun 4, 2013 08:13
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Doh004 posted:Yyyyyyeeeesssssss? I thought it was the $6 part. That's cheap, isn't it?
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Jun 4, 2013 08:26
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mindphlux posted:I'm assuming you still have to put these in a pan, cook them in an oven, and clean up the pan - so it's just saving you ~3 minutes of prep for $5? christ.
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Jun 4, 2013 09:39
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therattle posted:I thought it was the $6 part. That's cheap, isn't it? For a whole chicken? Maybe it's just my grocery store here in the city, but I'd imagine most people don't buy whole chickens and they can't charge the same premium that they do for boneless skinless chicken breasts. If I can find a small enough roaster (since I live by myself) of about 2 1/2 pounds, it comes out around $2.25 a pound.
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Jun 4, 2013 12:39
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No Wave posted:I think brining makes a lot of sense for fried chicken, where you almost inevitably overcook the chicken, but it's unnecessary for chicken that you don't cook past 145. I think we traditionally brine chicken and pork because they used to be short on moisture 'cause we'd always overcook it. Well for starters beef is not conducive to brining, althought I've seen lamb recipes that call for a brine
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Jun 4, 2013 14:21
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edit: I don't remember what I was replying to here: "A lot of brines are like that."ZetsurinPower posted:Well for starters beef is not conducive to brining, althought I've seen lamb recipes that call for a brine You can brine beef, you just don't need to because you don't have to cook it well done. At medium-rare there's no danger of the muscle fibers getting so tight they squish all the moisture out of the meat. If you had to eat steak well-done I bet people would brine it. Edit to add - I bet people brine texas style bbq beef, because that is cooked well. Fo3 posted:Unless that's bigger than it looks in the picture, that looks just like a sherry glass. It's a cocktail glass. The bowl is about 4 oz. Kenning posted:You grandfather was a man of taste and refinement. He was. Funny, too. I was convinced that bubble gum grew on a tree in his yard until I was 5. I guess I wasn't bright enough to notice the scotch tape. RE: Squashy/Ricola gimpfight I enjoy both posters and even squashy's bits posts, but I think I would like a gimpfight more so GOGogo pr0k fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 14:48
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ZetsurinPower posted:Well for starters beef is not conducive to brining, althought I've seen lamb recipes that call for a brine The reason I'm hung up on this is because the brining question has been unresolved for me for years, and I'm extremely happy that I'm finally getting an answer - I remember at my first kitchen job a few years ago being so confused as to why we brine some things and not others (and being a kitchen, obviously nobody was concerned with the theoretical basis of the question). I'd never really gotten a satisfactory response, but now it makes intuitive sense to me - we brine meats that demand more moisture. With the new changes in food safety (especially for pork), it is increasingly unnecessary, but a lot of people will continue to brine meat out of tradition even if they no longer cook the meat to a temperature that would lead to dryness otherwise. This isn't catastrophic or anything. So, in conclusion, I propose a test to see if brined wiener schnitzel is preferable to unbrined. I hypothesize that it would be. No Wave fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 16:15
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Brining just allows you to overcook things without dire consequences. Meat proteins start to seize at temps over about 146 (as near as I can remember) and squeeze out moisture. If you're not cooking above those temps, there is really no need to add water to the meat. Even if you are cooking above those temps (which for me is just poultry) it only gets really bad at 165 or so. So don't overcook your meat. The other benefit of the brine is getting the salt inside the meat. Whether you view that as necessary is personal taste. If the meat is seasoned properly on the outside, or if it is to be served with a sauce, then I think it's unnecessary. And as folks here and food scientists have covered, the other flavors you put in a brine don't penetrate the meat to any appreciable degree. They will stick to the outside thought, but again you can get that just by seasoning prior to cooking.
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Jun 4, 2013 16:21
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ZetsurinPower posted:Well for starters beef is not conducive to brining, althought I've seen lamb recipes that call for a brine corned beef is brined 
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Jun 4, 2013 16:36
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I believe you will find it is corned. 
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Jun 4, 2013 16:41
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Mr. Wiggles posted:I believe you will find it is corned. meh, I don't wanna 'ear it. 
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Jun 4, 2013 16:45
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Doh004 posted:For a whole chicken? Maybe it's just my grocery store here in the city, but I'd imagine most people don't buy whole chickens and they can't charge the same premium that they do for boneless skinless chicken breasts. If I can find a small enough roaster (since I live by myself) of about 2 1/2 pounds, it comes out around $2.25 a pound. Sounds cheap to me. Cheap meat is bad meat!
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Jun 4, 2013 17:00
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therattle posted:Sounds cheap to me. Cheap meat is bad meat! Ya kidding me? It's fine. It's as "fresh" as grocery store chicken gets. I've been roasting that chicken for the past two years. Sure, it's not straight from a farm but that's OKAY.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:06
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This talk of corning and brining has reminded me that I want to brine some corn to grill later. I soak it in beer when I have "enough" beer but I thought I might try a lower-sodium brine for a couple hours. I'll never again not brine a turkey*. A big tough-ish bird like that, that you want cooked consistently throughout? I think that the liquid must help transmit the heat throughout or some other sciencey-wiencey type of thingy. It also takes a good 15 or 20% off the cooking time; I prefer the passive prep time front-end loaded to the extra hour of having the oven stuffed and running. After hearing time and time again that my (Alton Brown's) turkey is the best someone ever had, I have to accept the anecdotal evidence. * For traditional roasting. I've never deep-fried or slow-cooked/smoked one. Yet. Where I live, whole chicken is $1.30 a pound at the big grocery store and about $2.25/lb. for the high-quality, delicious, local chicken I get at my butcher.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:08
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$2.25/lb is about average for a happy chicken here. sadchickens go avg $1/lb, sale as low as $0.67/lb.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:12
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The problem with turkey isn't turkey meat itself, it's trying to cook multiple huge, irregular, different pieces of meat at once. I wouldn't try to cook a standing rib roast in the oven alongside a brisket and a couple of thick New York strips and expect them all to be done at the same time, yet that's the aim when cooking a whole turkey.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:13
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Turkey is also just bad. Even when buying super expensive premium heritage breeds, breaking it all down and cooking everything sous vide or whatever to the proper temperature and doneness and whatever and sperging poetic, it's still a loving turkey and I would rather have pretty much any other meat.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:15
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I don't really care for turkey either, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again: sous vide turkey breast is a revelation. I cook it to 146 so it's just firming up, but the flavor and moistness and texture are totally different than anything that comes out of an oven. Turns out that, much like the veggies I grew up hating, it wasn't the product itself that I didn't like, it was the cooking method. But yeah, I'd rather have a good ham or a rib roast for a big holiday meal.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:18
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I like turkey a lot at family gatherings. Of course we raise turkeys so I'm a bit biased here, but maybe freshness is really a factor with that particular bird. Grocery store turkeys are not so good, though.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:35
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Whenever I make turkey (never) I cook it this simple way.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:47
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DekeThornton posted:Whenever I make turkey (never) I cook it this simple way. It's so simple it makes me wonder why I didn't come up with.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:53
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420 Smoke turkeys everyday. Also I am in downtown Minneapolis tonight and have no idea what to eat. Please advise.
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Jun 4, 2013 18:40
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I don't think I'll ever cook a turkey again without spatchcocking it. Much reduced cooking time as well as more even temperature? Yes please.
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Jun 4, 2013 18:41
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pr0k posted:You can brine beef, you just don't need to because you don't have to cook it well done. At medium-rare there's no danger of the muscle fibers getting so tight they squish all the moisture out of the meat. If you had to eat steak well-done I bet people would brine it. Edit to add - I bet people brine texas style bbq beef, because that is cooked well. No Wave posted:I guess, but I'd really only see using brines if I'm responding to a problem with the meat un-brined (in the case of fried chicken, it is). I do wonder what you mean when you say beef is not conducive to brining - is it because the moisture would get in the way of trying to sear it hard? I agree that there's no reason to brine beef, but I'm just trying to figure out the theoretical basis behind our behaviors so that I can make choices more confidently. Aside from the obvious reason beef isn't typically brined (cooking to mid rare so it wouldn't have a chance to dry out), I vaguely remember ATK or something noting that beef has a different structure that does not react well to brine, it causes the meat to break down and become mushy. I've only ever brined pork at a restaurant I worked at for 1.5" thick bone-in chops when we had problems keeping them moist. It helped quite a bit actually, especially since all of our customers were terrified to eat pork with any pink whatsoever. As for corned beef, gently caress if I know but they are doing something right
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Jun 4, 2013 19:43
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Doh004 posted:Ya kidding me? It's fine. It's as "fresh" as grocery store chicken gets. I've been roasting that chicken for the past two years. Sure, it's not straight from a farm but that's OKAY. I was more interested in happy chicken vs sad chicken but from what others have posted that's more a happy(ish) chicken price. Very good, carry on. (Battery farming of chickens is one of my bugbears.) I loving hate turkey. Not crazy about the flavour, and it's almost always dry. I HATE dry meat. It's asparagus season here! Hurrah!!
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Jun 4, 2013 19:53
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Hey Wiggles, you know Costco has two roaster chickens for $6 in a twin pack.
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Jun 4, 2013 20:57
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Found a tequila bar called Barrio. Very pleased.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:09
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I just got in the new Saveur today, and there was a Uruguayan recipe in their "grilling special" that called for ribeye to be brined. I saw it over lunch, and didn't know it was time for Brine Chat so I didn't really make note of it, but I can post the recipe when I get home if anyone has any interest in it. It's not something I'm planning on making because with steak, because for me, it's salt, grill, maybe add pepper, and eat medium rare.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:10
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Which one of you sons of bitches did this :|
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Jun 4, 2013 21:34
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