Brine & Dine

I love chicken. It is by far one of God's greatest creations. It is cheap and plentiful and can be cooked in so many ways. Chicken is, however, a tough meat to master. I have long considered it my specialty but it didn't become that overnight. I can remember a time when I made chicken that was burnt on the outside and raw on the inside!

I am always looking for something new to do with chicken and I just tried a method that is not a secret at all, but I had never used it. Brine. I was inspired to try it after watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network. After a lot of research I discovered that there are hundreds of brine recipes out there. From the most basic to a dozen ingredients. I decided to go simple.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 Gallon water (room temperature)
3/4 cup Kosher Salt*
2/3 cup sugar
4 garlic cloves (halved)
2 tbsp peppercorns

*You can substitute table salt for Kosher salt, but cut the amount in half

Mix all ingredients in a container about twice the volume of the liquid. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

After 24 hours remove chicken and lightly rinse. Pat dry and place chicken on a roasting rack or cookie rack and back in the refrigerator to dry (couple hours). This will help the skin get nice and brown and crispy when roasting.

When chicken is dry, stuff with one quartered lemon (leaving peel on) and one bunch of garlic cut in half. Lightly oil the bird with olive oil and lightly season with sea salt and pepper. I also used a hint of rotisiree spice on this one as well.

Roast at 425 degrees for an hour to hour and a half or until juices run clear. Remove and cover with foil (loosely) for 20 minutes. Cut and serve!

This will improve the moistness of any cook's chicken even if you have already mastered making moist chicken. The leftovers will also be noticeably more moist than usual as well. This method works for turkey, too. Coming soon I will be posting some recipes that will use up that leftover chicken!