The Beauty of Brine

Happy New Year! I was originally planning to talk about our holiday menus today. We had a ton of good stuff to eat, many enjoyable hours were spent in the kitchen and most items surpassed expectations. But they all paled next to The Brined Chicken. Thus the title and focus of today's post will outline the beauty of brine. Veggies be warned and come back again later.

How could something so simple, so low tech, so frugal make so much difference in a piece of meat? With nothing more than a gallon of water and a few ounces of salt, a meal can be transformed from "oh, chicken again" to "don't you dare come between me and that chicken!" There are a jillion web pages that explain the science behind the process that keep lean meats moist and tender. I recommend http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/howto/ND01_ISBriningbasics.pdf, which gives a quick and dirty lesson on the how and why.

But it's enough for me to know that it does work wonders. Brine is to chicken and pork what a crock pot is to beef or lamb. We had a whole chicken ordered special from our friendly neighborhood butcher. It was a big boy because we do love us some leftover chicken salad (with a little dill and carrot, oh my!). We generally roast our chickies in the rotisserie. You know, set it and forget it - we're also suckers for As Seen on TV, remind me to tell you about our Ninja. Anyway, the rotisserie is a wonderful invention and totally worth the hundred bucks or so. It keeps the chicken moist and the skin gets all crispy, just fabulous. But I do have to admit that a brined chicken makes that taste like sawdust. We soaked our boy in a simple mixture of 1 gallon water, 1/2 cup salt, four cloves of garlic and some crushed rosemary. Set the pot in the fridge for a day. The Husband pulled him out and gave him a rinse Christmas Eve morning and patted him dry. When I got home from work, we stuck him in the rotisserie for an hour and three quarters. We usually give some additional searing time after the meat is done to make sure everything crisps nicely, but maybe it was something in the brining that made it unnecessary this time.

I don't usually eat the chicken skin. I love it, but it's completely incompatible with Weight Watchers. However, there was no turning it down. Resistance was futile. And I honestly didn't try very hard. Oh my goodness, bless my buttons, and come all ye faithful, I have never had a chicken like this. It was everything I've always wanted a chicken to be, but never knew it could. Please try it. Really, please get a chicken this week and brine it before cooking. You won't be sorry, I promise you.

We have no leftovers...

Other menu items over the last 10 days included a Chinese buffet, phyllo dumplings, stuffed mushrooms, sundried tomato dip, baked la-ziti and baklava. Fruit and veggie cleanse tomorrow! Best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful New Year!