Yeah, I know. Pun titles. Pfft. But... couldn't resist.
When it comes to roast chicken, I'm a bit of a brine-a-holic. I rarely roast a chicken without soaking it in some kind of salt solution for 24-ish hours beforehand. And I'm not the only one. The interwebs are packed with brine-loving cooks, jostling and refining and experimenting to figure out the best brine recipe and technique.
So writing a post on brine is like writing a post on... I don't know, plot. Far too much to sum up. And for many, a matter of preference.
So this is more of a brine primer. Just the very beginning of the idea.
My usual brine has about a half cup of kosher salt in it, so even 24 hours in the juice isn't too much. A lot of people also put sugar in their brine, but this can be tricky: if you don't rinse the bird off before you roast it, the sugar burns. Then your bird looks like this:
Delicious, but burnedish.
I usually also throw in: cracked peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, and a sliced lemon. I've also tried all of the following: mustard seed, fennel, juniper, allspice, vanilla, rosemary, tarragon. But it's fun to experiment with what you've got on hand. Tonight's brine has chunks of ginger and a dried habanero. We'll see how that goes.
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