How to Brine Chicken

Brining is a food preservation and flavor-enhancement technique that involves soaking meat, poultry, seafood, or even vegetables in a solution of salt and water, or just salt. The primary purpose of brining is to add moisture and flavor to the food while also helping to tenderize it.

There are two kinds of brines, a wet brine and a dry brine. A wet brine is when you dissolve salt into water and then let your meat soak in that brine for a certain amount of time to allow salt to penetrate and flavor the meat. The water also gives more moisture to the meat. A dry brine is when you simply salt the meat beforehand, typically a day before, no water needed.

Main Differences Between Wet vs. Dry Brine:

• Dry Brine:
  • All you need is salt and to refrigerate it overnight to a few days in advance.
  • Removes surface level moisture, which can result in crispy skin if skin is involved.
  • Doesn’t add any weight or water to it, so the flavors tend to be more concentrated.
• Wet Brine:
  • More difficult and takes up more room in your fridge because you must soak the object in the water solution.
  • More difficult to get ratios correct of salt to water and depends on weight and size of your meat.
  • Can add aromatics and other flavors to a wet brine such as garlic, sugar, bay leaves, which makes more flavorful.
  • Adds moisture and weight to the meat, which means it might be more moist, however probably less flavorful because it took on water.
  • Skin is less crispy because of soaking in water and taking in water.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast
• 6 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar (optional)
• 1 tbsp peppercorns
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 bay leaf

Preparation:

For Dry Brine:

Salt the chicken breast on both sides and place on a plate or wire wrack in the fridge overnight. Cook the next day.

For Wet Brine:

In a pot add 4 cups of water, 6 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp sugar, 3 garlic cloves, peppercorns and bay leaf and bring up to a simmer, whisking to dissolve the sugar and salt. Once dissolved, turn off the heat and add ice cubes to cool it completely. Once cooled / cold, add the chicken breast and brine in the fridge for 2 hours. Remove the chicken breast after two hours and either dry overnight in the fridge, or cook.