Juicy succulent chicken

[jennyema]

Dry brining (ala Zuni Cafe Chicken) actually takes longer than wet brining. A whole chicken, for example, needs to sit overnight in the dry brine but can be wet brined in 6 hours.

Personally, I love the results.

Here's the Zuni Cafe Chicken with Bread Salad recipe. It's fantastic.
Zuni Cafe comes to your kitchen - Today: Food: Recipe - MSNBC.com

I haven't found that beef benefits from brining (unless you are corning) but you do need to salt your steaks liberally before you cook them.

 

[GB]

I actually love dry brining my steaks Jenny. It does nothing for the juiciness, but it does improve the flavor. For my steaks, I like to salt and wrap tight in plastic and keep in the fridge for 24ish hours. I will then let them come to room temp before cooking.

I do agree that dry brining takes much longer than wet.

 

[jennyema]

I'll have to try that method for sure. Maybe this weekend when it warms up and I can grill. I wet brined mine and thought they were gross.

In Tom Colicchio's book "Think Like A Chef" he recounts a story about being a teenager and grilling a steak without salting it first and thinking it tasted blah and feeling that huge LIGHTBULB going on over his head. He immediately salted one, let it sit for a min. and grilled it. A world of difference.

It was his epiphany and a lesson about how important proper seasoning is to the enjoyment of food.

Try the Zuni Chicken sometime. Warning that wet brining a chicken or turkey can be a bit messy.