Brining questions for chicken/meat?

[BAPyessir6]

I do like brining a chicken (whole, breasts, etc) every now and then, but there does seem to be many different brine concentrations in the food world, or at least on the internet.

The first time I brined a whole chicken a few months ago was when I smoked a chicken, and it turned out way too salty. (The ratio was 24 hours brined in 4 cups water to 1/2 cup kosher salt, to 1/4 cup sugar). So I cut the salt in half the next time I brined, and it turned out wonderfully. So several questions follow.

Is there a "golden" ratio to brine concentrations, is it more of a time ratio (how long you brine) or is it simply to taste?

Say I brined chicken in a 10 percent salt solution 24 hours. Could I cut that percentage in half (to 5 percent) and marinate it 2 days instead, if I knew I wasn't going to be able to grill it the next day? Or does the texture suffer despite lower salt concentrations?

At the moment I'm brining a whole chicken to rotisserie tomorrow in water, soy sauce, and sugar (about 6 cups water, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/8 cup sugar). I plan to brine it overnight, but if it rains tomorrow, I probably won't be able to rotisserie. If that happens, can I just extract the bird from the brine tomorrow to prevent it from getting too salty/texturally unpleasant?

On a final note, soy sauce brines are weird. I've seen multiple recipes online that say a soy sauce brine should be 4 cups soy sauce, 2 cups water (or orange juice), 1/4 cup sugar, marinated overnight. That seems like. . .way too much salt.

Here's the chicken in the soy brine. It's a dark mushroom soy sauce, which is why it's so dark.

 

[dragnlaw]

Off the top of my head = I do not brine that often, so really have no idea what I'm talking about but...
I would worry that the texture might become unpleasantly soft? Although I also think that brining is mainly for moisture retention, no? And marinating is for breaking down fibres....
So there yuh go - twix and between?

And I think you are correct in thinking it best to take it out of the brine if you are not going to cook it when planned. That being said - I'd be sure to wrap it as air tight as possible. If it continues to rain then you should probably cook it in the oven or get an umbrella and stand in the rain.

 

[dcSaute]

I frequently brine chicken and pork. I use 7.5% salt by weight to water weight for multi-hour brines.

the big problem here is: "1/2 cup salt"
table salt, kosher salt, flaked salt, cubic 'sea salt' . . . all have different densities - so /12 cup of table salt is a lot more than 1/2 sea salt . . . by weight, , , and weight is what counts . . .

half a cup of table salt in 4 cups water = 15%+ by weight
half a cup of koshering salt in 4 cups water = 12%+ by weight

which pretty much, imho, would explain the 'too salty' result.

 

[BAPyessir6]

I frequently brine chicken and pork. I use 7.5% salt by weight to water weight for multi-hour brines.

the big problem here is: "1/2 cup salt"
table salt, kosher salt, flaked salt, cubic 'sea salt' . . . all have different densities - so /12 cup of table salt is a lot more than 1/2 sea salt . . . by weight, , , and weight is what counts . . .

half a cup of table salt in 4 cups water = 15%+ by weight
half a cup of koshering salt in 4 cups water = 12%+ by weight

which pretty much, imho, would explain the 'too salty' result.

Does that include both the water and the thing your brining, or just the water?

 

[Andy M.]

¼C table salt (or ½C Diamond Crystal kosher salt) and ½ C sugar in a quart of water. An hour of brining for a chicken breast is plenty. Minimum time 30 minutes, max. time 8 hours.

Your problem was with the length of time.

 

[dcSaute]

Does that include both the water and the thing your brining, or just the water?

I do it like this (example pork chops)
1. put the pork chops to be brined in a bowl on a scale
2. tare the scale
3. add water to cover
4. note the weight of water added
5. multiply water weight by .075 = xx grams
6. weigh out that (xx grams) of any kind of salt
7. remove pork chops from water
8. add salt
9. stir to dissolve
10. put pork chops back in

found the table:

 

[jennyema]

There is an exact ratio. Look at Andy’s post for it.

Brining is food science. It’s not like marinating. It depends on the salt to work. It won’t work if you don’t use enough salt.

Like Andy said, you brined for too long. Thanks to a bad recipe.

Properly brined food is never too salty.

 

[caseydog]

¼C table salt (or ½C Diamond Crystal kosher salt) and ½ C sugar in a quart of water. An hour of brining for a chicken breast is plenty. Minimum time 30 minutes, max. time 8 hours.

Your problem was with the length of time.

That was my thought, too. 24 hours is a bit much for chicken. I never brine that long for chicken. About four hours works for me. I'll go a bit longer for a whole turkey, but not 24 hours.

CD

 

[BAPyessir6]

I do it like this (example pork chops)
1. put the pork chops to be brined in a bowl on a scale
2. tare the scale
3. add water to cover
4. note the weight of water added
5. multiply water weight by .075 = xx grams
6. weigh out that (xx grams) of any kind of salt
7. remove pork chops from water
8. add salt
9. stir to dissolve
10. put pork chops back in

found the table:
View attachment 74410

. . .I assume (since the unit of measuring salt is grams) that I also weigh out the water using grams? My American brain is like "I can use pounds or cups/oz!"

Sometimes I hate the FPS system of weight. Why can't America just go metric? I feel like it'd make stuff like this way easier.

I realize that cups and pounds are a much larger measurements than grams, and measuring out .0012 of a pound or .01 of a cup would be very difficult. I think I need to go back to 4th grade.

 

[BAPyessir6]

There is an exact ratio. Look at Andy’s post for it.

Brining is food science. It’s not like marinating. It depends on the salt to work. It won’t work if you don’t use enough salt.

Like Andy said, you brined for too long. Thanks to a bad recipe.

Properly brined food is never too salty.

Huh. I didn't know brining was a food science! I thought it was just throw salt into water and "salt with your heart."

 

[caseydog]

Huh. I didn't know brining was a food science! I thought it was just throw salt into water and "salt with your heart."

Oh yes. Brining is definitely food science. But, don't overthink it. I've done it so many times that I just do it. The amounts of salt and sugar I use fluctuates on how much meat I'm brining, and what kind of meat.

My own rules are, only brine lean meats. Poultry and lean pork (the other white meat). Next, don't overbrine. Chicken breasts, two to four hours tops. About the same for a whole chicken. A big whole turkey, I'll bine that overnight, but not 24 hours.

I would suggest that when you want to brine a particular piece of meat, ask for recommendations for that particular cut of meat. I can almost guarantee somebody here has successfully done it before.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

I have brined chicken, don't remember when, probably within the last 10 yrs. but don't remember why I felt I had to do it. Obviouisly didn't make that big an impression on me as I've never done it since.
Nor have I ever felt the need to brine a whole chicken. I've never had a 'tough' chicken.
Actually it is rather difficult to find an 'old' hen now, one that is older than 10 months, for stewing. Remember, stewing chickens were the hens that were not producing a lot anymore and Grandma decided it was time to cull and the young ones took their place. They were usually over 6 lbs and made excellent big family dinners. Roasters are now much smaller. Grandma had big roasters that were capons, pretty much a lost art.
Pork Chops I've only ever brined if I'm actually going to fry them "as is" or 'dry' if you will. Now that really helps to keep them moist!

 

[dragnlaw]

As to ratio's - came across a recipe once (was cups and Tbsp), tried it, liked it, kept it, use it, same one whether for 2 chops or 4.

 

[dcSaute]

. . .I assume (since the unit of measuring salt is grams) that I also weigh out the water using grams?

yes. we're empty nesters, cooking for two, adverse to making large quantity "dishes" that create tons of left overs.

cooking small quantities requires a more accurate "approach" to measuring things - trying to reduce cups for example results in the 1/7th cup problem.... so other than T and t, I work in grams. even for liquids.
requires some note taking . . . i.e. measure a cup of rice once, make a note...

 

[taxlady]

yes. we're empty nesters, cooking for two, adverse to making large quantity "dishes" that create tons of left overs.

cooking small quantities requires a more accurate "approach" to measuring things - trying to reduce cups for example results in the 1/7th cup problem.... so other than T and t, I work in grams. even for liquids.
requires some note taking . . . i.e. measure a cup of rice once, make a note...

I keep doing that and then, when I need it, the note is on my computer, but not on my phone. I just realized that I should leave the note in the rice container.

 

[caseydog]

I have brined chicken, don't remember when, probably within the last 10 yrs. but don't remember why I felt I had to do it. Obviouisly didn't make that big an impression on me as I've never done it since.
Nor have I ever felt the need to brine a whole chicken. I've never had a 'tough' chicken.
Actually it is rather difficult to find an 'old' hen now, one that is older than 10 months, for stewing. Remember, stewing chickens were the hens that were not producing a lot anymore and Grandma decided it was time to cull and the young ones took their place. They were usually over 6 lbs and made excellent big family dinners. Roasters are now much smaller. Grandma had big roasters that were capons, pretty much a lost art.
Pork Chops I've only ever brined if I'm actually going to fry them "as is" or 'dry' if you will. Now that really helps to keep them moist!

I brine turkeys more than I brine chickens. Turkey breast is notoriously dry, so brining really makes a difference. I'll brine a turkey overnight, even though I wouldn't brine a chicken that long.

CD