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Title: Brining Tips For Smoked Poultry
Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients

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Instructions

Most folks reporting that the birds were too salty didn't use enough
sugar, if any. Brining is popular on this list for three reasons:
(1)soaking poultry in a strong salt solution retards the natural
tendency of birds to rot while being smoked at low temperature for
long periods of time, thereby poisoning guests and tarnishing our
reputations as barbecuists extraordinair. (2)tastes good. (3) helps
maintain moisture.

If you are going to slow smoke ( <225 F), you need a strong brine -
the age old test is if it floats an egg (about 1.5 cups/gal), it will
preseve meat. Anything soaked in a strong brine for 12 hours is going
to taste salty. Sugar in a brine is distributed through the meat by
osmosis along with the salt. Sugar moderates the salty taste and
helps retain moisture. Garlic and some other seasonings help with
flavor, too.

If you are smoke cooking or cooking in an oven at temperatures above
275 F, you can probably stay ahead of the beasties, (unless you
thawed your bird on the counter overnight) and brine concentration is
not as important from a safety standpoint.

Frozen birds may absorb more brine because ice crystals have ruptured
cells and made it easier for the salt to penetrate. I normally brine
and smoke frozen poultry.

Dan Gill
http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/Survive.HTML

I've been doing lots of brining this winter and have been finding out
that its the temperature of the brine that either makes it absorb or
not. I had some brine going out in my shop not heated, and was cold
as hell out there below freezing.Anyway the birds didn't really take
the brine. Did some
in alittle warmer brine and was a bit salty. Seems if I can keep my
brine at
around 34 degrees everything turns out great, not salty and all the
flavors of the brine come out. I believe its the temperature for the
wild swings were
having.

Smokin in Montana Don
My brined birds have all been excellent and I've never used any sugar.
The difference may be that I dry brine the birds, that is, I give the
bird a good rubbin' inside and out with kosher salt, rather than soak
it.

PjL

When I corn & brine chickens for smoking I do ten at a time as its not
worth lighting up for less.I leave the chickens in the brine for 36
hours (in the fridge ) and turn the birds at 12 hour intervals.I wash
each bird thoroughly in running water and then dunk it into a 2 gallon
bucket of cold water leaving it there for a few minutes before
transfering it to two further buckets of water and a final wash. Some
will say cut down your brine time but this works great for me and I'm
not changing.Tom if I didn't wash like this the birds would be far too
salty to eat Wash wash & wash.

Regards Dean ( Kiwi Bloke )

Do you use any sugar in the brine as Dan Gill suggests? I've not had
much luck with sugar compensating for salt but I will do whatever
works. Brine temperature seems like a reasonable variable along with
time, condition of bird (fresh or frozen) and concentration of brine.
So it sounds like 12 hours in a cold brine solution accents but does
not overpower.

Tom Kelly The Virginia Ham (Apologies to Lipsitt)

When salt goes into solution in water, it dissociates into individual
sodium ions and chloride ions. The size of the crystals you begin with
only affects the time to dissolve. The only differences in the type of
salts you buy, (iodized, sea, kosher, etc) are crystal size and
porosity, and the amount of "impurities".

"Iodized' table salt has iodine added to inhibit clumping and improve
porability. Sea salt has a healthy (!!!) list of trace elements found
in the ocean. Kosher salt does not have iodine, is usually larger in
crystal size, has the benefit of the Rabbi's blessing.

However, your assumption on weight is 100% correct. This is the most
accurate way to measure quantity.

Mark

Iodized salt is OK to sprinkle on your food, but when making
a sauce, pickling, canning, etc. it is best to use either pickling
salt or kosher salt as they will not cloud up the mix with the
additives.

Ed esp@snet.net http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

From: Bbq@listserv.Azstarnet.Com

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