Why you should (almost) always brine your chicken

In this video, I explain the what, why, and how of brining, so that you can utilize it in your cooking.

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[TheRegularChef]

INSTANT READ MEAT THERMOMETERS

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[Mrjvc]

I worked at a high end fried chicken restaurant in LA and we brined our chicken. You can brine chicken with skin on and have a crispy fried chicken. Just make sure you pat dry after and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you add some batter, dredge or any type of combinations you use.

[ciganyweaverandherperiwink]

Fantastic video. During cooking tutorials I'm one of those students who LOVES having someone explain WHY I'm being told to perform a certain step. Once I comprehend what will happen if I go wildly off-piste and ignore the direction, I'm far more confident and excited about cooking. I love understanding why I'm doing what I do. Thank you so much for this upload, much appreciated.

[MrMolinari]

Refreshing to see someone sticking to the point with such precision and not wasting time. Thank you brother. Subscribed!

[jasonrodgers]

My 16 year old culinary GENIUS grandson (ok, brag brag brag!) brined some chicken breasts overnight in dill pickle brine (diluted 50% with water), salt, and modest amount of sugar.
TOTALLY awesome when grilled!!! Fall-part tender, SO succulent!

[ItsRyanTurley]

Great video bro! I always Brine my chicken, it is a game changer… A pickle juice Brine for chicken wings is unreal. Also if you want a crispy skin and a wet Brine, I suggest removing the bird from Brine and letting the skin dry out in the refrigerator, uncovered for up to 24 hours. The skin turns out amazing!

[boheem]

as the meat heats up, the muscle fibres contract, causing the liquid in the fibres to be expelled ... but when meat is brined in a salt solution, the solution actually dissolves some parts of the protein structure of the meat, so in turn the muscle fibres can't contract fully and therefore retain more of their moisture ... meat becomes more tender overall.

[EthanChlebowski]

Solid explanation man. This makes me want to pick up some of those 6 qt containers you have haha.

[starryluma]

Wow……after all these years I finally understand how to have juicy chicken off the grill…..so glad I stumbled upon this video…..thank you!

[Threedog]

I have been cooking dry ass chicken breasts for years. Thanks for the tip on the 155F internal. I have always brined... more for flavor than anything. Thank you for explaining what it is actually for.

[corriedebeer]

Also, an important thing to note is that your meat must be completely thawed before brineing it. The salt solution cannot move between the protein strands of the meat when the protein strands are frozen solid. It can give spoilage bacteria a chance to grow as well.

[lqr]

There are a million cooking channels and they're predominantly people who try to build suspense with cliffhangers or make the vid more about them than about the information. This is much more like the vids I've made, just a solid chunk of information. Very much enjoyed and will watch more.

[brostenen]

You do not have to brine chicken here in Denmark. Most if not all chicken breat, are pre-brined. To the point that you can buy "premium" chicken, sold on the point that it is without brine.

However I have noticed that chicken without brine are more easy to cook dry. With brine you can "torture" the chicken a bit more on the pan, without it going dry.

[deepspire]

I finally learned HOW brining works. Now THAT makes sense! Thank you.

[jeffpearljam]

Holy shit, you are the first video I’ve seen that not only said how, but WHY. Good job 👍

[c.jillallen-hood]

I'm not a professional chef, however I enjoy cooking for friends and family. I'm always trying new and exciting recipes to entertain my culinary interests, and get rave reviews from everyone. So as a result they always admire my culinary creativity. Thanks for posting this video. It's very informative as well as educational. ❤

[instanttherapy]

I just deleted my previous very long comment as to why my chicken is always very very dry. For the very first time, I brined my chicken, adjusted the fire under the pan, reduced the cooking time and after three tries, it finally came out juicy and perfect and here's how I did it. I took one chicken breast out of a package of six, cut it in half long ways so that it turns into two thin chicken breasts. I did not pound it because cutting it thin was just as good. In a very small airtight Rubbermaid container I filled it with cold water, and without measuring I just dumped in probably a teaspoon of each: salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder and a pinch of chili flakes that I would sprinkle on pizza. Put the thinly sliced chicken breast under the liquid and shook it vigorously so that everything would mix. Stuck it in the fridge for 3 hours or more. Put them out of the liquid, put them on several paper towels and patted them completely dry. Then I sprinkled and rubbed on both sides corn flour, which I saw on YouTube, seals in the juices. Put it in a hot frying pan with enough oil to coat the bottom. Medium high heat is the key in cooking. Exactly 5 minutes on each side, quickly put it on a paper towel and checked the temperature. Even though the temperature immediately read 175 or 180, the chicken was moist, juicy, and it was just as good the very next day which shocked the the heck out of me because I never eat leftover (dried out) cooked chicken. I did the exact same thing the very next day with one chicken breast, only 4 minutes on each side and the temperature was 175 and it was still juicy. After perfect chicken on the third day I got tired and decided to cook hot dogs for a couple days. So the secret is to brine the chicken with salt and your favorite seasonings and make sure the fire is medium high which means between the medium level and touching the bottom of the pan. Too high and it cooks too fast and that is what dries it out, or so I read somewhere. Can you imagine a caveman yelling at his cave girlfriend that she's cooking the dinosaur too close to the fire and it will dry out the meat?

[dannyvo]

Awesome explanation! So much better to actually understand why things should be done rather just following what should be done

[peteanoz]

Wow young man, you are Brilliant, it's that simple. I've never heard any explanation as good as this from any of the Master Chefs out 'their' (the highly respected TV Chefs of the UK) Well done 👍👍👍

[ayaya]

a great example of useful video. straight forward and no yapping about ads or merch or other things. much love 🌷💜