Bob and I doing the whole Magnum P.I. shirt tribute

This past weekend Bob had a graduation party for his grandson and about a month ago he told me he was going to be cooking 55 pounds of whole chickens that were chopped in half.   He was telling me that he was just going to buy a few buckets of marinade then just call it good. I told him that he didn’t need to spend the extra money and would be better off brining the chickens instead.  It’s a hell of a lot less expensive to brine that it is to purchase a few gallons of marinade…..plus when you’re grilling that much chicken it’s easy to overcook it.

So he asked me to write down the instructions for him on how to brine the chicken. I told him it was a 1-1-1 formula!   1 gallon of water to 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of salt for every 10 lbs of chicken. Then I told him he could add whatever spices he wanted to after that to turn up the flavor. He added thyme, rosemary, all-spice, and johnny’s seasoning.  He the brine all ready to go by the time I came over a few days before to help him out so we just dumped the chicken in 2 large coolers then let it sit there for a few days until he was ready to cook them for lunch/dinner at his property on Saturday.  I had to work on Saturday so I wasn’t able to help them cook it so Kenny and Bob went for it and it came out flawless.  People kept on saying, “this is the best chicken I’ve ever had”. The chicken is a lot more tender because the salt stays in the skin and helps cure the meat. When you grill it the sugar that is in the skin caramelizes the skin and makes it crispy. What’s better than that?!?!?!?!

One of the things I hate most is when people overcook chicken. They do this because #1 they’re freaked out over salmonella and think that a piece of chicken with an internal temperature of 250F will do the job……you only need it to get to 165F  #2 They look at the chicken and it doesn’t “look” like it’s done. Believe me, it’s done!!!! If you’re that worried about it then go eat Doritos. Brining solves all these problems and keeps Eric somewhat sane. Get to the temperature, remove from heat, let rest, and enjoy.

Brine something soon. It’s cheap and we’re coming up to that 4th of July grillfest. Bring something new to the party this year because your friends are probably tired of your potato salad recipe but they’re just too nice to tell you that.

(I’m a little grumpy today…….damn camera isn’t here yet)

GREAT JOB BOB!!!!

MY ORIGINAL LINK ON BRINING (CLICK)
Eric