Brined Roast Chicken

The most exciting thing since Real Deli Chicken.

This is a brining method I hadn't yet tried.  Or even heard of for that matter.  But I felt like 'EVEN MORE FLAVOUR' should be something we could achieve.

I found the instructions on 'Enjoy How to Cook' and just worked roughly on that.   So,  if you haven't yet discovered Real Deli Chicken then click to have a look. It replaces deli meats for your sandwiches, salads and even wherever you used to use bacon.  No! Really!  FAILSAFE bacon!! Go and check it out.

Now, starting with that brine recipe, I have added garlic and citric acid and am doing a whole family roast.  I may as well chuck in some chicken breasts as well, to flavour-up some Real Deli Chicken.

This recipe takes some forethought because you're going to boil the brine and then allow it to cool completely.  All the way to COLD people.  DO NOT try to brine your chicken in warm, lukewarm, just warm, only a bit warm water unless you want to start your own bacteria-farm and make people sick.  Brining must be done in cold water and in the fridge.  So, clear a spot for a large bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.4 kgs

• About 1/2 cup salt
• About 1 litres water
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed a bit
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar (omit if you'd prefer)
• 2 tablespoons citric acid

METHOD:

• Put all ingredients (except the chicken!) into a large saucepan and bring to a boil
• Allow to boil for a few minutes and then switch off and leave brine to cool 
• When mixture is cool enough, put it into a very big non-reactive container (e.g. glass, stainless steel, enamelled), large enough for the whole chook, add 2-3 litres of cold water and place into fridge so that it gets all the way to cold 
• Add whole chicken (you might like to do this at the sink, incase of overflow), ensuring it's all submerged in the brine mixture
• Cover container and pop into the fridge 
• Allow to brine for 2-3 hours (minimum 1 hour, maximum 12 hours)
• Remove chicken from brine, pat dry with a clean towel (or paper) - chuck the used brine down the drain
• ** If you're doing breasts only, follow the instructions of Real Deli Chicken, i.e. put sufficient brine into saucepan, bring to boil and add brined breasts back in until cooked.  
• Allow chicken to air dry in the fridge for an hour (Melanie (from Enjoy How To Cook) says this is optional but will help the skin get crispy with cooking)
• Now, go forth and cook your chook as you normally would. For me that means, drizzled with a little failsafe oil, 200ºC fan-forced for about 45-60minutes, until chook is cooked.  

Amines.  If you are cooking for a strong amine responder, use caution since every process the chook goes through means a little bit more protein breakdown and amine build-up.  No idea to what extent this is of course, I am not a food scientist, just a failsafe-home-cook. 

Verdict
Oh. My. Goodness!  YUM!!  YUMYUMYUMMMMMMMY  Delicious, succulent roast chicken.  So! Good!
And the chicken breasts making "flavoured-up Real Deli Chicken",  also utterly delicious!!!!!  Yum Yum Yum!  So yummy in those school lunches.

Tweeks
When I did this, I boiled about 4 litres and then I realised afterwards, when I topped i tup with cold water, that I didn't need to waste all the energy on boiling up 4 litres, just make a strong 1 litre and then top it up with cold water.  aves energy on the heating and speeds up the cooling.  I've written the recipe to do it the 'better' way.