I brined my first chicken ever. According to "Cooks Illustrated" "Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts" for 2 whole bone-in chicken breasts (weighing total abt 3 lbs) , they leave them 30 minutes of brine (1 cup salt + 2 quarts water). I had 3 half bone-in chicken breasts weighing about the same for each breast (3-4 lb. ea)
Here is an article which states (for a whole chicken) "The length of time the chicken sits in the brine is variable (I didn't dare say 'up to you'), but I'd say 8 hours is the minimum, 12 hours is fine, and after that the texture notably changes. Saying that I've left the chicken in the brine for 24 hours and still found it tasty, after 48 hours you are going to have to cook it or eat it- unless you like supermarket ham. I've never brined longer than that- But by the third day 'food safety' would become an issue."
I am wondering what 30 minutes accomplishes.
The chicken was tasty. It was chicken bought at Costco -- their new 'natural' chicken, I believe without chemicals, or something to that extent.
I prepared a vermouth sauce (in this Cooks Ill. recipe) for the breasts and poured some over the rice. With the sauce, It tasted similar to Hainanese or Singapore Chicken-Rice.
These breasts were too large for actually putting on one's plate and cutting into and eating. If these breast bones can be roasted and used for chicken stock, it seems there should be a correct way to cut off semi-neatly this meat in slices for serving on a plate. I should have done this before plating, but didn't think of it, nor knew the proper way to tackle the job.
Any help appreciated regarding 30-minute brining.
About all I see regarding slicing cooked chicken-breast is this "Slice the breasts on a diagonal." Is this just about all there is to slicing a BONE-IN chicken breast? Thanks, Dee Dee
