For many years, roasting a whole chicken was frightening to me. There was just something about it that scared me. A roasted chicken seemed like such a big deal. About one year ago, our local Harris Teeter had an amazing sale on roasting hens. Harris Teeter was selling chickens for 59 cents per pound. The most expensive chicken I saw was about $3.50. Most of them were between $2.50- 2.90. If you know anything about the prices of chickens, that's truly a deal. I've seen chickens as expensive as $8-10. Harris Teeter had a 4 chicken purchase limit and I took full advantage of it. I figured I wouldn't feel so guilty ruining a chicken that only cost $3 or less. I roasted the first three chickens in the standard way. I washed them and put them in the oven for the appropriate time and that was that. I decided to do something a little more adventurous with the last chicken. I brined it.
I had heard of brining, but didn't exactly know what it was or its purpose. After much research, I learned that brining makes for a more flavorful and moister poultry. That can't be bad, right? So, I started researching what brine was comprised of. There seemed to be endless recipes for brine. Every single one contained salt. Most of them contained sugar. A few of them had vinegar. Even fewer had some sort of fruit juice or honey. And, even fewer had spices. Considering all of these recipes, I decided to come up with my own method of doing this.
Recently, Harris Teeter has chicken on sale again and it is time to try brining again as well. I thought I would share what I did with everyone. Mr. Bourne and I have been talking about how great the first brined chicken was ever since I made it. Naturally, I decided to recreate the magic (hopefully).
Mr. Bourne found a brining mixture for me. He purchased a box of apple sage flavored brine by Turkey Perfect. I immediately panicked because all of the instructions were for a big turkey. I just had a little 5 pound chicken. So, I did what I do best...I improvised. Here's the recipe:
Improvised brined chicken
***This recipe is adapted for a 5- 6 pound chicken
One 5-6 pound chicken
3/4- 1 cup prepackaged brining mixture
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup orange or apple juice
4 cups water
additional cold water as needed
In a pan over medium high heat, combine the brining mixture, sugar, and 4 cups of water until the sugar dissolves. Cool the mixture. Add apple cider vinegar and orange juice. Remove the neck and giblets from the chicken cavity. Rinse the chicken. Place the washed chicken into a large sealable plastic bag. Pour the cooled brining mixture into the bag with the chicken. Add additional water if needed in order to completely cover the chicken with the brining liquid. Seal the plastic bag and place the chicken in the refrigerator to sit overnight.
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is heating up, remove the chicken from the brining liquid, discard the liquid, and thoroughly rinse the chicken. Place the chicken into a roasting pan or dish.
Place the chicken in the oven for 1 3/4- 2 1/4 hours. When a thermometer is placed into the breast of the chicken, it should read 180 degrees if it is done. Let the chicken cool which will make it is easier to slice. Viola! The chicken will be moist and the flavors of the brine will be imparted into the meat, but because you thoroughly rinsed the chicken before cooking, it will not be overwhelming. I usually don't eat the skin when I eat chicken, but with brined chicken I can't resist.
