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Recipe File: Grilled Skinless Chicken Breast
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:35 am    Post subject: Re: Grilled Chicken Breast Reply with quote

AlexisF wrote:
What is the purpose of the brining--what does it do?
Also, do you have any suggestions for someone who doesn't have a grill?

Brining serves to purposes - 1. to intoduce more liquid into the meat so as it cooks it doesn't completely dry out if you overcook it slightly, 2. intoroduce some flavor into the meat.

I have an article on brining if you want more info.

If you don't have a grill, you can broil the chicken under your oven's broiler, or pan fry it. Cooking times will vary and the final result will be a bit different (especially if the chicken is allowed to sit in it's own juices while cooking.
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arthritis
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What if my breasts have skin and bones? Should I grill them with the skin up or down first? I like the skin when roasted, but have had a problem with the skin charring on the grill.

thanks, love the site Smile
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ADT
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:32 pm    Post subject: mmm good! Reply with quote

I had never tried brining chicken breasts.. dont know why coz it tasted so good! Great recipe! I did add a little extra cayenne, and some cumin and a sprinkle of garlic salt to it, just coz i like it spicier I've tried so many recipes, and the chicken always overcooks on the bbq, and it never has much flavour besides the top layer.. brining it totally changed that. The meal was juicy and flavourful throughout. I served it with some herb pasta. Thanks! Smile
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guest
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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 10:58 pm    Post subject: brining Reply with quote

Hi Michael,

I'm trying to picture brining on the molecular level (can't help it, I'm a chemist). Do you think salting the chicken, i.e. without the water, will produce the same effect? I saw Maddhur Jaffrey do this with shrimp whilst rinsing them throughly before cooking. I tried it myself and it transformed the texture of the shrimp. It gave a kind of crispiness or snap if you will that you don't get otherwise.

A good experiment to try: chicken breast in varying amounts of salt and water.

LT
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2007 4:35 am    Post subject: Re: brining Reply with quote

guest wrote:
I'm trying to picture brining on the molecular level (can't help it, I'm a chemist). Do you think salting the chicken, i.e. without the water, will produce the same effect?

I wrote an article on brining a while ago that might help explain how brining works. Salting a chicken (without water) goes a long way to providing flavor, but you can't do it too long or the outer areas of the meat get too salty while the interior stays about the same (unless you cut it into thin pieces). The texture of the chicken also changes a little. Brining works well for larger chunks of meat because the lower concentration of salt allows the salt to penetrate at a slower rate and results in a more evenly salted interior.
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New2Grilling&LovinIt
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:08 pm    Post subject: Outstanding results for normally tasteless meat ... Reply with quote

I landed on your site in a desperate search for a way to take frozen skinless chicken breast (the kind you pick up at your local BJ's) and do something decent with them on the grill. I am NOT a good cook, as my husband and kids can attest. What a shocker when they turned out to be juicy, tender, flavorful ... absolutely perfect! Even my picky teenage son raved about them! I didn't actually follow the recipe, but the basic concept must have been there because they turned out so well. When I found your site, the breasts were already soaking in a marinade of olive oil, sea salt and some leftover homemade honey vinaigrette dressing that no one liked. They soaked for about five or six hours at room temperature and were still chilled when I put them on the hot grill. What I believe was the key was NOT OVERCOOKING them.
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W6CWJ
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:39 pm    Post subject: Brine Reply with quote

This site is a good start, but still could use some improvement:

1. Include grams instead of cooking measures... accurate digital scales make this easy.

2. What is the concentration of the brine - in grams per cc?

3. It might be practical to use non contact IR thermometer reading for chicken breast internal temp ... this is somewhat dependent on the emmisitivity of the material being measured, but might be handy - perhaps someone has done the correlation between IR reading and internal temp.

Keep up the good work... a proper recipe and equipment should give good results every time.
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GaryProtein



Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 535

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:06 am    Post subject: Re: Brine Reply with quote

W6CWJ wrote:
This site is a good start, but still could use some improvement:

1. Include grams instead of cooking measures... accurate digital scales make this easy.

2. What is the concentration of the brine - in grams per cc?

3. It might be practical to use non contact IR thermometer reading for chicken breast internal temp ... this is somewhat dependent on the emmisitivity of the material being measured, but might be handy - perhaps someone has done the correlation between IR reading and internal temp.

Keep up the good work... a proper recipe and equipment should give good results every time.


You cannot use an IR thermometer to get an internal temperature.
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lisa
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:23 am    Post subject: brining Reply with quote

Can you brine for a few hours and then rinse and then put chicken in a tandori marinade and finally grill? is that too much to do to the chicken?
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:48 am    Post subject: Re: brining Reply with quote

lisa wrote:
Can you brine for a few hours and then rinse and then put chicken in a tandori marinade and finally grill? is that too much to do to the chicken?

You can do that... but why not add some salt to the tandoori marinade? The yogurt base of the marinade should work well with the salt to add flavor into the flesh of the chicken.
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Lisa
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you cook on low for an additional 10 minutes after the initial 6 minutes on high or is it for 10 minutes total?
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lisa wrote:
Do you cook on low for an additional 10 minutes after the initial 6 minutes on high or is it for 10 minutes total?

For me, it was 10 minutes after the initial six. This is dependant on your grill and your chicken breasts, so please use a thermometer or a knife to cut into the breast to determine if it's done.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tried this recipe with a slight change. In the brine three spoons of curd was added. It came out well.
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Sanjay
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:28 am    Post subject: Addition of curd in brine Reply with quote

Quote:
I tried this recipe with a slight change. In the brine three spoons of curd was added. It came out well.


Yes. Addition of curd in brine helps a lot in softening chicken. Further, it improves the flavour.
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mrestko



Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:55 am    Post subject: Higher salt concentration Reply with quote

I tried this recipe but I also relied on some information I found at http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html. According to that website, brining needs to be done at a high salt concentration for it to have any real effect. I used 1 quart of water with a 1/2 c. of kosher salt to brine about 2.5 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for about an hour. I then seasoned them according to this recipe. They turned out quite well and I will definitely try it again, probably with slightly less salt and/or less brining time. However, I can't imagine that a salt concentration as low as 1 T/quart would actually be effective.
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