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Post by chrisg on Mar 21, 2015 18:13:48 GMT 10
I've not tried before but a quick google turned up some very conflicting opinions. I have a request from step-daughter for a green Thai curry tomorrow, early evening so have time. I suppose I've probably made a thousand of them and all well received, will be going in the Q btw, but I picked up some diced chicken to save time for it today and the butcher was around so I asked him if it had come from a brined bird. He said no, fresh from being butchered on the farm. Which made me wonder: Brining a whole bird, as the Captain has so amply and wonderfully shown makes a world of difference, but can you brine diced chicken meat without it getting too salty ? I'm sitting on a fence to give it a couple of hours but not commited, and sitting on sharp staves is not a comfortable sensation when dealing with a meal for the step-daughter. I have not had a failure cooking for her yet but believe me she has a temper if her food is not to her liking and I'd just prefer not to  Comments? I can just stay safe, but where's the fun in that? she''ll get over it - apparently she crashed her phone, I'll fix that, she'll owe. Family fun, but I would like to know the go with brining small pieces of chicken Cheers |
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Post by hoddo on Mar 21, 2015 18:32:22 GMT 10
When under the gun go with what you know works, but if you don't have a go you'll never know. Diced chicken, my guess brine 1/2 hr and drain well as being diced (lots of surface area) it will retain a lot of the brine
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Post by chrisg on Mar 21, 2015 19:08:04 GMT 10
Was what I was thinking hoddo, nice to have a back-up thought What had me dithering (a very unusual state for me) was that the evidence and the science says that there will be an equilibrium, but, it might be too salty 30 mins sounds good, if a little timid, but, family peace.... Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Mar 21, 2015 19:10:03 GMT 10
Agree with Hoddo. About half an hour maybe one hour.
Id be thinking about using the short brine to introduce a single flavour to the chicken.
Something like a little tamarind.
You can't screw it up if you keep the brine at one Tbs salt per litre af liquid.
Adding other salty ingreedients like soy sauce is where things go wrong.
This is a good trick for chefs.
Mix one litre of water with one tbs of salt and taste it.
Now remember how salty it is. it's a plesant level if just on the salty side.
When making a brine with other salty ingreedients, Add them first and taste. Does anymore salt need to be added?
Might only need a teaspoon ? try to remember what the level was by taste and add salt last.
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Post by chrisg on Mar 21, 2015 19:25:01 GMT 10
Makes sense. I'd be thinking tumeric being it's a Thai green curry she wants That was one of the things I found in googling around about flavor penetration - seemed to not line up with my experience with brining whole birds at all. The comments were along the lines of don't bother it won't penetrate much even if you boil the brine first. I utterly disagree and with diced bird I think the penetration will be very good - shall report back Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Mar 21, 2015 20:00:36 GMT 10
I don't think tumeric would be my choice, It's an outside flavour and colour. but saying that, If never brined with it Now that you have me thinking, ,,, That could be awsome. Chicken will be yellow. never say never SM  |
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Post by captaincook on Mar 22, 2015 7:26:06 GMT 10
2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 litre of water, 1 hr. Give the chicken pieces a quick rinse with fresh water, this will get rid of the surface salt which is where you get the main salty taste. The sugar will balance out the saltiness internally. You can add aromatics, a touch of turmeric would be good but only a very little, it will add colour to the chicken.
I take it that you are poaching the chicken in the curry so you don't ne ed to cook for too long, cook until the chook is just cooked through and it will be the hero of the dish. Cooked too long the brining will be negated.
Captain.
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Post by chrisg on Mar 22, 2015 10:00:51 GMT 10
Thanks all, it shall be in the brine in and hour or so. Yes poaching within the curry itself Captain, so will only just be cooking the chicken as you say. Cheers |
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Post by chrisg on Mar 23, 2015 9:08:03 GMT 10
Wow, Now that I'll be doing again and not just for a green curry. As the Captain said it would the chicken was the absolute hero of the dish. I thought I'd made enough for two meals, always a good thing with a curry, nope, all consumed Turmeric actually did work quite well, some flavour, good colour but the chicken really took up the curry proper. Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Mar 23, 2015 10:00:42 GMT 10
Nice work, I have some chicken Breasts ready to dice up for satay scewers, Might give them a Tumeric brine too.
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Post by chrisg on Mar 23, 2015 10:57:33 GMT 10
Certainly can't hurt. I'd actually given up on using chicken breasts for skewers, tended to dry out too much so been using thighs, not that we do skewers very often. However now having seen how moist the chicken stayed after a short brine I'll give breasts another go. Cheers |
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Post by captaincook on Mar 24, 2015 0:55:46 GMT 10
Great work Chris. Glad it came out fantastic.
Mick I hardly ever cook breasts anymore and when I do I always brine them. I use thighs and recently I have been using boned chicken Maryland pieces and turne out some fantastic dishes with it. I did 4 kg last week for a Sunday get together. I cut them into three pieces and used 5 packets of Lobos Satay marinade and sauce, ( you can buy it at most Asian grocers) Fed about 20 people along with other stuff. It was the hero dish. Everyone keeps pestering me for the recipe, I tell them that it was something I learnt in Malaysia w.hen I was stationed there. They never think to look in the garbage for the packets.
The satay marinade has turmeric in it.
Captain
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Post by chrisg on Mar 24, 2015 7:55:03 GMT 10
Don't laugh but I keep Kan Tong Satay sauce in the cupboard for those times when I'd rather be with the guests than making satay sauce. Spike it up with some red and green capsicum strips and an extra tablespoon of crunchy peanut paste, so a whole minute of prep and you have a damned good satay. I would wager that if you checked the garbage at Satay Park in Singapore you'd find a lot of packets used Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Mar 24, 2015 9:33:40 GMT 10
I Normaly buy thigh meat but just happen to have some Breast. The missus ended up making a green curry with it last night. The satay I use is Jimmys, also from Asian grocers. Its quite hot and sometimes thin it out with coconut cream and peanut butter so the kids can eat it. And Chris, I have kan tong sweet and sour in the pantry  |
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