Dry Brining

[Foster Dahlet]

Anyone here good at dry brining chicken?  I dry brined for the 1st time tonight and was underwhelmed.  Not sure if I should try again.  I have had much more success with traditional brining.  Also, I used the Gourmet BBQ System poultry insert. I got the insert on clearance, and I really wanted it so I can have a larger vegetable basket.  But tonight, I tried beer can chicken on it, with potatoes, carrots and broccoli .....meh.  The rotisserie delivers a much better product, and I could have done the veggies on my other grill.  Anyone else use the poultry insert?

[SMOKE FREAK]

Liquid brine is the only real brine in my opinion...

[LightningBoldtz]

I did a dry brine on thanksgiving turkey and liked it a lot.

[Foster Dahlet]

I did a dry brine on thanksgiving turkey and liked it a lot.

What was your process?

[Estol Riddle]

 I am not a chicken fan but my wife loves it. I started dry brining about a year ago and my wife doesn't want it any other way. I just buy whole chickens around 3# cut them in half removing the back bone. Pat them dry as possible, sprinkle a liberal amount of salt onto bird ,skin and all. Let sit in the fridge for 12-24 hrs. Place in fridge on a wire rack so the de-humidification process can do it's thing. Pan underneath the rack of course.
 Wife liked it so much last Thanksgiving she had me cook two turkeys spatchcocked same way but I made sure they dry brined for 24hrs.
Every one loved it.

[Foster Dahlet]

@Estol Riddle ,thank you.  The info I had for chicken was minimum 2-4 hrs.  I did 3.  It was clearly not enough, as the salt really did not penetrate the meat.  Also, I will brine on wire rack in pan.  I did not sit the chicken on a rack, so the bottom of the bird ended up in its own liquid escaping from the bird. 

I'll try again with your prep recommendations and cook with rotisserie. 

[Estol Riddle]

UH OH. Gave you wrong info. The brining time should be 24 to 48 hrs. My senior moments are becoming more frequent.

[swamprb]

I recently dry brined 4 whole chickens halved with 3 different brands seasoned salts and one with Kosher salt only. Dry Brined for 3 days, and hung them and cooked direct in my Hunsaker Smoker. Four 5 lb birds split.

The seasoned salts all had basically the same ingredients -2 were commercial blends and one is a custom blend available online.

The 3 seasoned salted pieces cooked at virtually the same and the Kosher salted pieces took @ 15 minutes longer. 350-375*

All the pieces were equally moist and juicy and the seasoned pieces tasted more like commercial rotisserie birds. This was just a taste and flavor test and one stood out more than the others which is what I was shooting for.

I'm more of a wet briner and use Oakridge Game Changer brine at 50% and soak the chicken longer. I would not hesitate to dry brine again when I have the time and garage fridge space.

While researching dry brining this recipe from Zuni Cafe keeps popping up, so I gave the 3 day brine a try;

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015770-zuni-cafe-chicken

I love to try new techniques- here is a good primer for poultry brinings:

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-brine-chicken

[CardNilos8]

unblocked game I am not good at that

[Thrillho]

This is a great thread. I've yet to do a dry brine on any meats. Pretty well versed in the liquid brine technique thought. As far as I can tell, its a matter of preference, each method arriving at the same result flavorful and juicy chicken.