Brine for Chicken

The secret to juicy chicken is: brine before cooking.

Remove the giblets from the neck cavity and the neck from the body cavity, trim away fat and rinse chicken.

To determine how much brine you need, place the chicken in a large pot, cover with water, than remove chicken and measure the water.

For 1 gallon of brine you need:

3/4 cup coarse kosher salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 gallon cold water
1 tablespoon black pepper

After you determined how much water do you have add salt, sugar and pepper and mix well until salt and sugar are disolved. Put the chicken in the brine. I added rosemary and sage sprigs, crushed garlic cloves and half onion.
Weight with a plate to keep the meat fully covered by the brine.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to 12 hours.

Before roasting, remove chicken from brine, rinse well, pat dry with a paper towel. Do not season with salt before cooking, the brine is salty enough.

Click here for Garlic Rosemary Roasted Chicken recipe.

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