Basic Brine for Poultry

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Brining lean meats (this works for turkey and pork as well) is a great way to ensure that you end up with a dish that's moist, flavorful and delicious. It's super easy, and the only two required ingredients are salt and water. However, for maximum flavor I like the following:

1/2 cup of salt* (see note below)
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of thyme - or a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
1 -2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon or so of whole peppercorns
2 cloves of minced garlic

Toss these into a saucepan with a quart or two of water. Bring it to a boil and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Pull off the stove and add to abt 8 cups of ice cubes. This brings the brine down to temperature so that raw meats can be safely added.
All kinds of things can be added to brines depending on what you like. Sage, ginger, onion, vegetable broth - you name it. I like to soak meats in the brine for at least two hours, but I've done less, especially with boneless, thin cuts, such as pork loin or chicken breasts.
At holidays I brine huge birds, and those I do allow to go overnight, but otherwise 6-8 hours is as far as I go.



Note * Kosher salt can be hard to find here, so I use table salt often. However, if you have kosher - use it. Increase the amount of salt to about 3/4 cups. The crystals are bigger so there's more 'Note * Kosher salt can be hard to find here, so I use table salt often. However, if you have kosher - use it. Increase the amount of salt to about 3/4 cups. The crystals are bigger so there's more 'dead' space in the measure between crystals.