Equilibrium Brining

I am interested in making a brined chicken-thigh part sandwich. I would like to use buttermilk for flavor, but was wondering if I could use the equilibrium brining technique (1.5% salt) when using buttermilk over 24 hours, or if I should use a different concentration of salt.

No sous vide involved. I plan on brining and double frying; the first to cook through and the second for an extra crispy piece of chicken for service.

Any suggestions or input would be sincerely appreciated!

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Comments

brian_martin2001

I'm not sure if it would work with equilibrium brining, but give it a shot. It'll definitely give it a good flavor regardless.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I do this when I make fried chicken, but I usually let the brine go for 48 hours or more. However, when I'm frying a chicken the pieces are much thicker than boneless chicken thighs (which I assume you'll be using, since it's a sandwich). 24 hours should be adequate to equilibrium brine chicken thighs. Just give them a shake or a stir every once in a while to make sure that the chicken is evenly exposed to the brine.

elviswasjesus

Concur with Brandon. I can't think of a reason why buttermilk as a brining medium would affect the ability of salt to move through the meat. I suspect you've seen it already, but in case you haven't, friend of ChefSteps Kenji Lopez-Alt posted a great piece on fried chicken brined & cooked more-or-less this way recently.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-best-southern-fried-chicken.html

Lou_34544

I tried the 1.5% brine with buttermilk on boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Chicken came out very juicy, but I'm not sure there's a big benefit over using water. That being said, I have a few questions I was hoping the community could help me with. I'm doing this for fried chicken sandwiches, and a take on chicken parm. I fried in a commercial deep fryer (so no real temperature loss in the oil) and the chicken barely cooked through at 370 (breading got pretty dark and was almost unpleasant tasting at that point.) Also, my flour dredge breading didn't quite stick and fell off rather easily (I did Kenji Lopez's method of going straight from the buttermilk brine into the flour.) After the fry, it flaked off. Anything sous vide is not an option. So..

1) A recommended temperature to fry at in a commercial fryer for chicken thighs ( relatively thin) or a chicken breast that's been split so it's a little thinner? I would say it's probably the thickness of a Chik-Fil-A breast.

2) A breading method so the coating sticks a bit better? I'm thinking of brining in water only, then pat dry, flour, egg. flour? Or, is there a way to simplify this with the buttermilk only and get the breading to adhere better?

Thanks again for the help!