Lean and lovin' it: Try a buttermilk brine for tender, juicy chicken
Since I no longer leave my office for lunch, planning five good-for-me, not boring weekday lunches has gotten tough. For me, that takes planning ahead. One of my favorite lunches is cold, roasted chicken finished with locally grown fresh fruit, which right now is more than plentiful.
Sixteen years ago I shared my, then, new idea for using buttermilk, instead of water, to brine a chicken. That concept blended two concepts: combining a simple and basic staple for Indian cooking; marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk to tenderize and flavor it and brining.
Saltwater brines, due to their high salt content, make a solution that denatures meat's proteins. That's fancy scientific-speak for tenderizes. In addition, some of the water in a brine migrates into the meat, pushing the weight up by 10-percent.
If brine is flavored with more than salt, like sugar, pepper, bay leaf, garlic, celery seeds, thyme, or even curry powder or smoked paprika, those flavors also piggyback on the water to season the brined meat.
“Ah-ha,” you may say, “now the leanwizard's idea of using buttermilk to brine chicken makes sense.”
My goal: buttermilk brine a whole chicken, roast it and then chill it for two of my lean lunches for the next week and use the remainder to make a summery chicken salad.
Roasting a brined chicken would also give me the opportunity to use my newly acquired digital thermometer (Thermoworks' Chef's Alarm — thermoworks.com) that stays in the meat throughout roasting and rings an alarm when the meat reaches the set temperature.
One of the components I changed from 16 years ago was how much buttermilk is used for the brine. That recipe required a quart, which seemed wasteful because the brine must be discarded.
For my test I cut the buttermilk in half; using just a pint. Also trimmed the salt and seasonings.
I was able to keep the chicken submerged by using a one gallon zipper-lock bag out of which I could press all the air. I laid the brine bag on its side in my refrigerator, turning it over every once in a while, for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, I removed the chicken from my refrigerator to let it lose some of its chill.
Meanwhile, I began heating my oven to 400 degrees. While it heated, after oiling the sheet pan on which I was roasting the chicken so the chicken wouldn't stick and for easy cleanup; I lifted each chicken quarter out of the buttermilk, let some drip back into the bag and placed each quarter on the pan.
Next, I turned on my new thermometer and carefully inserted the probe's tip into the center of the thickest part of one of the chicken's breasts without touching bone; thinking that when that reaches the proper temperature (160 degrees) the remaining chicken would be done.
Why 160 degrees? According to foodsafety.gov the safe minimum temperature to cook chicken is 165 degrees. From experience, I know that the internal temperature of roasted meats will rise an additional 5 to 7 degrees after it's removed from the oven and rests for at least 5 minutes. Bingo, 165.
How did my chicken turn out? Wonderful it had a crispy golden skin and a moist interior. The dark meat was especially good; moist and tender. Every time I took my chicken to work for lunch folks drifted by telling me I had the most delicious looking lunch in the office.
You can have the same results, too. I just can't guarantee any co-worker compliments.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at don@ theleanwizard.com.