Yummy!

wow, sounds like a wonderful way to make chicken, pork to!

This was excellent. My first time brining a bird and I probably won't do it any other way. I smoked them on a barrel grill with cherry wood for about an hour and a half. I also used my own poultry rub on them. Very juicey and flavorful. Deserves a medal.

This recipe uses the most basic brine, water and salt, and produces a bird that's much juicier and more flavorful than an unbrined bird. However, a brine can also impart other flavors as well. You can use fruit juices, cider, beer, wine, liquor, stock, or other liquids to replace some or all of the water. Other ingredients may include sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, citrus fruits, garlic, onion, bay leaves, dried chilies, crushed peppercorns, allspice berries, juniper berries, and other herbs and spices. If desired, you can bring the ingredients to a boil to dissolve any sugars and bring out the flavor of herbs, then cooling the mixture to below 40 degrees F before use. Just make sure you've got the salt in there and that the flavorants are water-soluble; osmosis will then carry the flavored liquid into the meat. Like all cooking, brining is something you should experiment with and adjust to your own tastes.

[I made edits to this recipe.]

[I made edits to this recipe.]

[I made edits to this recipe.]

For the best results when using this basic brine of 1/4 cup Kosher salt per quart of water, the chicken should be left to soak for approximately one hour per pound. However, the amount of brining time is not set in stone...even a little brining is better than none. Before brining, be sure that the chicken was not already brined when it was purchased (Kosher chickens are already brined).

Brining does have one adverse effect on chicken...it adds moisture to the skin as well as the flesh which can prevent the skin from browning or crisping when roasting. Air-drying solves this problem. Letting the brined chicken dry, uncovered, in the refrigerator allows surface moisture to evaporate, making the skin visibly more dry and taut and promotes crispness when cooked. Although this step is optional, it’s well worth the extra trouble. For the best results, air-dry the brined chicken overnight.

The roasting times stated in this recipe may appear low; but brined meat tends to cook faster than unbrined meat. Some people believe that the water added to meat through the brining process conducts more heat, resulting in a faster cooking time. More likely, the denatured meat proteins are partially "cooked" by the brining process, so the heat has less work to do and the meat cooks faster. So, if you're used to cooking an unbrined chicken for a certain length of time, start checking the internal temperature about 2/3 of the way into your normal cooking time. Just be sure to use an instant-read thermometer to accurately check for doneness. [I posted this recipe.]