The Texas BBQ Forum

For you briners here is a test, weigh yer brine before adding yardbird and weigh after removing yardbird! There ain't gonna be much difference I assure ya! Not much difference means not much went into that bird. Don't take my word for it, do the test yerself.

I am a rookie but the only success I have had so far is chicken. Got 3 out of 5 calls with third out of 26 as my best and I have been brining. I tried Big Dave's test and shore nuff there was little change in weight. But I brined half the chicken and not the other half. Did everything else the same. The brined half of the chicken was juicier.

Tried the injection next time and the flavor was better. Next comp I am going to do both and look for my first win.

Thanks for the info Dave!

PaulWhita wrote:

For you briners here is a test, weigh yer brine before adding yardbird and weigh after removing yardbird! There ain't gonna be much difference I assure ya! Not much difference means not much went into that bird. Don't take my word for it, do the test yerself.

I am a rookie but the only success I have had so far is chicken. Got 3 out of 5 calls with third out of 26 as my best and I have been brining. I tried Big Dave's test and shore nuff there was little change in weight. But I brined half the chicken and not the other half. Did everything else the same. The brined half of the chicken was juicier.

Tried the injection next time and the flavor was better. Next comp I am going to do both and look for my first win.

Thanks for the info Dave!

Iif you think that was great info, you should try some of Big Dave's rub!!

Southern Pride BBQ wrote:I know the great Harvey Gebhard always said you gotta make chicken taste like chicken, when you can do that you got it going on, hahahaha !!!

The great Harvey Gebhard also taught me some chicken tips in exchange for some brisket tips. I have use his tips and made them even better to my tastes and then presto we place 1st chicken out of 121, and even beat the canterburys, and Howard and Teresa a few times. Still chasin ol craig sharry though. his days are limited! Very happy with my product. My secret "brine injecting" and a very special rub that I get from a local meat market. Since we switched to a uds strictly for chicken Cookin over coals for that grilled taste, we have improved our scores to top 10 almost every Cookoff we go to.

Ole' Craig Sharry's days are limited ??? Really ???? Please tell me more ......

Sounds like a good ol' fashioned chicken throwdown! J$ v/s Pepper Jelly.....and in this corner...I'm going to stay out of the way since I have only placed in chicken once all dang year.

That’s some good information big Dave. Now to get someone to open up on a comp brisket how to the same way! lol.I do love the way I do my chicken but I think I will try the same. Would Chicken broth do the same? If you get it cool enough with seasoning or did I just lose half the forum? I do brine my chicken but with a chipotle jalapeno brine from Academy. You can for sure taste the brine and it makes for some incredible chicken fajitas.

I think people mess up on brines by already buying pre-brined chickens. Alot of places do this becuase it increases the weight and the stores sell it by the pound.

I've tried brining, marinating, injecting..... Whatever method that gives you flavor to the bone, thats what you want. I really didnt like the rubbery skin I got with brining. I gave up on it and found a method that works for me. I still truely believe that brining is the way to go, I just havent figured it out yet. I will keep working on it until I make it work. Right now, I'll keep using my method.

I've heard Harvey brines, uses a very common rub found in most grocery stores and a simple glaze. Chicken should taste like chicken...... Rednecks Chicken Scratch will do that for you if you havent tried it. First time I used it, I placed first!!!!!

Big Ed wrote:

PaulWhita wrote:

For you briners here is a test, weigh yer brine before adding yardbird and weigh after removing yardbird! There ain't gonna be much difference I assure ya! Not much difference means not much went into that bird. Don't take my word for it, do the test yerself.

I am a rookie but the only success I have had so far is chicken. Got 3 out of 5 calls with third out of 26 as my best and I have been brining. I tried Big Dave's test and shore nuff there was little change in weight. But I brined half the chicken and not the other half. Did everything else the same. The brined half of the chicken was juicier.

Tried the injection next time and the flavor was better. Next comp I am going to do both and look for my first win.

Thanks for the info Dave!

Iif you think that was great info, you should try some of Big Dave's rub!!

Thanks for the kind words Paul & Ed! We don't do much advertisin of our rubs as we just let it spread by word of mouth! But these are the rubs we use and usually do purdy good! Some other folks are doin well with them too!

http://bigcountrybarbecue.com/?page_id=112

texana wrote:Ole' Craig Sharry's days are limited ??? Really ???? Please tell me more ......

I'm on the hunt for ya brotha!
Done spanked me twice, that chit gotta stop!
I'm proud for ya man just like I said in the emails, but your on a wanted poster now

bruno994 wrote:Sounds like a good ol' fashioned chicken throwdown! J$ v/s Pepper Jelly.....and in this corner...I'm going to stay out of the way s[*]ince I have only placed in chicken once all dang year.

Just for clarification Craig has placed 3rd and 2nd in chicken in our last 2 meetups
I placed 12th and then after seeing what in a judges liked in that area, I changed up a little and snatched a 4th.
Hey it's competition, nobody goes and spends $500+ each event hoping to loose.

IMHO I think that if ya wanna do well in a certain area, you need to judge that comp. we never did any good in comps until we started judging. I take any advise championship cookers give me and practice it till I can do it with my eyes closed.

Tried my first brine on some chicken thighs... I was pleased and consider it well worth the effort. I'll be doing that again.

Thanks to all the thread contributor's.

Speed wrote:I think people mess up on brines by already buying pre-brined chickens. Alot of places do this becuase it increases the weight and the stores sell it by the pound.

I've tried brining, marinating, injecting..... Whatever method that gives you flavor to the bone, thats what you want. I really didnt like the rubbery skin I got with brining. I gave up on it and found a method that works for me. I still truely believe that brining is the way to go, I just havent figured it out yet. I will keep working on it until I make it work. Right now, I'll keep using my method.

try brine injecting! 6% salt by weight, no rubbery skin
I've heard Harvey brines, uses a very common rub found in most grocery stores and a simple glaze. Chicken should taste like chicken...... Rednecks Chicken Scratch will do that for you if you havent tried it. First time I used it, I placed first!!!!!

If your following Harvey, I highly recommend you look into trying some Stubbs products. I really like the chicken marinade strained and skeeted under the skin with a turkey baster and some rub. Just sayin

This is how I do my chicken. The brine really works well. I then put a rub on it and Bada bing

http://youtu.be/JvsMDHuCDh0

JMoney7269 wrote:

Speed wrote:I think people mess up on brines by already buying pre-brined chickens. Alot of places do this becuase it increases the weight and the stores sell it by the pound.

I've tried brining, marinating, injecting..... Whatever method that gives you flavor to the bone, thats what you want. I really didnt like the rubbery skin I got with brining. I gave up on it and found a method that works for me. I still truely believe that brining is the way to go, I just havent figured it out yet. I will keep working on it until I make it work. Right now, I'll keep using my method.

try brine injecting! 6% salt by weight, no rubbery skin
I've heard Harvey brines, uses a very common rub found in most grocery stores and a simple glaze. Chicken should taste like chicken...... Rednecks Chicken Scratch will do that for you if you havent tried it. First time I used it, I placed first!!!!!

If your following Harvey, I highly recommend you look into trying some Stubbs products. I really like the chicken marinade strained and skeeted under the skin with a turkey baster and some rub. Just sayin

I'm not following him, just helping spread information passed along to me.

Sorry speed, didn't mean to make it sound like a puppy dog. I meant it this way ^^^^^

Right now I'm brining and putting some parkay/rub under the skin. Gonna experiment with some injections too.

And who the eff is Harvey..?!