The Texas BBQ Forum

I know there was a thread not long ago on chicken injections. I thought I would start a poll on chicken injection/brining/marinating/combination. What do you do?
If you brine, are you using non-brined birds from the store? Most birds these days are already pre-brined from the packer to retain liquid (charge by the pound so it weighs more). If you use a pre-brined bird, how do you overcome that? Make a stronger brine than that used at the packer? It would seem logical that a piece of meat could only draw in X amount of fluid retention through osmosis and diffusion. I would like to hear your opinions on this.

I've been buying chickens from a local meat market and they are fresh. Always tastes better. They run on the small side maybe 3 to 4 pounds max but they are far better than grocery store birds. Just have to watch out for some of the small left on feathers.

txmike wrote:I've been buying chickens from a local meat market and they are fresh. Always tastes better. They run on the small side maybe 3 to 4 pounds max but they are far better than grocery store birds. Just have to watch out for some of the small left on feathers.

yep, agree with above. I believe Sanderson Farms are not injected but they have large globs of fat and are huge at 5 to 6 pounds. I prefer a 4 pound bird as it fits the turnin boxes nicely and cooks quicker.

Also need to watch for wing tips on the natural birds. Sometimes they are missing wing tips and that is no bueno in IBCA cookoffs.

IMO, grocery store birds are fine as long as they have the tips and no cuts or tears in the skin. The solution they are packed in is weak. I rinse and trim my birds before going in my brine and then rinse again afterwards.

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I avoid Tyson and Pilgrims Pride birds, never had much luck with either. I buy the Sanderson Farms birds from HEB, in the 5.25 weight range. Brine for 12 hours, inject the brine about 2 hours before they hit the smoker on Saturday morning.

I like the HEB natural birds. They are in the 3-4 lb range and not injected.

HEB now has central market air chilled all natural birds. I just have a hard time paying $18 for a whole chicken that I'm just gonna inject anyways. Was always curious if the all natural never frozen fresh birds taste better. I like 5 lbers. After the guts are removed and the liquids are out of the package, they are a true 4.5 lb bird