Baby, it's cold outside, or "the song pandora played most often while i soaked tiny birds in salty water"

Well, at least I've gotten that out of my way very early in my blogging experience; I just accidentally deleted an entire post at the exact moment the thing decided to auto-save, so it's gone.  So this post my second, bitter, attempt.

For Christmas Eve dinner this year, I decided to try a second attempt at brining birds. The first time I'd tried brining was this past Thanksgiving's turkey, which turned out AMAZING.  This time around I thought I'd go for cornish game hens (or tiny chickens).

For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, brining is a magical process wherein you soak meat (or vegetables in the case of pickling) in a salty solution along with herbs and seasoning.  The difference in salt concentration between the solution and the moisture in the meat's cells leads to a phenomenon that could only be comprehended by the highest caliber of chemist; widely referred to as osmosis.  During this alchemical process, the salty solution passes into the meat cells carrying with it any flavors you have added to the brine.  Did you catch that? The flavor literally gets into the meat.   The end effect of this whole thing is that the resulting bird is extra juicy and flavorful.

The brine recipe I have comes from what is probably my absolute favorite food book (as I have mentioned before) Charcuterie (Ruhlman and Polcyn):

1 gallon water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 bunch fresh tarragon (about 1 ounce)
1 bunch fresh parsley (about 1 ounce)
2 bay leaves
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
1 onion, sliced
3 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 lemons, halved

Basically you just throw all this stuff together in a large pot (and I mean large, I just expected to use my largest pot which turned out to only hold exactly 1 gallon so it was a little overflow-y) and then bring it to a boil and simmer it until the sugar and salt are dissolved.  The convenient thing about chopping all this stuff is that, you don't have to worry about the skin or peel or whatever; this stuff is just for flavor so it all goes in.  I usually just quarter the onion and don't even bother cutting the parsley or tarragon at all.  A trick I learned for using black peppercorns is that, wherever you use them, toss them in a frying pan and give them a quick roast, it brings out the flavor a little better.  Give the lemon halves a good squeeze before tossing them in.  It is important that you make sure you will be making enough brine to cover whatever you are brining and also that you have a container in which the bird fits without too much extra room.  A good way of checking this is to put the still frozen bird(s) in your container and then add water with a measuring cup until the bird is completely submerged.  If you need more than a gallon, just multiply the recipe.  I had to do this with the turkey (2.5 gallons) and didn't have more than the originally called for herbs and it came out fine.

Once you've dissolved the salt, allow the brine to cool to room temperature and then chill it in the fridge.

Next you are ready for the bird. I should note that on both occasions I've done this, I made the brine several days in advance to no ill effect.  I like to rinse the bird before placing it in the brine, but I'm not sure that's necessary. Once the bird is in the brine, weight it down with a plate or something so that it doesn't float, it's really important that it stays completely submerged during brining.  Then stick the whole thing in the fridge (or garage or shed or other cold place) for the proscribed time.

Charcuterie has a simple chart for figuring out brining times for various amounts of meat but I also found one here. The 15 lb turkey I did for 24 hrs, the two 22 oz game hens I stuck in the same container for 3h hrs. (over brining can lead to excessively salty meat)

Once the time has come, remove the bird from the brine and rinse it well. Pat the thing dry and stick it, uncovered, back in the fridge for 2 to 24 hours depending on the size of the creature.  This resting period gives the saltiness a chance to work its way throughout the rest of the bird.

Finally, finally we get to cook the thing.  The recipe for turkey in Charcuterie says to go for 450 deg F. So far the wrappings on most birds I've seen say 350.  A mantra I've heard many times in reference to meat is "low and slow" so I tend to go for 350-400 which just takes a little longer.  I also start the roasting with the bird breast-side down which supposedly makes for a more moist bird as well. Then, when the bottom side is nice a browned, I flip the bird right-side up and finish roasting.  The USDA recommends an final internal temperature for poultry at 165 deg F.  The best way to measure this temp. is to stick the thermometer in the meatiest part of whatever you're cooking.  The even better best way is to go find yourself a digital alarm thermometer (about $20 wherever kitchen gadgets are sold) which has a probe you leave in the meat while roasting and an alarm that goes off when it reaches whatever temperature you've set it to. A brilliant piece of technology.

Once you've hit your internal temp; the thing is done! Pull it out, stick dessert in the oven and let the bird rest for another 20 minutes or so before serving, then enjoy the most flavorful, juicy bird you've ever roasted.