Too long of a dry brine?

[Damnnearkiltem]

I'm just wondering if anyone has ever gone 24 hrs with a dry brine on chicken. Uncovered as well in the fridge, got hung up yesterday and couldn't put them on the grill until today. Hoping i haven't pushed it too far

[lschweig]

I do it all the time on purpose and is my standard procedure.

[Steve Vojtek]

24 hours uncovered is good it dries the skin out = crispier skin. The chicken will only absorb as much salt as you put on it. That's the beauty of dry brining vs wet brining. It doesn't have the same "time limit"...

[MBMorgan]

24 hours uncovered in the fridge is pretty much the norm for me, too ... just be careful not to use too much salt for brining and make sure that there is no salt in whatever rub you choose when it's time to cook.

[scottranda]

Definitely 24 hours. Go for it!

[Damnnearkiltem]

Thanks guys! That's pretty much what i figured, took the skin off for a houseguest, now i wish i would had left a few pieces with skin to dry out since i let them sit longer than usual

[TheCountofQ]

There is always http://amazingribs.com/recipes/chick...cracklins.html

[Jerod Broussard]

I'm a 2-3 day dry briner. Especially with turkeys, briskets and butts. Of course I have ribeye that might go that long too.

[ecowper]

Turkeys and chickens I try to let dry brine a minimum of 24 hours. 48 hours is even better. :-)

[Spinaker]

As others have said, this is normal for me. Two days is optimal, in my opinion.

[Lost in China]

The time does not matter. What matters is oversalting the chicken to begin with. I learned this one time at a 50 person cookout. The chicken only brined for a couple hours but the damage was done. The chicken will go bad in the fridge before salt penetration becomes a problem.

I still need to compare wet and dry brining of boneless chicken thighs. My theory is wet brining is better but I need a side by side comparison. I need to get my grill back from the bar, it's finally good enough weather to cook out.

[Lost in China]

Maybe take it out of the wet brine and let it dry for a while in the fridge before cooking?

[Huskee]

ecowper I actually find that wet brining produces a crisper skin than dry brining. I thought it was a fluke so I tried a few times. Add sugar to the chicken wet
brine.

[ecowper]

Huskee I may have to try this side by side to be convinced! Lost in China that would work. Issue, to me, is that chicken skin that is wet from water is not going to get crisp.

[HawkerXP]

So.....@Damnnearkiltem, I'm guessing you didn't want to live up to your name?

[Senator Pig]

I prefer dry brining with almost every kind of protein but when it comes to chicken I prefer wet brining over dry brining. Can't explain it, the chicken is just always better when submerged in salty water for a couple days.

I will say, chicken seems to really drink up brine. I labored over 40 chicken lollipops (very time consuming) then brined them in a wet brine using barely any salt at all. Regardless, the lollies were definitely salty. It wasn't overbearingly salty and we ate them all up, but next time I may skip brining them altogether for something like that. Drumsticks are tiny, don't need much salt to get a proper brine.

[Henrik]

24 hours is no problem at all. As Senator Pig states, I also use dry brine for almost everything except whole chicken, where I feel wet brine gets the salt into the meat better, and not just the skin. I don't have any scientific proof, but I feel it tastes saltier/better when wet brining.

[Huskee]

Same here with chicken and pork loin and chops. Dry brining can't be beat for ease and efficient use of ingredients though.

[Ernest]

2 days is the sweet spot for me. A day and half covered, at least 6 hours uncovered (just before cooking)
I have gone 4 days (unplanned) but the bird was vacuum sealed.