Geflügel - December 14, 2020

Herbal chicken from the brine

Recipe Facts

Difficulty level:
medium ◉◉◉◎◎

Quantity for:
approx. 1 chicken

Preparation time:
⧗ individual

Grilling time:
⧗ individual

Grill(s) & Equipment:
• ---

Ingredients

Sugar
• 3 liters of water
• 180 g salt
• 120g sugar
• 2 organic lemons
• 5 spring onions
• 3 bay leaves
• 10 juniper berries
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 handful of thyme
• 120g butter
• 1 tbsp fleur del sel
• 2 bulbs of young garlic
many herbs for the herb bed
(what the garden has to offer or what
you get: rosemary,
Thyme, parsley, wild garlic,
Oregano...)
• Salt
• Pepper

Other poultry dishes
is available in
Bookazine Best Chicken

preparation

➊ When brining, you always have to allow some lead time, up to 8 hours for a chicken. It also works with 5 or 6 hours - the important thing is to include the time in your planning.

➋ Bring half a litre of water to the boil and dissolve the salt and sugar in it. Then add the remaining 2 ½ litres of cold water. The brine must be completely cooled before the chicken is placed in it.

➌ Cut a lemon and a garlic bulb into slices, halve the spring onions and add everything to the brine along with the rosemary, thyme, juniper berries and bay leaves. Finally, add the rooster and let it bathe for the next few hours. As soon as the bathing time is coming to an end, preheat the grill. The chicken is grilled completely indirectly at a heat of around 160 °C.

➍ Take the chicken out of the brine and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Use poultry shears or a sharp knife to remove the backbone of the animal so that you can open it up. Lay it skin side up and press firmly on the breast. This will break the breastbone and make it lie even flatter. Pat the inside dry and season with salt and pepper.

➎ Put the butter and fleur del sel in a fireproof bowl and place it in the already warm grill to melt. As soon as the butter has melted, brush the chicken with it. You can also use your finger to loosen the skin from the breast and let a little butter run between the meat and the skin to season the chicken again from the "inside".

➏ Now place a bowl of warm water under the grill to prevent the grill from getting too dirty and to create a nice humid climate. Spread the herbs, sliced lemon and garlic on the grill and place the chicken on the bed of herbs with the skin side up.

➐ After about 20 or 40 minutes, brush with the remaining butter. The aim is to achieve a core temperature of around 80 °C. You should allow about an hour for this. If the skin does not look ideal after 40 minutes, increase the heat in the grill considerably so that it gets to the rooster properly and the skin becomes nice and crispy.

➑ Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before carving.

R ecipe by Bjoern Terhorst

Anyone who lands on the "Time to Meat" website (www.time-to-meat.de) and is not yet hungry is guaranteed to be when they first browse through the various sections. The person responsible for this is passionate griller and IT specialist Bjoern Terhorst from Lampertheim in southern Hesse. In addition to his job, he is a master of the culinary game with fire - and knows how to awaken this passion in others with great esprit through his grill seminars and steak tastings.

Recipe from FIRE&FOOD Bookazine N°9 "Best Chicken"