Hello! My name is Shannon Overmiller. The Chef of The Majestic in Old Town Alexandria.

Today, I will be preparing for you roasted chicken and to roast the chicken we’re also going to be doing brine for the chicken which is actually a scientific process which changes the molecular structure. I don’t know the exact details on this but what it does is it fully saturates the molecules in the chicken so they take in water but they won’t release it and how this is done when cooking. It won’t release the water.

So this ensures the chicken stays moist and juicy. You want to brine your chicken for approximately one day and then take it out of the brine and rinse it off. To do this, you’re going to need to bring up to a boil the mixture for the brine and then let it cool completely and then submerge your chickens into the brine for the day. Simply take the chickens, cut them in half or you can do them whole. I’ve already cut my chickens in half. To do this, you simply remove the back bone and split down the middle. That’s all it needs to be done.

For the brine, as we get started, you’re going to need a few ingredients. Some of your ingredients are lemons and orange cut in half. The herbs of your choice and some aromatics and I like to use a bit of dry juniper berries, star anise, coriander seed and fennel seed, salt and sugar. The ratio of salt to sugar is two parts salt to one part sugar. And then you also need water. So, into a pot, what we’re going to add is water. You can add white wine, you can add vinegar, all of this is to your taste. I approximately put in about four quarts for one chicken. The exact measurements will all be on the recipes.

I approximately used four quarts of water, maybe a cup of white wine if you choose. Approximately a tablespoon of fennel, begin to heat your brine, coriander seeds, three pieces of star anise to four, juniper berries about a half of teaspoon, nice garlic clove. Cut up to release the juices. A couple of bay leaves, sprigs of whatever herbs you choose. I like to use thyme, sage, and rosemary, fresh always, if applicable which you can pretty much find them and everything is so convenient for everybody now that you can find them year round fresh.

A few pieces of sage, I like to use a couple of lemons, couple halves of lemons, releasing the juices. And again, my method of cooking is very rustic, home style like your grandma would do and orange and salt. Approximately to this amount, you probably want to have a ½ cup of salt, to about a ¼ cup of sugar, not too much sugar. You want your chicken to be salty not sweet. I do like to have a little bit of black pepper, as well.

We’ll bring this up to a boil, once it comes to a boil, your brine is ready. But you have to let it cool completely. So you want to add in maybe some ice cubes to it to let it cool down because you don’t want it to put on the chicken until it’s entirely cool. Once this is complete, your final brine product comes to a very clear colored liquid. And with this, you would like to submerge your chickens.

These are previously been brined but just to give you an example. You see how plump the skin is and how juicy everything is. When you cook your chicken and you cut into it, you may think that it’s not cooked, but however, it is cooked all the way. If you see a red tint in the vein that is fine, but the chicken as long as when you prick it with a fork after cooking, and the juices run clear at the thigh or near the bone then you know your chicken is cooked. And you do not need to continue cooking it longer. There’s no health hazard at all. You’d rather have it moist and juicy rather than dry.

So, at this point, you want to put your chickens into a container sealed overnight. And you put your brining liquid and submerge them entirely in the brining liquid. And of course, you can leave lemons and all of the things in there. It won’t hurt the chickens at all, because you’re going to take them out, and wash them. And that is your brined chicken.