The local Piggly Wiggly had bone in skin on breasts for $1.00/lb, picked up a pack of 7.5 lbs. Found some Mad Hunky poultry brine n the spice cupboard, thought it would be a good time to try it. My plan was to brine the breasts overnight, wasn't sure to rinse or not the next morning, but planned on rinsing.
Anyhow, got sidetracked and ended up not rinsing. Put them on the keg direct, as if doing a low & slow without a diffuser, at 225* with just a little cherry and pecan for smoke. Planned on doing a gradual temp rise and a high heat lid open finish to brown the skin. Checked them after an hour and the temp was 165*, forgot that doing them direct would speed the cook. They weren't brown at all but were at the done temp for breasts. I do not like overcooked, tough, dried out breasts so I removed them into a foil pan and let rest uncovered. Now what?
Chicken Salad Bailout?
I then remembered that RG puts his ribs on the gasser after saucing to set up the sauce. So I broke out the Weber and cranked all four burners up to wide open. Sprayed the Mad Hunky breasts with some Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray and on the Weber and hoped for the best. Ground some fresh cracked black pepper on them for the only additional seasoning besides the brine.
Wow, these were good. Not salty at all. Brined a whole turkey in the past, didn't rinse, it was almost too salty, but it had the salt brine injection that the frozen turkey makers do these days to make the birds weigh more.
Mad Hunky brines are more of a phosphate based brine than a salt based. (no idea what the difference is)
Couldn't believe how moist they turned out after being grilled twice. I lucked out as even the skin turned out crispy and edible, thanks to the high direct heat of the Weber. I'll be ordering more of the brine from Mad Hunky as well as some of the Hot Whang rub. That would have been a great addition to the breasts, but I was wanting to try just the brine to see how it stood on its own. Added a nice flavor in addition to the moistness, maybe some sage and a hint of rosemary?
Check out how juicy these were even after being cooked twice!!
