Avoiding dry bird meat - just in time for Thanksgiving!

3 great tips borrowed from The Mamas Girls blog:

3 Steps to Never Grill Dry Bird Again!

1. Use a Jaccard Tool

How many of you even know what a jacaard tool is? I sure didn’t. It is, essentially, a small hand-held kitchen tool that tenderizes meat. Depending on the type, they can have anywhere from 15 to 50 tiny blades that pierce the meat with many holes. This does a few things to help the end result. It forms tiny channels through the meat which heat can pass though. This means more even cooking, less shrinking, and can yield faster cooking times. These channels also allow juices and marinades to flow through. Tenderizing before using a marinade can allow flavors to penetrate deeper into the meat. This means more a flavorful result! 

2. Brine the chicken

Many of you have probably heard of brining a turkey for Thanksgiving. Many of you probably dismissed the idea because you were afraid of messing it up and ruining Thanksgiving dinner, and having to order take-out on the most important meal of the year. Some of you just said, “what ever it is, isn’t worth the extra hassle of an already long day in the kitchen”. NOT TRUE! A brine has an acidic quality which tenderizes the driest of meats. Turkey, like chicken, is high on the dry scale. A brine also infuses flavor into the meat. It is basically just a marinade.  Now are you warming up to the idea? Here is the brine recipe:

8 c. water

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 T. black peppercorns

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 T. lemon juice

3 whole bay leaves

4 cloves garlic, sliced

Stir ingredients together in a large pot and bring to a boil. Continue stirring until sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool until room temperature. ( I try to make the night before if I remember) After cooling the marinade, place meat or poultry in a Ziploc bag inside another container for support and leakage. Pour cooled marinade into the bag and squeeze out as much air as possible. Seal. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours

Discard brine before using.   Make sure to pat chicken dry. Grill chicken until inside  temp reaches  165° F.

3. Let the Meat Rest

I know you’re anxious to dive into this delicious piece of meat, and to experience what the meat tenderizer and the brine have done, but leave it alone for 10 minutes after you take it off the heat. Don’t poke it, don’t prod it , don’t cut into it.  If you’re worried about it being cold when you serve it, place it on tin foil, and cover it. This allows the fibers to relax and settle into that mouth watering tenderness.