Is It Worth The Extra Time To Make A Restaurant Quality Chicken?

Just reading your comments here and I’m thinking a wet brine vs dry brine chicken video needs to be done 👍

Dude, you should definitely keep going with this style. It just helps so much with the understanding of the mechanics which we cant test it out by ourselves.. wanna see more of em 👍🏼

I have used a brine before. I did not know to air dry the chicken afterward. I knew that Chinese cooks always hang up their duck in a refrigerator before cooking so that the skin can dry out it makes it crisper. I never thought of doing it to chicken. I’m learning so much from this channel. You explain step by step. And on top of all that you have a great sense of humor.

You could also spatchcock the chicken and it will cook evenly. A lot of people don't even know it's a thing. Spatchcock a Turkey and it will save you like 2 hours of cooking on Thanksgiving

I mainly use youtube for cooking channels and this is by far the best channel out there, great content and humor! :)

As someone who's raised chickens several xs over the years, the worst thing that American chicken producers do that affects the flavor of our store bought chickens is they harvest them WAY TOO EARLY! Generally chickens in the u.s. are processed between 40 and 85days old. Way too young, they don't have enough time to develope meat/weight. They try to fatten them up as quickly as possible, and the chickens live in the worst conditions. They almost never get out of the building, never going outside. To be labeled "free range" all the farmer has to do is actually have a small door to the outside. No chickens have to actually go outside, there just has to be a door/opening that they can go out side. But they don't actually let them outside to forage and to eat natural food. They just feed them grain and chicken feed. The chickens will eat an occasional bug that makes its way into the barn, but it's 99.99999% just grain and chicken Feed that they eat

Please do more videos like this! I love to see home cook vs restaurant style cooking. That being said I always brine my whole chickens and turkeys because I like to control what goes in my brine. Thanks for all the content!

Great video. I think Kenji’s method gives you the best of both worlds. 1. Dry brine. 2. Brine = salt+baking powder which changes the pH of the skin making it crisp more easily (and shorter air drying time 3. Spatchcocking the bird roasts more evenly (and faster).

I have always been so skeptical of this channel from watching a lot of your shorts, but after watching some of your longer-form videos, I can say that this is one of the best cooking channels out there right now. Very thorough explanations, super informative, no judgement, I just love this style. Keep it up!

For the home cooked chicken, try brining for only 30 minutes to an hour on the counter so the meat warms up some (from the fridge), then pat dry and apply a thick dry rub (like Texas BarBQ) as opposed to just a sprinkle. This works really well for me - better than no brining at all. But I haven't tried the Restaurant technique before so maybe I just don't know better. I will try it and find out.

I always brine my chicken and pork. But I switch it up depending on the flavor I'm looking for. Also green tea instead of plain water adds a nice flavor to the brine. Gotta go now I'm hungry.

This is such a fantastic amount of helpful information about technique, vs flavor, vs texture, vs time and effort. I really enjoy these kind of videos and Sonny, you explain things so well. I really appreciate all the valuable information you share in your videos and your creativity and authenticity keep me coming back.

Great video! I am not a fan of wet brining, I've done it with chicken and pork and the change in the meat's texture is offputting to me. I prefer a dry brine with rosemary salt - and yes, I know! - anytime. Now I'm gonna go smack my Fridge!

The effort, care and expertise shines through in this video. I think I’ll do a combo of methods depending on the part of the chicken I’m working with since breasts seem to benefit the most from the brining vs other parts of the bird. Highly informative, thank you so much, love the channel!

Awesome comparison. I’m a bird hunter and harvest a lot of pheasant thanks to my pointers (bird dogs). Wild pheasant tends to be quite dry. The brining, trussing “restaurant style” of prepping and cooking is almost mandatory for roasting wild roosters.

I prefer this long form video, really shows your expertise. I actually learned technique, not just a recipe. Keep it up, thanks.

Salted dry brine is enough for a home cooked bird. It adds 100 levels above non dry brined. Carry on! Love your channel!

I loved this one. Never had heard about this brining technique: "the endless learning"! my sister in law once said I should write a cooking book just about chicken wings. I said: "If, I'd make it 3 books and title 'em "Lord of the wings". " :-) I'm in for even more chicken recipes.

Texture on the home cooked chicken leg won because you didn't truss it. You're right, trussing the chicken causes more even cooking, but you want dark meat to cook more, and the trussing prevented that. For the restaurant chicken, if you're going to truss it, start it in the oven on it's side with the leg touching the hot pan. Flip it after a while and give the other leg some time. Then for the final stretch go into the normal roasting position. Many restaurants in Europe roast it this way.

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