How would I add heat to a brine?

Question

I am interested in making roast chicken with a bit of a kick. I'm thinking about adding heat to the brine, but I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be.

How would brine work with hot peppers?

what speaks against sprinkling chile flakes (the ones used for döner) on the chicken in the middle of roasting it? — rumtscho, Jan 19 '12 at 11:51
See also: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/39436/how-deeply-will-the-flavors-in-a-brine-penetrate-chicken — Jolenealaska, Aug 01 '16 at 04:01

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 19 '12 at 08:33

6

Hot peppers won't work with brine, as brine is water-based and capsaicin (the pepper hotness) is not soluble in water. You would need an oil-based marinade to pass the 'heat'.

answered Jan 19 '12 at 08:33

Jacek Konieczny

541
3
6

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 20 '12 at 08:49

I would suggest getting a jar of red curry paste (available in the asian section of the supermarket).

Rub a teaspoon or two on the chicken to give it a bunch of different flavour profiles.

Another option is to make a stuffing for the chicken and put some finely diced chilis in there.

But yes, I would suggest a curry paste rub on the bird.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 16 '13 at 13:42

I'm only a year late, but since I found this post maybe mine will still help somebody. I would Inject the chicken with a heavily diluted and seasoned mixture of Blaire's Ultra Death sauce. I would use something like 5 drops per 1/2 cup of broth. That should do ya ;) You can find Blaire's sauces in specialty stores or online, ebay is where I usually get mine. Good luck. Keep in mind the sauce is not salty, just raw heat with a unique flavor that would work well with any of your normal seasoning methods.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 20 '12 at 05:08

When roasting chicken, if you want to add heat to it, you're probably better off going with some sort of dry rub on the inside of the bird.

If you really want to go with a brine, you could use with an olive oil/vinegar mixture to absorb the oils from any peppers you want to add. You might try applying this after removing from the brine and letting this mixture soak for the last hour or two. However, I'd be worried that it would be too much grease/tang though.

How would I add heat to a brine?

4 Answers4