Has anyone added herbs and garlic to their Brine?

How did it turn out? I was thinking about heating up the water and salt to dissolve faster and thought I might add some smashed garlic, rosemary and thyme. Don't want to ruin dinner so hoping someone else has given this a try already. I've tried the buttermilk options before and found that it made the thighs gloppy and not super crisp. They were edible but disappointing.

Katie Wells
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Judy Hesser’s Oven-Fried Chicken
Recipe question for: Judy Hesser’s Oven-Fried Chicken

1 Comment

Lori T.
Lori T. January 11, 2021
Most of the flavor compounds you want to taste are best carried by fat, not water. They also won't have enough time for much to migrate into the chicken in the brining. The point of the brine is just to plump the chicken with water so it is less likely to dry out in the baking. If you want to add flavor to the chicken, that's best done by adding whatever herbs and seasonings you like to the flour mixture it gets shaken in. You will need to use dry seasonings only, and blitz them finely to distribute them more evenly through the flour. Then you are more likely to get the tastes you are looking for. To get oven baked chicken the most crispy, let your floured chicken set a few minutes skin side up to dry some. Then get the pan and butter nice and hot before you put the chicken in the pan, skin side down. That gets things about as crispy as you can do by oven frying.
 
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