The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

vacuum-sealing machine like the FoodSaver. If you don’t have either of those options, wrap your ...

Day. But it’s not all pie and gravy. There are a few distinct and definite downsides to wet-brining, and man ...

solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration. In this case, water moves from the brini ...

However, I found that despite turning the turkey inedibly salty, a highly concentrated 35-percent salt sol ...

something else going on here. To understand what’s really happening, you have to look at the stru ...

absorbing water and holding on to it. That 30 to 40 percent savings in moisture loss is not really turkey ...

Sample #6: Soaked overnight in plain water (Samples #1 and #6 were included as a control to ensure tha ...

Water-soaked chicken breast. Dry as the Gobi Desert (on an admittedly very-moist-for- a-desert day). Then, take ...

As plump and juicy as a benevolent aunt in a Disney film. Tasting it, there’s a definite case of wet-sp ...

overcooking and drying out). While the brined breast was slightly juicier, flavorwise and texturewise, I’d ...

difference in flavor: the broth-brined chicken still had the same hallmarks of a regular brined ...

down birds. Salting the meat is nearly as effective at preventing moisture loss, and the fla ...

can work its way several millimeters into the bird’s flesh, helping it retain moisture and seasoning it m ...

uncovered, overnight in the fridge. Just don’t let it dry for more than a day, or it’ll turn papery a ...

HOW TO ROAST A BIRD Who doesn’t love roast chicken? Crackly, crisp, salty skin. Moist, tender meat. Deep ...

collects within the protein sheaths. At 140°F: The remaining proteins within the muscle cells coagulate, forcin ...

hand. Here they are, starting with the most effective, and most laborious. ...

POULTRY COOKING METHOD 1 (My Favorite): SPATCHCOCKING ...

I’m gonna come right out and say it: this is the best way to cook a bird, hands down. It’s now the o ...

Here’s how cooking the bird works: Put the bird skin side up on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Bla ...