What is seasoning?
Adding salt to your chicken before cooking it draws the flavour and juices out of the chicken. These juices then mix with the salt on the seasoned chicken, breaking down the protein.
Salting your chicken without any further additives, such as spices or oil, will allow the salt to alter the structure of the meat fibres. This will allow the meat to retain a lot more water during the cooking process, allowing the chicken to turn out juicier than usual! This method of seasoning is called ‘Dry Brining’.
Ideal time for seasoning:
Salting and seasoning a chicken anywhere between 2-6 hours before cooking will allow the seasoning to make the meat nice and tender for cooking! For ideal results slow marination have great impact on the juiciness and the absorption of flavour into the meat!
For a nice crust on your chicken, season the meat 3 hours ahead of cooking, let the meat rest and cool off in the refrigerator. On medium heat, place your pan with a dash of oil and lay your chicken flat; this allows for an even cook and will help enhance the quality of the chicken.
How to season and marinate?
For most chefs, Salting and marinating are two different chemical processes with two different speeds. And the gold standard of cooking dictates that we follow the salting and marinating processes separately from one another.
Once your salting process is completed, the salt has penetrated the meat fibres (over a span of a few hours), and the meat has been allowed to become more tender, we begin the marination!
Marinating your chicken allow you to coat the surface of the meat with some excellent flavours using soft herbs of cooking and spices. A combination of salting followed by marinating will yield the best cooking results for your chicken leading to incredibly juicy and flavorful bites!