Brine and Inject or one of the other?

[kingr]

I got one of the injector kits for my birthday and am wondering if I inject a chicken, should I still brine it before I put it in the smoker?

I've always done the salt and brown sugar mix and they come out delicious. Just wondering if I need/want to brine it if I am going to inject it.

Thanks

[thirdeye]

It will take less time if you do both, inject your flavor brine and then submerge your chicken in the remainder of the brine. If I just do a straight brine, I go several hours for chicken pieces. If I do both, I'll only go a couple of hours. Store bought corned beef briskets, and hams are both brined and injected with the brine for this reason.... to save time.

One thing that's important when brining is to let your meat rest in the fridge for at least an hour after you remove from the brine and rinse. This gives the liquid that was in motion time to settle down. In other words the meat near the surface can be saltier if it's not rested a while.