Brining has become synonymous with Thanksgiving turkey, but it's such a great technique that we've started using it all year round for all sorts of different meats! We like to throw pork chops and chicken breasts in a quick brine for extra oomph before continuing on with the rest of the recipe.
Brining is the process of submerging a cut of meat in a brine solution, which is simply salt dissolved in water. The meat absorbs extra liquid and salt, resulting in a juicier and more flavorful final dish. This technique is particularly great for lean cuts of meat that tend to dry out during cooking!
Read on for more info on brining...
The basic ratio of salt to water for a brine is 4 Tablespoons of salt per quart (4 cups) of water.
In a container large enough to hold your meat (and preferably with a lid to avoid sloshing), dissolve the salt in the water. Add your meat. If there's not quite enough liquid to cover, add a solution of 1 cup of water and 1 Tablespoon of salt until the meat is completely submerged. Cover the container and refrigerate.
Since it's so large, a turkey ideally needs to be brined overnight--for about 12 hours. Smaller cuts like pork chops or chicken breast for weeknight dinners take far less time and are typically ready to be cooked in 1/2 hour to an hour.
To infuse your meat with extra flavor, throw some extra spices and aromatics into your brine that will complement the finished dish. Making our Pork Stir-fry with Asparagus and Sugar Snap Peas? Try adding a few slivers of ginger into the brine. For roasted chickens, add lemon rind and a few sprigs of rosemary or thyme. Some folks also like adding sugar (about 2 Tablespoons per quart) into the brine to lightly sweeten the meat.
One quick note: brining is really more of a technique for dry heat preparations like roasting and grilling. The flavor and texture difference isn't as great when braising and poaching in liquid.
Do you brine your meat? What's your favorite recipe?!
(Image Credit: Faith Hopler for The Kitchn, RecipeTips.com, Faith Hopler for the Kitchn)
The chinese way of roasting duck and chicken usually involves brining. I usually make my roast chicken rice http://lekkertje.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html by brining the chicken first overnight then either roasting it in the oven or deep frying. I haven't posted the recipe yet in my blog. For this dish though, I brined the chicken in more than just salt and water - I also added lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon and brown sugar. I will post the recipe as soon as I make it again. The problem with cooking an Asian dish like this for me is we Malaysians tend to use our instincts - or what we call the agak-agak method. s
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Oh, sounds delicious! I love the idea of using lemon grass in the brine.
And I'd say that we're definite "agak-agak" kindred spirits--I definitely improvise and go by instinct all the time when I'm cooking.
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If you really like brining chicken, you can also purchase Kosher chix (such as Empire). Kosher meats are brined immediately after they are slaughtered.
Empire routinely wins the best tasting boneless chix breast comparisons by American Test Kitchen.
view cweingarten's profile
I routinely brine chicken thighs and drumsticks before roasting them, they get so moist and flavorful you barely need to add anything else.
My brine comes from a Martha Stewart's recipe for grilling chicken and pork chops and it's quite similar to this one, except that it uses honey to round up the taste. I usually bring to the boil a cup of water and dissolve salt and honey in it, then add to the rest of cold water and always make sure it is at least at room temp before submerging the meat.
Can't wait to try and add something to flavor the brine, great idea! What about some garlic?
view marcella from italy's profile