This is a topic that I cannot mention enough to people that like to cook (or even those that just like to eat). It's actually a fun litmus test to see who around me loves to cook. Weddings are a perfect time for this. Plenty of people sitting around tables; talking, drinking, laughing. Dinner is served. Several people looking at the dry chicken entree in front of them, stealing sideways glances at the person who ordered steak. It's not the kitchen's fault. You try cooking chicken breast meat for 100+ people! "If only they had brined..." my wife says to me at the table. One or two other people look up at her and then ask me: "what is brining?"
The Science
Brining is the transformation of raw meat that allows it to retain more moisture (juices) when fully cooked. The fibers (proteins the make up the fibers) of muscle tissue can't contract the same way anymore after brining and therefore more juice is left in the meat on your plate. There. That is all it takes to become the hero of your dinner party for not serving a dried up hockey puck of meat!
This is accomplished by soaking the meat in a saltwater solution for a period of time. Your perfect brine will be dependent on a few variables: size, weight and surface area of the meat, concentration of your brine (amount of salt to volume of water), and time left in the brine. Sounds complicated, but once you have the basics down, it is very easy and fun to shape those variables to meet your needs. I have done brines in 30 minutes for small pieces of meat, and others that I left in the fridge for 24 hours. Add twice the amount of salt, you can cut your soaking time in half. Double/triple the water (or reduce salt) to slow the process down. You can plan/prepare the food in advance to fit your timetable.
Simple Brine Ratios
Let's put the science to work for us in the kitchen. A standard brine is just salt and water. Don't stop there. You are missing a great opportunity to get other wonderful flavors into your meat before you cook. I like to use the following ratios because they encompass the four major tastes: Sweet, Salty, Sour, & Bitter (Umami is a fantastic fifth flavor, but I will honor this emerging flavor profile in a separate blog post soon!). Main credit for my basic brine goes to Brian Polcyn and Michael Rhulman for their book Charcuterie. I will refer to this book more than once on this blog and feel it is not only a great resource on protecting an endangered food art, but perhaps one of the most fun books I have ever read.
Back to the brine, this is a simple solution for two liters of water (and perfect for chicken parts):
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| The basics (how on earth was I almost out of garlic cloves for this picture?) |
120 g of salt*
60 g of sugar
Juice from one large lemon (approx. 50ml or 3 tablespoons)
10 g fresh crushed peppercorns
3-4 smashed cloves of garlic
5-10 g of dried, whole aromatics (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, tarragon, basil, oregano, coriander are typical choices for me)
- Pour 1 liter of warm tap water into a large non-reactive hard sided container (plastic bags could work, but I don't like taking the chance of raw meat liquid leak).
- Add sugar and salt, stir to dissolve.
- Add remaining items aside from the meat itself.
- Add 1 liter of cold water (colder the better - ice water isn't a bad idea once the salt/sugar are dissolved into the first part). Your brine is ready for the meat if it is near or at refrigerator temperature.
- Add the meat (chicken breasts in my head right now) and seal the container.
- Place in refrigerator for desired length of time.
4 hours is generally enough for boneless chicken breasts. More time for larger items (bigger mass, less surface area), less time for chicken tenders or smaller items. Cube chicken for a dish ahead of the brine, and you approach the 30-60 minute "speed brine" when plans change and you have to whip up great food quickly.
After you brine, pull the meat out of the solution and discard the liquid. Rinse the meat and dry it well. it is ready to cook as you normally would for that cut of meat. The sugar added to your brine will help the meat caramelize under high, direct heat (like pan frying).
*I give weights for these measurements because a cup of table salt will not be the same concentration as a cup of kosher salt. They are rough measurements, as well. You will see what you like best; in fact I like to change my acids and aromatics depending on what type of meat is going into the brine.
When to Brine
So, now you know how a brine works, when do you employ this cooking tactic? Anything can be brined, and it is a great way to season your food before you cook it, but for many cuts of meat it isn't really necessary. The deciding factor is pretty simple: How much fat does your meat contain (and where is the fat)? I typically look for a very low amount of fat in a brineable chunk of meat. If the fat is contained in one area of the cut and won't add flavor to all parts of the meat when cooked, you can trim most of it off and brine to bring flavor to the large fat-less area that would otherwise be dry. Great examples of this are whole pork loin (surrounded by fat & connective tissue, but the main muscle of the loin is very lean), beef brisket (you'll think about corned beef a whole new way now), or white meat of most poultry. In the end, brining really can't hurt any meat you would cook, but brining a well marbled steak just doesn't make sense from a time/effort standpoint. Fat is a wonderful ally for cooking great meat; let it have center stage when the time is right.
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| My Cousin's chickens (Egg laying types; not for me to brine, I was told) |
Points of Interest
-A note on whole spices (aromatics especially): Whole dried spices keep their flavors much longer in your cupboard than pre-ground versions and will provide great flavor if you grind only what you use for that recipe. When fresh grinding, remember the finer the grind, the faster they will flavor your brined meat.
-Toasting whole dried spices can add even more new complexities to your dishes. Very low heat for peppercorns, coriander seeds, thyme, etc develop amazing smokey qualities and enhance pleasant bitter qualities as well. Watch them carefully and don't add green herbs until the very end. Take them off the heat when they smell amazing, cool fully then grind away!
-Grinding whole spices can be fun with a mortar and pestle, but converting an old coffee grinder will run circles around the strongest arm in world and is very easy to use. Just don't try to grind coffee with it ever again!
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| Breathing mask and goggles strongly recommended! |
-If using fresh herbs, triple the amount you would use of dry ingredients.
-Acid comes in many forms. Play with what you like, lemon juice is common for me, but so are other citrus juices and vinegars from rice to balsamic to cider (mix n match too!).
-If you have time with your planning / cooking, let your meat rest after the brine. stick it on a drying rack back in the fridge for a few hours. This does several things. The biggest help will be to evenly disperse the salt and flavorings you used during your brine throughout the entire cut of meat. If your surface area was small (think: a large roast) this will be crucial to preventing a salty tasting interior and a less than full flavor middle.
The second thing this does is allow for a bit of dehydration. Your refrigerator is a very dry environment, and anytime you have exposed meat in there, it will very slowly pull moisture off the meat, concentrating the flavors in your meal. An hour or two won't do a tremendous amount of drying, but every little bit helps in my opinion.
If you are grilling brined meat, a third thing you will get from some post brine fridge time is a pellicle. This is a thin, tacky film that forms on the surface of the meat. Don't let that definition turn you away. Hardwood grilling will produce delicious smoke, and many grilled meats benefit even more from this fantastic aroma. Not hard to figure out that I wouldn't suggest using briquettes and half a gallon of lighter fluid for your grill with this technique.
Lastly, brine early and brine often! Play with this a lot until you get comfortable. Brine half of the chicken meat you were going to use for your next meal. Cook them both and compare (Great if you are worried about over salting). Brine pork chops, then cook a small one plain and see if you like the flavor. Brine it longer if it wasn't fully flavored/salted, or if too salty, cut the remaining chops open, stuff with an undersalted stuffing mixture and pan sear them all. Even minor mistakes will turn out light years ahead of unbrined meat, and you can tweak the recipe next time to get it perfect.
