The Culinary Works

Brining is a topic you hear a lot about on the food channels. But you may find yourself asking, "What is it and why would I want to go through all that effort? Why would I even try it at home?"

You like good food so trust me: you do want to give it a try. Have you ever been out to eat and been amazed at the succulent and juicy chicken or pork? Ever wondered how they did it?

Brining is the answer. We brine raw meats to get a juicier piece of cooked meat. Brining is also used to extend the life of some foods, like vegetables, but for this article, we are going to concentrate on brining meat.

At face value, brining seems a bit complicated. Once you get the hang of it, you will find it a quick and easy addition to your cooking routine. It is likely that you already have everything you need to start brining in your own kitchen, so let's get going.

What is it?

Simply speaking, brining is the practice of soaking something in a simple salt-water solution. The salt and the water are doing most of the hard work in a brine. Once you get past the basics, you will have the option of adding other flavorings, but for the basic discussion, we are going to focus on the salt and the water.

How does it work?

So once again, brining makes cooked meat moister. It accomplishes that by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue during the soaking process. Yes I am wandering back to science class here, but bear with me, because the payoff is awesome.

Remember osmosis?  Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from one place to another. Think of what happens when you drop a dry sponge in a bowl of water. The sponge absorbs water until it reaches equilibrium so that the water pressure on the outside is the same as the inside.

The process in meat is very similar. When you soak meat in a brine, the salt (through osmosis) tends to move from an area of high concentration ( the brine ) to an area of low concentration ( the meat ). Once the meat starts to get a little salty, it tends to take absorb some of the water just to keep things in balance. So now our piece of meat is a little more salty and plumped full of water.

Once the salt is inside the meat, a process called denaturing begins. This is the same process that happens when meat is cooked or when it is soaked in an acidic / alcoholic marinade. The denaturing process tends to unravel the dense fibers of protein, kind of like loosening a roll of yarn into a tangle. This tangle of protein tends to act like a sponge, holding onto the water while the meat is cooked.

There is a lot more going on here from a technical point of view, but this is enough detail to get most people going. There is even a bit of argument between culinary professionals over what exactly is actually happening inside the meat, but we have covered enough ground to make the process work for us.

What to brine

There are no firm rules as to what you want to brine. Yes, you can brine a steak. Do you want to? No.

Most red meats have a bit of fat marbling in them and that helps keep the meat moist during the short cooking process. As a matter of fact, most fatty meats with short cooking times do not benefit from being brined. The internal temperature never actually gets high enough while cooking to cause a substantial loss of moisture. Duck and lamp usually fall into this category when they are farm raised.

What really benefits from a good brine? Think of things that have a longer cooking time: roast chicken, goose and Turkey. Think pork chops, pork loin and tenderloin. Longer cooking times cause much more moisture to be lost.

Also think of sea food: salmon, trout, swordfish, sturgeon and even shrimp. When cooking these types of food, the window between cooked to perfection and cooked like an old boot is very narrow. Brining allows for perfectly cooked seafood with ease.

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