On Brine: Uncle Nate Gets Into Detail

 

'Sup, everyone!  On our last podcast (the soon-to-be-infamous HD&C Cocktail Hour, Part 1), we touched a little bit on the mechanics of brining, and it occurred to us that we may have failed to go into sufficient detail on the nuts and bolts of this all-important process.  So here we are to cover a few technical points, so all of you can step your osmotic-pressure-game up!

{Nate's using big words, so you can be positive he's serious about this.  -JS}

Ignore Jesse.  Osmotic pressure is an important concept in brining, so let's knock that out, first thing.  Well, second thing.  

First thing is, why do we brine?

Well, brining accomplishes three major things:

1) Seasoning- brining seasons meat through-and-through.  Rather than a bland pork chop with a salty crust, you have a well-seasoned pork chop, through and through.

2) Moisture retention- It may seem weird, because salt is known to dry things out, but in osmosis (the process that drives brining), the salt in the brine is dissolved in the water, and carries moisture with it into the meat.  Also, it causes proteins to denature, and form a web that further traps moisture.  An unbrined piece of meat can lose 30% of its volume during cooking, whereas a brined piece of meat can lose half that.

3) Shelf life- Without getting too deep onto the science, salt (and sugar) tie up available water, which nasties like bacteria and mold need to flourish.  Any salt (or sugar) brined into a protein will give extra shelf life.  How much depends on how strong the brine is.  A 5% brine on fish may buy you an extra day or two, whereas you can make a ham last literally years.

So what's osmotic pressure, now?

Osmosis, simply stated, works like this (at least, in brining):  You've got meat.  No salt.  You've got salt water.  Meat is moisture-permeable.  Salt wants to flow into areas with less salt.  The greater the difference in salt concentration between a brine and a meat, the greater the osmotic pressure.  Osmotic pressure is how hard the salt wants into the unsalted meat, and is a way of expressing the strength of a brine.  (Actually, technically it's a measurement of how much pressure you'd need to exert to keep the salt out of the brine, but that's getting a little too technical.  This definition is good enough for Hot Dogs and Caviar.)

(Note, the process can work in reverse, too.  You can take a piece of bacon and soak it in unsalted water, to desalinate it a little bit.  Exact same process, the other way around.)

The Bottom Line on Brine:

You've all heard me go on and on about doing that one extra step.  Anything that gives a tiny edge is worth doing.  The sum total of all those separate steps is what separates the three-star badasses, the Fernand Points of the world, from the guys whose names get forgotten.  You don't want to be one of those guys.

What needs to be brined?

Different things take brine differently.  For some things, like most poultry or pork (things that kinda struggle in the flavor department, compared to, say, beef or lamb) can really benefit from it.  Other things, like steak, you almost never see brined.  Seafood is a frequent candidate for brining, and Jesse covered that here.  For slow-cooked meats, it depends on what you're looking for.  If you want to braise something, say, a short rib, and use the braising liquid as a sauce, brining's probably not the best idea, because the sauce can get salty.  On the other hand, you could brine your shorties, and then confit them in a mix of beef fat and vegetable oil, and get something with far-improved texture.  At the end, you have options.  The two things that really, really need brining, every time, are white meat poultry (turkey and chicken breasts) and lean pork (loin, really).  Unbrined pork chops suck, and they dry out fast.  Unbrined turkey is utterly boring.  But really, a lot of this is up to you.

Two Brine Strategies

Okay, so on the cast, we talked about gradient brine and equilibrium brine.  These are the two basic brine strategies.  Gradient brine is making a brine that is a LOT saltier than you want your final product.  You stop the product by watching the time.  (Some things take 10 minutes, some things take 3 weeks, but it's always on a timer.)  Equilibrium brine, on the other hand, involves making calculations to figure out the amount of salt to put in your brine so that when brining is complete, the salt level in the brine and the meat are equal.

Each side has their pros and cons.

Gradient Brining: 

-Is faster (in some cases, many times faster) 

-Can be prone to overbrining. (You need to pull things when they are done.  If you drop the ball, you can ruin product.  Or worse, you can need to come into the restaurant on your day off to pull something off brine, which can really take a bite outta your day.)

Equilibrium Brining: 

-Is slower (very, very much slower)

-Involves slightly more complex calculations

-Has almost no potential for overbrining.  You can let something go an extra day and it's no big deal.

-Can be a little more subtle, flavor-wise (which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your target flavor profile).

So which is better?

As with anything, you'll use them in different places.  What's better, deep-frying or pan-roasting?  Depends what you're making.  Cook, experiment, have fun, you'll figure it out.

A Few Pointers:

-Sugar can be added to the brine, either in large amounts, to sweeten it, or in small amounts, to counteract the saltiness and balance the flavor

-Spices, herbs, pretty much anything flavorful can be added to brine, and the osmosis process will carry those flavors deep into the meat.

-TCM (tinted curing mix) can be added to brines as well, to help the brine do its thing even more, but I wouldn't mess with this unless you know what you're doing.

-Don't re-use brines.  It's unhygenic, and can promote food-borne cooties.

-Only use cold brine, for the same reason (among others).  If you have to heat it to infuse it with flavors from herbs or spices, cool it back down after.  (A cool trick, if you have to rush this, is to make a double-strength brine, and then add ice in equal weight to your initial amount of water.  You'll have cold brine in 10 minutes.)

The Process for Equilibrium Brine:

-Weight meat or seafood

-If the meat has a lot of bone, subtract the approximate weight of the bone.

-Weigh water (typically enough to cover the meat by 1 inch), the final amount will depend a lot on your container.

-Add the weights together, this number will equal 100%

-Calculate salt (and, if using, sugar, spices, TCM) to desired percentage

-Whisk to dissolve the dry ingredients

-Add protein, cover and keep refergeraited for desired time. (see times below)

The (Much Simpler) Process for Gradient Brine (we use Fergus Henderson's salt/sugar ratio)

10L water (50%)
1700 g Kosher Salt (8.5%)
2125g sugar (10.6%)
22L Ice (or 10 Kg) (50%)

Method: heat up all the ingredients except ice to a simmer, or until fully dissolved.  Add ice and stir.

(See why this is simpler?  No calculations to make.  Equilibrium brine has its advantages, but nothing beats gradient brine for simplicity.)

Nate’s Gradient Brine Times: 

Henderson Brine: 100% Water, 10.6% Sugar, 8.5% Salt (TCM and/or Aromatics .62%)

Beef Short Rib (beef chuck flap)                            2 days

Pork Chops                 90min

Pork Belly                                                    2 days  + TCM 1

Lamb Shoulder                 2 day + TCM 1

Pork Shoulder                                              2 days + TCM 1

Duck Leg for Confit                                           3 Days +TCM 1

Chicken Legs                                                  2 Hours

Chicken Wings                                               45 min

Chicken Breast                                              90 Min

Turkey Breast                 4 hours 

Whole Quail                                                  30 Min

Beef Cheeks                 2 days

Veal Breast(bone in)                                  2 days + TCM 1

Corned Beef                                                  3 weeks + TCM 1

Suckling Pig (boneless and diced)                         30min + TCM 1

(A quick and dirty TCM ratio, PROVIDED YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, is 25g per 4L brine, or .62%).

Nate’s Equilibrium Brine Times 100% weight of Product and Water, + salt, sugar aromatics of your choice. Chicken Breast 2% Salt 12Hr minimum Chicken Wings 2% Salt 12Hr minimum SweetBreads 2% Salt 12Hr minimum Quail 2% Salt 12Hr minimum Pork Loin 1.75% Salt 12Hr minimum Whole Turkey 2% Salt 24Hr minimum Duck Breast 1.5% 12Hr minimum Duck Leg 2%+.62%TCM1 24Hr minimum *You can leave them much longer if you want. *add up to an equal amount of sugar *TCM1 and other aromatics use .62%

Anyway, guys, hope all this helps! Brining is an essential technique, and it gets forgotten about by too many cooks.

-NW