Culinary Foundations: Brining

The act of brining a product as a means of preservation has been around for thousands of years.  Most commonly used as a method of curing meats, nearly all societies utilized salt or salt solutions to preserve a wide range of products.  Meats, cheeses, vegetables and even some fruits can be brined for preservation and flavor enhancement.
Brining is different from other forms of preservation or flavor enhancement such as the commonly confused marinating or pickling in many ways.  Before moving forward, to briefly describe these very different processes:

• Marinating:  The act of marinating (verb) a product with marinade (noun) is to introduce a flavor component to your product.  Generally, the marinade is composed of a fat (flavor carrier), an acid such as lemon juice or wine for denaturing the proteins in the meat for a bit of tenderizing action, and some sort aromatic such as herbs, peppercorns, etc...for flavor.  Marinating a product does not generally prolong the shelf life in any real discernible way.
• Pickling:  Pickling a product generally preserves by decreasing the pH level of a product to a safer level for storage.  This is accomplished by introducing an acid such as vinegar as well as  flavor components such as herbs, peppercorns and even sugar to achieve the desired results.  It is believed that pickling was first introduced in India 4000 years ago.
• Brining:  There are two predominate forms of brining a process with very different results...dry brining and wet brining.  Dry brining is used primarily for preservation.  Dry brining can simply be rubbing the outside of a product with salt.  This is often called curing.  Many meats and seafood are preserved in this fashion.  Wet brining is the process in which a salt water solution is used to introduce additional moisture into a product...usually a meat...to increase the juiciness and palatability of a product.  The salt water solution acts to denature the proteins in the meat and, by the very scientific process of osmosis, the end product is much juicier than than prior to brining...as long as the product is cooked correctly!

For applications other than outright preservation, most brines should offer a flavor component.  I like to also add a sugar of some sort to help to off-set the salt flavor, aid in the caramelizing of the meat and to aid in the flavor transfer of my brine.  This relatively easy method of improving a meat has only a few basic steps.  I start most of my brine recipes with this basic recipe.  This brine is particularly useful for pork or chicken. 

• 10wt oz brown sugar
• 8wt oz kosher salt
• 12 ea juniper berries, crushed in half
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3T white peppercorns
• 3T black peppercorns
• 6 ea bay leaves
• 3T whole cloves
• 1 handful fresh thyme

 Combine all ingredients with one cup of warm water to dissolve the sugar and salt.  Rub the brine solution over the meat and place in a large bucket or pot.  Fill the container with cold water and cure for 36 hours.  After curing, rinse the meat with cold water, dry the outside of the meat with paper towels and prepare as you would normally.  DO NOT OVERCOOK.  While there is some added flexibility in cooking after brining, if the product is severely overcooked, you will still be left with a dry, tough piece of meat...making your brining activities for naught.

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