The Science of Brining

[urbangriller]

Yep, I've got no problem with that.

Pineapple eating Caravaners! What's the world coming to?

Chris

[Commander Cody]

back in the late 70s they had to take a bacon cure orf the market, it was a pineapple cure, cancer causing stuff apparently.....

so, i think that justifies Chris' fear of pineapple. don't you..??..

kevin

[Captain Cook]

back in the late 70s they had to take a bacon cure orf the market, it was a pineapple cure, cancer causing stuff apparently.....

so, i think that justifies Chris' fear of pineapple. don't you..??..

kevin

NO


cheers

[titch]

Thanks Chris.
Kevin ,your a sook.
Cheers.
The pineapple eating Titch

[Commander Cody]

POP.....that was my pacifier (dummy ) falling out after i went...

no i'm not.....when i was little ( in high school ), my mummy said that if anyone calls me names i should get my little sister to smack 'em........
(she was only three ).........these days i rely on my youngest neice, she's only just started walking.......so you watch out........'K..!! and, and my mummy says that i am doing the right thing in giving you a warning too.......

hey, remember who is the comps ossifer..??..i'm gonna getcha my friend......( evil laugh )....

no that was a true story about the pineapple cure, i was working for a butchers' supply co-op at the time. would i tell youes porkies.....would i....

kevin

[urbangriller]

You can still get Pineapple cure...no idea if it actually has the Offensive Fruit (OF) in it, maybe it does, the OF does contain enzymes that denature proteins. Maybe it's supposed to "tenderise" as well as cure?

Chris

[titch]

Got a PM on the caravaners forum which makes the whole exercise worth it I think.
Quote.
Thanks very much for making the effort to get permission to print the "Brining" document.
We are going, this morning, to get some chicken wings and give it a try.
Name with held because it was a personal Message.
Thanks Chris.
Titch

[KRoo Killer]

hey guys was planning on heading up to inskip for a fishing holiday in a month. i am taking a portable smoker up for the fish we catch (hopefully it gets plenty of use). i was thinking could i brine the fish before i smoke it in sea water? they say crab is best cooked in the water it was caught in so i thought the same rule might apply for smoking.

[peteru]

You may want to boil that water first, just to make sure you don't grow some nasties.

[urbangriller]

Seawater is roughly the right concentration for a brine...that will work fine!

Chris

[food&fish]

So to brine a chicken how much salt in say 4 liters water also do you put anything else in the water
whats a good easy rub for chicken Thanks FF

[urbangriller]

So to brine a chicken how much salt in say 4 liters water also do you put anything else in the water
whats a good easy rub for chicken Thanks FF

1 Tab cooking salt to 1 lit water (or other liquid), add any flavour you like.

Easy rub: Salt and pepper. Add some smoked paprika and garlic powder for a "Spanish" taste, add Cumin and garlic powder for a "Mediterranean" taste.
Or go a bit more complex:

Basic Dry Rub

4 Tablespoons Sea Salt (ground medium-coarse)
3 Tablespoons Black Peppercorns (ground medium-coarse)
4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
4 Tablespoons Sweet Paprika Powder
1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
2 Teaspoons Onion Powder

Cheers
Chris

[food&fish]

Thanks picking up chicken today

[Amfibius]

So to brine a chicken how much salt in say 4 liters water also do you put anything else in the water

Normally I wouldn't bother with such a detailed discussion, but since the topic header is "the science of brining", I thought I would make a more detailed post To get an idea of the magnitudes of salinity involved, here are a few numbers for you.

- Normal concentration of salt in blood = 0.9% (i.e. 9gm NaCl dissolved in 1000mL water)
- Concentration of salt in food which tastes "excessively salty" = 2.5%
- Concentration of salt in seawater = 3.5%
- Target salinity for brined chicken = 1.5%.

Suppose you have a 2kg chicken and 4L of water. Let us also assume that the chicken starts of with uniform salinity of 0.9% throughout, and that it is possible to achieve uniform salinity when exposed to another solution (in practice, the salinity never equilibrates - I am only making an assumption for the purpose of this calculation). If you leave the chicken in there for a day, and assume everything equilibrates, the water and chicken will have a final salinity of 0.3%

If you salt the water so that the concentration of the brine is 8% and leave it to equilibrate, the final salinity will be 5.6% (80*4 + 9*2) / 6000 - way too salty.

If you use an 8% brine but use only 2L of water, the final salinity will be 4.45% (80*2 + 9*2) / 4000.

It should be clear that there are 4 factors that affect the final salinity of the chicken:

1. Concentration of salt in the brine,
2. Amount of time you leave the chicken in the brine, and
3. The volume of brine that you have used.
4. The rate at which salt diffuses through the chicken (this in turn is dependent on other variables, e.g. thickness of meat, whether the chicken has been cut to pieces, etc).

The third point is often something which is missed when people discuss brine recipes. This is why a brine recipe that works for me may not work for you. You choose the volume of brine you need to cover your chicken, and in your pot - and my size of chicken and shape of my pot is definitely different to yours.

The fourth point illustrates another important but frequently forgotten factor when it comes to brining. The shape and cut of the chicken matters. 2kg of sliced breast meat will brine differently to 2kg whole chicken, simply because the sliced breast meat will brine very quicly and will equilibrate, whereas a whole chicken will brine slowly and never equilibrate. I do not know the rate at which brine penetrates whole chicken. If I did, I could do a calculation and give you a formula to calculate exactly how much brine you need and how long you need to brine it for to achieve the desired final salinity. This is part of the uncertainty of brining.

As for the first two points (concentration of salt, and amount of time) - you can think of this in a similar way to cooking. Just as high heat means short cooking time - at the risk of overcooking the surface and undercooking the interior - high salt means shorter brining time at the risk of uneven brining. There is no easy way to test salinity unfortunately - if you use a salinity meter you have to somehow remove a piece of chicken and then measure it.

Having said all that, you will find a variety of brine recipes on the 'net. Heston recommends a 6% brine for 8-10 hours. I find that this brine results in juicy, tender, but underseasoned chicken. I personally prefer an 8% brine for 8 hours. I tend to use 4L of water for 2kg chicken. Again, take note of the various factors that might affect the outcome of my brine recipe to yours. What is important is that you develop your own brine recipe and stick to it.

[120ThingsIn20Years]

The Brine Secret to Making Foods Better

If you could catch the process at the beginning of this third stage and replace the brine mixture with a less salty but more flavoursome version you would decrease the saltiness of the final product. This is a bit of a juggling act and there is no reliable method of predicting when the third stage begins my advice is simply to keep trying different batches, replacing the brine mixture until you find a timeframe that provides you with a flavour that you like.

Very interesting post/article.

I'm part way through my first brining, and I keep probing my chicken with a multi-metre to see if I can detect a change in resistance