Extremely long repostings of numerous AFB about brining, by many
different contributors. Some old, old names most of you probably never
heard of. If you can't brine after this, don't come crying to me! ; )
Enjoy, Mike (Piedmont)


This article is from the March 25, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle.
{Posted By: Ed Pawlowski, Nov 06, 2002}
Ready For Brine Time

Salt and spices put old-fashioned flavor back into modern meats

Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer

Have you had it with tasteless, juiceless pork chops and sawdust chicken
breasts? Many professional cooks have, too, which is why they're turning
to an age-old technique to restore the flavor and moistness that many
meats used to have naturally.

In a growing number of restaurant and home kitchens, brining is putting
the juice back into pork chops and at least some taste back into
factory-raised chickens. By soaking the meat for hours or days in a
seasoned salt-water solution, cooks find that they can transform lean
pork and poultry with minimal cost and effort.

"This brining, it's become an urban legend," says Pam Anderson, Cook's
Illustrated executive editor who has written about brining for the
magazine and jokingly calls herself "the brine queen." Anderson once
roasted more than 30 turkeys to find the best cooking method, settling
on an overnight brine as an essential first step. "Every time we do a
poultry story now," says Anderson, "we find that salt is the answer."

With brines, cooks like Anderson are trying to compensate for the
shortcomings of modern animal husbandry. Chickens raised to market
weight quickly on carefully formulated feed don't have the flavor of
those old-time barnyard hunt and peckers. Nor does pork have the taste
appeal it used to. Bred for leanness to accommodate contemporary
concerns about fat, American pigs are 50 to 70 percent leaner than they
were 20 years ago, says East Bay sausage maker Bruce Aidells. Fat,
whatever its other failings, contributes moisture and flavor.

"When they decided to market pork as the new lean white meat, they
completely ruined the product," complains Nancy Oakes, chef at Boulevard
in San Francisco (and Aidells' wife). "If you cook pork loin at home,
you end up with this hard, dry, very lean white meat."

In response, Oakes began brining pork several years ago at L'Avenue, her
former San Francisco restaurant. At Boulevard, a spit-roasted pork loin,
brined for four days, is a menu fixture, and brined turkey breast with
applesauce is a favorite staff meal.

Aidells, too, is a brining convert. His forthcoming book on meat, due
this fall from Chapters Publishing, will include a small treatise on the
practice. "To be honest with you," says the meat maven, "unless you're
really careful, it's damn near impossible to produce a decent pork chop
without brine."

The succulent cider-cured pork chop at San Francisco's 42 Degrees
testifies to brining's merits. Chef Jim Moffatt swears by the technique,
not only because it infuses the meat with flavor but because it gives
the kitchen a larger margin of error. A brined chop will stay moist even
if it's cooked a little too long.

By what mechanism does a little salt water work such magic? "It's our
old friend osmosis," says Harold McGee, the Palo Alto specialist in the
science of cooking. "If there's more of a diffusable chemical in one
place than another, it tries to even itself out."

Because there's more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
absorbs the salt water. There, the salt denatures the meat proteins,
causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. And if
the brine includes herbs, garlic, juniper berries or peppercorns, those
flavors are trapped in the meat, too. Instead of seasoning on the
surface only, as most cooks do, brining carries the seasonings throughout.

Aidells calls this technique "flavor brining" -- done not for
preservation (which would require a saltier solution and longer
immersion) but for enhancing texture and taste. Even a couple of hours
in a brine will improve bland Cornish game hens, says Anderson, or give
chicken parts a flavor boost before deep-frying or grilling.

Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended brining
times. But generally speaking, the saltier the brine, the shorter the
required stay. And, logically, the brine will penetrate a Cornish game
hen or duck breast much faster than it will penetrate a thick muscle
like a whole pork loin or turkey breast. Meat left too long in a brine
tastes over seasoned and the texture is compromised, producing a soggy
or mushy quality.

Most cooks start their brine with hot water, which dissolves the salt
and draws out the flavor in the herbs and spices. But they caution that
the brine should be completely cold before adding the meat or it will
absorb too much salt.

By playing around with the liquid base and the seasonings, chefs give
their brine personality. Some use apple juice or beer for some or all of
the water. The smoked turkey that Jeff Starr of Stags' Leap Winery
produced for a food editors' conference in Napa Valley last year was
brined in orange juice, rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar; some
who tasted it swore they would never cook a turkey any other way again.

Seasonings can run the gamut from thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and garlic
to cinnamon stick, star anise or vanilla. Many cooks put some sugar in
their brine to sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooked.
Others avoid sugar, arguing that it makes everything taste like ham.

Whatever their recipe, brining advocates keep looking for other uses for
their favorite technique. Anderson says some people brine shrimp for
half an hour; she herself has begun soaking chicken parts in salted
buttermilk before frying to get the benefits of brine with the
tenderizing effect of the buttermilk. If cooks like Anderson and Aidells
continue to preach the gospel of brining, diners can kiss sawdust
chicken goodbye.

WHAT THE PROS KNOW

Here are some tips to start you in the brining business:

A heavy-duty plastic tub, earthenware crock, stainless-steel bowl or
even a re-sealable plastic bag can work as a brining container as long
as the meat is fully submerged. Weight with a plate if necessary to keep
the meat fully covered by brine.

To determine how much brine you'll need, place the meat to be brined in
your chosen container. Add water to cover. Remove the meat and measure
the water.

Start your brine with hot water to dissolve the salt (and sugar if
using) and to draw the flavor out of any herbs and spices. Chill brine
completely in the refrigerator before adding meat.

Although some cooks prefer lighter or heavier brines, 1 cup of salt per
gallon of water is a happy medium. Use kosher salt that has no additives.

Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else is
optional. Consider garlic, ginger, fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove,
cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, mustard seed, coriander seed, star anise,
hot pepper flakes or Sichuan peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge and
encourage browning, add 1/2-cup sugar to each 2 quarts of water.

You don't need to rinse meat after you remove it from the brine unless
the brine is highly salted (more than 1-cup salt per gallon).

Don't salt brined meat before cooking; it is already salted throughout.

Don't reuse brine.

HOW LONG TO BRINE

The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own
taste determine how long to brine an item. For a moderately strong brine
(1 cup salt to 1-gallon water), the following brining times are rough
guidelines. If you aren't ready to cook at the end of the brining time,
remove the meat from the brine, but keep the meat refrigerated.

Shrimp: 30 minutes
Whole chicken: (4 pounds): 8 to 12 hours
Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
Cornish game hens: 2 hours
Turkey (12 to 14 pounds): 24 hours
Pork chops (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch thick): 1 to 2 days
Whole pork tenderloin: 12 hours
Whole pork loin: 2 to 4 days

Bird Brine
By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times Deputy Food Editor

Posted By: Alan Zelt, May 09, 2001

If someone told you to go soak your bird, you might take offense. But it
could be the best cooking advice you've ever gotten.

Brining - essentially soaking meat or poultry in a solution of salt and
cold water - has long been used as a preliminary step in smoking. It
flavors the meat and also plumps it, giving it the needed moisture to
withstand the long, slow, dry cooking that the smoking process involves.

But what's good for the smoker is also good for the roaster - and for
the grill too. Campanile's Mark Peel figures he brines about 100 turkeys
a year before roasting them at his restaurant. Most wind up in
sandwiches at lunch.

"We started brining the turkeys about three years ago and, to tell you
the truth, I can't remember why," he says. "My sense, in an
unscientific way, is that it gives a tenderness to the meat.
"That's especially necessary with turkeys. With the turkeys you buy,
even the organic ones, the breast meat is pretty dry. That's because
they've been bred for big breasts. The white meat has very little blood
circulation and very little fat in it. But if you brine it and roast it
properly, it doesn't turn out dry."

There's a very good reason for that, according to Alan Sams, an
associate professor of poultry science at Texas A&M University. Sams,
who has published several papers on brining poultry, says it's basically
an electric thing.

"What is happening is that salt [the chloride part more than the sodium]
penetrates into the muscle," Sams says. "The charged ions cause the
muscle fibers to swell, and that sucks in even more water. It also binds
the water to other protein, meaning the meat holds more water during
cooking. That's what causes the juiciness effect.

"The three big benefits I've seen are increased juiciness, better flavor
because of the saltiness and improved tenderness," Sams continues.
"Brining generally creates a looser protein network. It's the discharge
propulsion - the negative ions repelling each other and loosening the
muscle fibers."

All of this was documented in a 1977 paper by five scientists from the
University of Florida. They compared roast chickens that had been
brined, chickens that had been soaked in plain ice water and
chickens that had not been treated.

They found that the brined chickens scored much higher with testers in
terms of flavor and tested better for juiciness and tenderness (the
difference in tenderness was much greater for white meat than for dark).
Microbial testing also showed slightly lower populations of various
bacteria in the brined chicken than in the others.

I knew none of that the first time I tried brining. Having read
something about it somewhere, last summer on a whim I tried soaking some
cut-up chicken in a weak brine (a couple of tablespoons of salt to about
a quart of water) for an hour or so before grilling. The results were
decidedly favorable. The chicken was plumper and juicier, had real
seasoned flavor throughout and didn't scorch nearly as quickly.

As the holidays approached, I thought I'd try brining my turkey. I
started small, running through a few roast chickens before stepping up
in class. I wound up with a brine of about 2/3 cup of salt to a gallon
of water - about a 5% saline solution. If you're going to smoke your
bird, it can handle a more forceful brine. Try using a full cup of salt
per gallon - that's about 7%.

I tried concentrations from 10% down to 2%, and the main difference was
in the amount of saltiness - the texture was improved even with a fairly
weak brine. Incidentally, if you're worried about sodium intake,
remember that the meat absorbs only 10% to 15% of the brine - roughly 1
to 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt per turkey.

When Thanksgiving arrived, I took the plunge - and so did my bird.
Finding a bath big enough to brine a 14-pound turkey can be a bit of a
bother. (And so can clearing enough space in the refrigerator to store
it.) I ended up using the biggest stockpot I had, and a plain 5%
salt-and-water brine. I turned the bird occasionally to make sure it was
evenly cured.

After six hours, I removed the turkey from the brine and dried it. Then
I returned it to the refrigerator in the empty stockpot to dry further
overnight. I wanted it to have a nice crisp skin – something that's
difficult to achieve if there's much moisture present.

The next day I stuffed the turkey and roasted it in my usual way - 450º
F for the first 45 minutes, then 325º F until a thermometer registered
160º F when poked in the fat part of the thigh. (The USDA recommendation
of 180º F, by the way, allows considerable margin of error. With a
20-minute rest, a 160º F turkey will reach 170º F - more than enough to
kill any bacteria.) When I checked the temperature of the stuffing, it
was still a little cool, so - mindful of the danger of salmonella – I
returned the turkey to the oven until the stuffing reached 160º F.
The turkey was puffed, bronzed and gleaming. And unlike most roast
turkeys, this one did not deflate in the 20 minutes between roasting and
carving. It retained its swollen grandeur all the way to the table.

When I carved the breast meat, I noticed another peculiar thing: The
white meat had developed that somewhat thready appearance you get when
you overcook the breast meat (the result, no doubt, of waiting
for the stuffing to get safe). Usually that means dry meat that crumbles
when carved. But in this case, the slices held their shape perfectly and
the meat was moist and tender.

What's more, the meat was nicely seasoned throughout. Cold, the next
day, it made terrific sandwiches - even the parts closest to the bone,
which normally taste bland and under-seasoned.

Coincidentally, Judy Rodgers of San Francisco's Zuni Cafe tried her
first brined turkey this year. Rodgers is a big fan of salt and uses
what she describes as a "dry brine" on most of the meat dishes at her
restaurant, including her famous roast chicken. She salts the meat
dishes the normal way, only she does it hours (or even a day) before
cooking.

"Most of the salt that goes on food in this restaurant goes on before
you wake up in the morning," she says. "It's something I learned from a
restaurant I worked at in Paris. The matriarch would always say, 'Put a
little salt on it and let it rest.' It makes the meat more succulent. I
don't know exactly how it does it, but it changes it - and it changes it
in a way that I like."

This Thanksgiving, however, Rodgers decided a real wet-brine was in
order. "That sure was good," she says. "I used my classic brine for pork
chops: 2 parts salt to 1 part sugar mixed in water. For my turkey, I cut
back a little further on the sugar to more like 4 to 1. Poultry and
sugar is not a big hit to me, but a little sweetness is OK.

"I put the turkey in the brine on the Friday before Thanksgiving, then
took it out Tuesday night and rinsed it real well, then dried it and let
it sit a day before roasting. I've found that when you brine big meats,
the taste is more even if you let it rest a day before cooking. If you
pull it straight out of the brine and roast it, it's not as tender, and
the surface of the meat will be too aggressively salty. If you let it
relax and stabilize, it generalizes the degree of brininess throughout."

Of course, brining is nothing new. Until recently, smoked meats were
very heavily brined (meat processing textbooks give formulas of 12% to
15% salt). And there is an old Welsh dish called salted duck in which a
bird is dry-salted for three days before being slowly poached, starting
in cold water. Not exactly brining, but the same principles might be in
effect.

Although my brine was a simple salt-water solution, Peel and Rodgers
used a combination of spices and herbs for additional flavor. Sugar is a
component of many brines.

Arthur Maurer, a professor of poultry product technology at the
University of Wisconsin who has done a lot of work with smoked poultry
says sugar does three things for a brine: "First, it's a flavoring; it
helps mellow out the saltiness. It also helps with browning, especially
if there's some left on the surface. It can
also help with the ionic strength of the brine, helping the meat take up
more of the moisture."

And because most dried herbs and spices are water soluble, their flavor
will penetrate the meat as well. Using fresh herbs and garlic probably
won't have much of an effect, though. Besides, even a turkey wouldn't
want to take a bath in garlic.

Roast Brined Turkey

You can substitute Mark Peel's brine recipe for this or develop one of
your own. The important guideline is 2/3 cup salt to 1 gallon water.
After that, feel free to play with seasonings to your taste, though be
aware that some dried spices, such as cloves and bay leaves, are very
powerfully flavored and should be used cautiously.

Basic Brine

2/3 cup Salt
1 gallon Water
12 to 14 lb. Turkey

Combine salt and water and stir until salt dissolves. Pour brine over
turkey in pot just large enough to hold both. If turkey is completely
covered, don't worry about using all of brine. Cover with foil and
refrigerate 6 hours or overnight, turning 2 or 3 times to make sure
turkey is totally submerged.

Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate,
unwrapped, 6 hours or overnight.

Place turkey on its side on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast at 450º
F 15 minutes. Turn turkey to other side and roast another 15 minutes.
Turn breast-side up and roast another 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 325º F and roast until meat thermometer inserted in
center of thickest part of thigh registers 160º F to 165º F, about 2
hours. Remove from oven and set aside 20 minutes before carving.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Each of 12 servings

--
Regards,

Piedmont

The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm

The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz

Brine Part 2
And this...

BBQ Mailing List
Posted By: Wiley Mixon, Jul 28, 1999

I got this from the BBQ mailing list. There is everything you need to
know about brining. Thanks to Mike Lulejian for his time in putting this
together.

(Editor Notes: Table of Contents added by editor)

Part I €“ General Questions
Part II €“ More Questions After First Brine
Part III €“ Time In Brine
Part IV €“ Fergy and Dan Gill
Part V €“ Recipes
Part VI €“ Post by Ed Pawlowski: San Francisco Chronicle Article
Part VII€“ Article From A Web Page

BRINING - THE COMPLETE ARTICLE

By: Mikey Lulejian, (Atlanta, GA) June 28, 1999

This is hopefully the most complete factual info available about
brining. We start off with our
questions, and the respective responses from experienced people - Top
Pitmasters In Their Own Rights.

We then go on to further information after saltiness was encountered on
our first go-around. We have added some WONDERFUL articles and thoughts
from another two of America's top Pitmasters, Fergy and Dan Gill (added
6-28-99).

We also offer some excellent brining recipes. And we almost finish this
with a wonderful article that
details brining in all aspects. And finally we end with Part 7, another
excellent web page on brining.

< NOTE: Part 7 - Article From Wed Added 6-24-99 >

Please be careful with what you put into your brine solution. Acidic
foodstuffs, such as apple juice,
beer, orange juice should never be used on poultry.

Hope y'all enjoy this!

PART 1 - GENERAL QUESTIONS

1.Do people smoke other than whole chickens? I would really like to
smoke breasts, but the one time I tried breasts, they really did not
turn out all that good.

Dan Martin (DM): I have smoked boneless, skinless breast's with good
result's. I rub them with my regular rub I use on butt's, smoke at 300ï‚°
F for about an hour or an hour and a half. I use a polder probe in the
thickest part horizontally. I go to about 150ï‚° F internal, I know that
sounds low but by the time I let them sit for a bit they are up to 175ï‚°
F. I than put a light coat of sauce on them and sometime roll them on
the grill just to crisp up a bit.

Bob In GA: Yes, I believe so. In fact people have actually been heard
saying they "smoked" barbecue also, so I guess anything is game

Kit Anderson (Kit): Yes. I prefer cutting them in half and keeping the
backs for stock.

2.Is the Beer can approach the best way to do chicken?

DM - I have done it also. I still like to roll on the grill to crisp up.

Billy In Texas (Belly): Not for me.

Kit: "Chicken On A Throne" is a "presentation" recipe. Meaning folks
laugh when they see the chicken propped up with a beer can. You put
spices in a beer can, stuff it in the chicken and smoke it. The problems
a

A. Waste of spices. There is no resulting flavor from putting spices in
the beer.
B. The chicken falls over a lot.
C. It doesn't get hot enough to evaporate the beer so it adds nothing to
the moistness.
D. You have to buy beer in cans. The only good beer in cans is Guinness
and the IRA will put a
nail bomb in your smoker for wasting it. So you are stuck buying
swill beer which only
encourages them to make more.
E. The can keeps smoke from getting inside the chicken.

The result is good but not due to the beer. Use the rub and
forget the can.

3.How do you do (i.e., smoke) chicken wings?

DM: 2 hours at 250ï‚° F, with a lot of hickory. I than dip in a "buffalo
wing" sauce and finish on the grill.

Belly: Soak them in Oil, Beer and Dr. Pepper, Louisiana Hot sauce for 1
to 3 hours. Then smoke for about 1-1/2 hours, or till done.

Kit: Like the rest of the chicken.

4.How do you get the skin done, so that it is not like 'rubber' and yet
not dry out the chicken at the same time ?

DM - Cook at a hotter temp., and finish on grill.

Bob In Ga: I think this is where your term "smoking" and "grilling" come
into play. With pieces, I can get the skin very crisp and edible, almost
as good as hog skin by grilling it very fast on my 8" grill. It more
resembles fried chicken than slow cooked chicken. My only guess to have
the best of both worlds would be to slow cook first and then finish the
skin as you would a pork bbq cut. But this may prove to require a lot of
judgment in knowing when to switch methods. You could easily overcook
your chicken trying to blister the skin. I think it's basically like
cooking pork bbq but there may not be as much room for error in judgment
because of the lack of fat in chicken.

Belly: Cover with tin foil after smoke gets to your liking.

Kit: Move it to the hot spot or increase the temp to 350ï‚° F for the last
30 minutes.

5.Any suggestions for time and temperatures for:

Breasts?
Whole Chickens?
Wings?

Bob In GA: Time will obviously depend on the size of the meat in
relation to temperature. As for
temperature, throw away your thermometer when cooking the skin.

Belly: Breasts 45 to 60 minutes at 250ï‚° F to 300ï‚° F, Whole Chickens 3
hours at 250ï‚° F, Wings 45 minutes.

Kit: A 4-LB bird will take about 4 hours at 250ï‚° F. Start breast down
for one hour. Pull it off when
the breast temp is 170ï‚° F.

6.What about seasonings ?

Bob In GA: Avoid any finishing sauce that contains ketchup/tomato
products. You may as well have oven-cooked it if you go that route. Salt
and pepper works good as do most ethnic spice schemes.

Belly: Any thing you like, Sweet Suzy Rub.

Kit: Peanut oil, pepper, sage, thyme, lemon pepper...the sky is the limit.

7.What does brining do to the chicken meat?

DM: Helps retain moisture, adds flavor if you spice the brine.

Belly: Makes it better, lots more moist.

Kit: It draws water into the meat and starts cross linking (coagulation,
cooking) of the
cellular proteins. This raises the temp at which the cells
breakdown losing their moisture.
Hence, juicier meat. The flavor is also enhanced.

8.Is brining a necessity? I have heard two conflicting opinions to
brining. One, that it is
the only way to go. Two, that it was just too salty for people's
tastes.

(IMPORTANT NOTE; Please read both the below part, as well as Part #2).

DM - Rinse REALLY WELL.

Belly: You MUST wash chicken a good two times after brining and dry
good; then put your seasonings on.

Kit: If it is too salty, you brined too heavily or too long.

9.If we were to brine, would you brine chicken breasts and wings also?

DM: Absolutely.

Belly: YES, YES

Kit: Yep.

10.And lastly, while we are on brining, I have read several places that
people brine more than just poultry. Any comments ?

DM: Have only tried chicken.

Belly: Just chicken for me.

Kit: When making pastrami or corned beef. The flavor from brining is not
desirable in pork
or beef BBQ. They will taste like spam!

11.Seasonings you might suggest for poultry smoking ?

Belly: Sweet Suzy Chicken Rub (makes out of sight Chickens) While you're
at it, use Belly's BBQ Rub or Paluxy Valley BBQ Rub, For pork Ribs try
Jack's Rib Rub.

Kit: See above. Just don't salt the meat if you brined.

PART II - MORE QUESTIONS AFTER 1-ST BRINE

Well€¦ We did our first brine this weekend. The results were rather
incredible. Very juicy and
tender meat.

There was, however, too much salt for the breasts, and almost right for
the full-sized hen. We did
use Kosher salt, and we did let the solution cool completely before we
added the poultry. We also did
wash the poultry twice before we let it dry €“ smoked 9 hours later.

1.Would using sea salt, which supposedly has less sodium, be as good as
using regular or Kosher salt ?

KIT: No. Use kosher (doesn't have to be capitalized) or pickling salt.
Save sea salt for baking bread. To reduce the sodium, use less salt.

Someone Else: No, it would just be a lot more expensive. Don't use
regular salt either. Stick with kosher salt.

2.Can the percentage of salt used in the solution (1 cup per gallon) be
reduced without affecting the brining process substantially?

KIT: Oooo !..... 3/4 cup per gallon is the upper end!!! Add 1/2-cup
brown sugar. It will reduce the salt flavor.

S.E: Yes. The starter for my brine has 3/4 cup of Kosher salt and 2/3
cup of white sugar. The sugar seems to reduce the salty taste.

3.Can Dr. Pepper be substituted for 1/2 of the water? Example:
1/2-gallon water, 1/2-gallon Dr. Pepper, 3/4-cup sea salt, other spices
as desired. (And the "Dr. Pepper" could also include orange juice, beer,
apple juice, etc.).
4.
KIT: Keep away from acids in the brine. It will cause the meat's
exterior to get mushy. Dr. Pepper is loaded with phosphoric acid.

S.E.: Well, I don't know about Dr. Pepper. Belly swears by it. You want
to increase the sugar level in your brine, and Dr. Pepper might just
work. Stay away from any acidic liquid such as orange juice or vinegar
when brining tender cuts of meat.

5.Any further comments.

KIT: Yeah...What's wrong with Glavine?

PART III - TIME FOR FOOD TO BE LEFT IN BRINE

Shrimp: 30 minutes
Whole chicken: (4 pounds) 8 to 12 hours
Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
Chicken breasts: 1 hour
Cornish game hens: 2 hours
Whole turkey: 24 hours
Pork chops: 12 to 24 hours
Whole pork loins: 2 to 4 days

PART IV - THOUGHTS FROM FERGY AND DAN GILL

(Added June 28, 1999)

Fergy's Thoughts On Poultry

After brining, for turkey seasoning, I simply use just salt, pepper,
onion, garlic. Sprinkled on.

Baste with butter, garlic and onion. Inject with a
Honey-Butter-Garlic-Onion mixture after brining in: Salt, Garlic, Onion,
Molasses and Brown Sugar Brine. I do them a little fancier than I really
need to. Simple is good!

Dan Gills's Web Page Advice On Brining

Dan Gill is another one of America's most respected PitMaster's (like
Fergy, Danny G, Dan Gill, Rock, Kit,
Belly), a title bestowed upon very few.

He has an EXCELLENT home page: http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/

With a VERY large section dedicated to BBQ'ing and Smoking, and helping
others to learn the right methods. He also has a rather complete page
detailing the brining process.

http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/S...ng.htm#poultry

He has kindly allowed me to "borrow" his page intact.

NOTE: Dan is also the most kind host of the "6th Annual Remlik Steamed
Crab, Silver Queen, and Q Feast" held at his home in Virginia at the end
of July. You can real all about it at

http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/Announce.htm
Turkey: To brine or not to brine

By Dan Gill

Turkey and chicken may be slow smoked but the skin is rubbery and not
very good.

They don't need a great deal of smoke flavor, so temperatures of 275º F
to 325º F are ideal. Use lighter
flavored woods such as cherry and apple.

If you smoke a turkey at temperatures of 180º F to 225º F, you need to
brine it or risk making everyone very sick because the bird spends a lot
of time in the danger zone (40º F to 140º F.). At 250º F and above the
risk decreases dramatically. List members (starting with me) discovered
that brined birds are moist and taste really good. Many of us have
publicly declared that we will not cook another turkey without brining
it first.

Some people are sensitive to salt and find that birds subjected to the
full treatment are too salty for their
tastes. To reduce the saltiness, add sugar, decrease salt, decrease
brining time or soak the bird in fresh
water for an hour prior to cooking. You can brine just with salt but
since salt takes flavors in with it, why
not take advantage.

Sugar moderates the salty taste and helps keep the birds juicy. Most of
the people who have commented that their birds were too salty did not
use enough sugar. The garlic, ginger and maple flavors are very subtle
but enhance the flavor of the bird. For safety, I would definitely
recommend using the brine full strength when cooking below 200º F. At
higher temperatures, you can cut the salt in half if you are salt sensitive.

Do not over cook! Brined birds cook faster so be careful and use a real
thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast. Cook to 170º
F internal. There is no need to cook with the breast down because the
bird will be plenty juicy.

Estimate how much liquid will be required to completely cover the
bird(s). For each gallon (which should cover one 16# whole bird or two
8# breasts), mix:

1-1/2 cups Salt
1/2 cup Molasses
1-1/2 tbs. Garlic, crushed or minced garlic (or garlic powder)
1/2 tbs. Onion Powder
1/4 cup Black Pepper
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Maple Flavoring

I also usually throw in about 12 oz ginger ale. Alternatively, use 1/2
tbs. ginger (ground, minced or
whatever) in place of the garlic and onion.

Cover birds completely with brine and refrigerate overnight. In the
morning, remove from brine and
drain while preparing smoker. Smoke at around 275ï‚° F (measured at grate
level) to an internal temp of
170ï‚° F, basting with butter every few hours to give you the golden brown
skin.

PART V - EXCELLENT BRINING RECIPES

Here are a couple of different recipes to try, Jim Minion;

Honey Brine for Poultry

1 gallon water
1 cup Kosher Salt
1 oz. Tender Quick (2 tbs.)
1 cup Honey
3 Bay Leaves
1/4 tsp. Cloves, ground
1/2 tsp. Pickle Spice

Mix ingredients and bring to boil, allow to cool to room temp and brine
recommended times in the brine post.

Here is a second recipe,

Molasses Brine

1 gallon Water
3/4 cup Kosher Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Molasses
2 tbs. Black Pepper
1 tbs. Thyme
1 tbs. Oregano

Bring mix to boil and allow to cool to room temperature.

You can do your own other ingredients like maple syrup, garlic, onion,
allspice, ginger, or spices you like can be used.

*****************

Zippy Smoked Chicken

Here's a little hopped-up brine that I did for 6 chickens yesterday.
Smoked at 230º F for 3-1/2 hour,
was scrumptious. Did with hickory. Fishing time is here now and the boy
and his friend caught a few brookys threw them in the brine after the
chickens came out. Grilled them ...and they were outstanding. Brined the
chickens 14 hrs.

Zippy Smoked Chicken Brine

5 gallon Water
4 cups Salt
4 tsp. Garlic powder
4 tsp. Onion powder
3/4 bottle Liquid Smoke (just do it)
1-1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed
3 tbs. Oregano
4 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Cayenne
1/2 cup Olive Oil
5 Bay Leaves
4 tbs. Pickling Spice
13-oz. Jalapeno, can of whole, plus juice (snapped jalepenos in half)
3 tsp. Celery salt

All the dry spices put in warm water for half hour or so then dumped
chicken in brine.

Smokin in Montana
Don
ONE LAST RECIPE

Karen Green wrote: *I think* that (other than the smoking, if course)
the big flavor enhancer is injecting the chicken with spiced beer the
night before. Whaddaya think?

kg

Now you're talking. But consider this; A marinade only penetrates 1/4"
into meat. So that means a lot of
poking. If marinated too long, the acid makes the texture mushy. A
marinade, BTW, has oil, acid, and
spices. The way to get the flavor into the meat is brining because as
the salt is absorbed, it brings
in the flavors from the brine.

A brine is salt, water, and spices.

Funny. As a beer judge and home brewer, I am not big on beer marinades.
They end up reminding me of a
garbage can. (I think that may be acetaldehyde, but that's another
story.) Dan Gill's turkey brine is
superb. My favorite brine follows. I have used it on chicken, turkey,
duck, and venison. Just brine
for a few hours if smoking. The pastrami is excellent, BTW. Plain old
water (1 gal) and salt (3/4 cup) is
also excellent.

Duck Pastrami

By: Emeril Lagasse

1 tablespoon Black Peppercorns
3 teaspoons Thyme, dried
3 Bay Leaves, crushed
1 teaspoon Cloves, whole
2 tablespoons Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Juniper Berries, whole
1/3 cup Juniper Berries, crushed
4 cups Water
1/2 cup Brown Sugar: light, packed
1/2 cup Kosher Salt
1 Duck Breast: boneless, split ~2.25 lb.
1/4 cup Ground Pepper, coarse ground

In a small mixing bowl, combine the peppercorns, thyme, bay leaves,
cloves, garlic, and whole juniper berries. In a saucepan, over medium
heat, combine the water, brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and stir
to dissolve the sugar and salt. Remove from the heat and add dry spice
mixture and steep for 1 hour. Place the duck breast in a glass or
plastic container.

Pour the seasoned brine to cover the breasts completely. Cover and
refrigerate for 48 hours, turning the breasts a couple of times. Remove
the duck breasts from the brine and rinse thoroughly with cool water.
Pat dry with a towel. Preheat the oven (smoker) to 250º F. Combine the
crushed juniper berries and ground black pepper in a small bowl.

Using the palm and heel of your hands, press 2/3 of the berry and pepper
mixture into the underside of the breasts. Press the remaining mixture
onto the skin side. Place the breasts, skin side down, on a rack in a
roasting pan in smoker) and roast for 1 hour. Remove and let cool for 30
minutes. Wrap the breasts tightly in plastic wrap and place in an
airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 week before
using. To serve, remove the meat and slice thin.

He serves this on French bread with provolone, mustard and onion marmalade.


Dan's Chicken Marinade

(Editors note: there is a variation of this in Mixons repost that
follows, which may help you understand this recipe better. Given that
the upcoming ingredients have no quantity)

Recipe By: Dan Gill

Ginger ale
Vinegar
Ginger
Garlic powder
Salt
Turmeric
Hot sauce
Cayenne powder
Old Bay seasoning

For chicken, I use a marinade and mop based on ginger ale and vinegar
with ginger, garlic powder, salt, turmeric, hot sauce, cayenne powder,
and Old Bay for flavor. These are my standard and favorite spices but I
also look through the cabinet to see if anything else sounds good at the
time. No measurements - I just pour in what I think is right for the
amount of chicken. When the mixture passes the smell and taste test, I
dump in the chicken. After the chicken has marinated, I boil the liquid
(for safety) and use it as a mop.

Brine Part 3



PART VI - IMPORTANT BRINING ARTICLE

This includes RECIPES From FAMOUS Restaurants!

Terry Light: Long IMPORTANT Ed Powlowski Post About Brining:

I've copied below a post from Ed Pawlowski about brining. I tried the 42
Degree Cider Cured Pork Chops recipe but used a tenderloin instead of
chops. It was excellent!

I'm kinda sold on the whole brining idea. For sure, I won't ever cook a
turkey again without brining it first. I once "over" brined some wings
(got called out of town and they were in the brine 72 hours!) which
tasted a lot like ham but otherwise have had good success doing it.

Hope the article is of some value!
Terry Light
Oak Hill, Virginia

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

This article is from the March 25, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle. I have
not tried any of the recipes in
this article.

READY FOR BRINE TIME

Salt and spices put old-fashioned flavor back into modern meats.
Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer

Have you had it with tasteless, juiceless pork chops and sawdust chicken
breasts? Many professional cooks have, too, which is why they're turning
to an age-old technique to restore the flavor and moistness that many
meats used to have naturally.

In a growing number of restaurant and home kitchens, brining is putting
the juice back into pork chops and at least some taste back into
factory-raised chickens. By soaking the meat for hours or days in a
seasoned salt-water solution, cooks find that they can transform lean
pork and poultry with minimal cost and effort.

"This brining, it's become an urban legend," says Pam Anderson, Cook's
Illustrated executive editor who has written about brining for the
magazine and jokingly calls herself "the brine queen." Anderson once
roasted more than 30 turkeys to find the best cooking method, settling
on an overnight brine as an essential first step. "Every time we do a
poultry story now," says Anderson, "we find that salt is the answer."

With brines, cooks like Anderson are trying to compensate for the
shortcomings of modern animal husbandry. Chickens raised to market
weight quickly on carefully formulated feed don't have the flavor of
those old-time barnyard hunt-and-peckers. Nor does pork have the taste
appeal it used to. Bred for leanness to accommodate contemporary
concerns about fat, American pigs are 50 to 70 percent leaner than they
were 20 years ago, says East Bay sausage maker Bruce Aidells. Fat,
whatever its other failings, contributes moisture and flavor.

"When they decided to market pork as the new lean white meat, they
completely ruined the product," complains Nancy Oakes, chef at Boulevard
in San Francisco (and Aidells' wife). "If you cook pork loin at home,
you end up with this hard, dry, very lean white meat."

In response, Oakes began brining pork several years ago at L'Avenue, her
former San Francisco restaurant. At Boulevard, a spit-roasted pork loin,
brined for four days, is a menu fixture, and brined turkey breast with
applesauce is a favorite staff meal.

Aidells, too, is a brining convert. His forthcoming book on meat, due
this fall from Chapters Publishing, will include a small treatise on the
practice. "To be honest with you," says the meat maven, "unless you're
really careful, it's damn near impossible to produce a decent pork chop
without brine."

The succulent cider-cured pork chop at San Francisco's 42 Degrees
testifies to brining's merits. Chef Jim
Moffatt swears by the technique, not only because it infuses the meat
with flavor but because it gives the
kitchen a larger margin of error. A brined chop will stay moist even if
it's cooked a little too long.

By what mechanism does a little salt water work such magic? "It's our
old friend osmosis," says Harold
McGee, the Palo Alto specialist in the science of cooking. "If there's
more of a diffusable chemical
in one place than another, it tries to even itself out."

Because there's more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
absorbs the salt water. There, the salt
denatures the meat proteins, causing them to unwind and form a matrix
that traps the water. And if the brine includes herbs, garlic, juniper
berries or peppercorns, those flavors are trapped in the meat, too.
Instead of seasoning on the surface only, as most cooks do, brining
carries the seasonings throughout.

Aidells calls this technique "flavor brining" €“ done not for
preservation (which would require a saltier solution and longer
immersion) but for enhancing texture and taste. Even a couple of hours
in a brine will
improve bland Cornish game hens, says Anderson, or give chicken parts a
flavor boost before deep-frying
or grilling.

Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended brining
times. But generally speaking, the
saltier the brine, the shorter the required stay. And, logically, the
brine will penetrate a Cornish game hen or duck breast much faster than
it will penetrate a thick muscle like a whole pork loin or turkey
breast. Meat left too long in a brine tastes over seasoned and the
texture is compromised, producing a soggy or mushy quality.

Most cooks start their brine with hot water, which dissolves the salt
and draws out the flavor in the herbs and spices. But they caution that
the brine should be completely cold before adding the meat or it will
absorb too much salt.

By playing around with the liquid base and the seasonings, chefs give
their brine personality. Some use apple juice or beer for some or all of
the water. The smoked turkey that Jeff Starr of Stags' Leap Winery
produced for a food editors' conference in Napa Valley last year was
brined in orange juice, rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar; some
who tasted it swore they would never cook a turkey any other way again.

Seasonings can run the gamut from thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and garlic
to cinnamon stick, star anise or vanilla. Many cooks put some sugar in
their brine to sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooked.
Others avoid sugar, arguing that it makes everything taste like ham.

Whatever their recipe, brining advocates keep looking for other uses for
their favorite technique. Anderson
says some people brine shrimp for half an hour; she herself has begun
soaking chicken parts in salted buttermilk before frying to get the
benefits of brine with the tenderizing effect of the buttermilk. If
cooks like Anderson and Aidells continue to preach the gospel of
brining, diners can kiss sawdust chicken goodbye.

WHAT THE PROS KNOW

Here are some tips to start you in the brining business:

A heavy-duty plastic tub, earthenware crock, stainless-steel bowl or
even a re-sealable plastic bag can work as a brining container as long
as the meat is fully submerged. Weight with a plate if necessary to keep
the meat fully covered by brine.

To determine how much brine you'll need, place the meat to be brined in
your chosen container. Add water to cover. Remove the meat and measure
the water.

Start your brine with hot water to dissolve the salt (and sugar if
using) and to draw the flavor out of any herbs and spices. Chill brine
completely in the refrigerator before adding meat.

Although some cooks prefer lighter or heavier brines, 1 cup of salt per
gallon of water is a happy medium. Use kosher salt that has no additives.

WATCH THIS !!!!!!! Try LESS kosher salt. Maybe 3/4 to 2/3 cup per
gallon. Do NOT try and use sea salt.

Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else is
optional. Consider garlic, ginger,
fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean,
mustard seed, coriander seed, star anise, hot pepper flakes or Sichuan
peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge and encourage browning, add 1/2
cup sugar to each 2 quarts of water.

Rinse meat twice after removing it from the brine solution.

Don't salt brined meat before cooking; it is already salted throughout.

Don't reuse brine.

HOW LONG TO BRINE

The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own
taste determine how long to brine an item. For a moderately strong brine
(1 cup salt to 1-gallon water), the following brining times are rough
guidelines. If you aren't ready to cook at the end of the brining time,
remove the meat from the brine, but keep the meat refrigerated.


Shrimp: 30 minutes
Whole chicken: (4 pounds) 8 to 12 hours
Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
Cornish game hens: 2 hours
Turkey: (12 to 14 pounds) 24 hours
Pork chops: (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch thick) 1 to 2 days
Whole pork tenderloin: 12 hours
Whole pork loin: 2 to 4 days

SUPER-JUICY ROAST CHICKEN WITH GARLIC & THYME

Even the breast meat is moist in this simple roast chicken, which spends
half a day in brine. If desired, brine it overnight, then remove it from
the brine in the morning but keep refrigerated until dinner time.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Chicken, 3-1/2 to 4 pounds
1 Lemon, halved
1 gallon Water, boiling
1 cup Kosher Salt
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
4 cloves Garlic, peeled and halved
1 tbs. Peppercorns, coarsely cracked

INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Combine all brine ingredients in a
bowl, small crock or heavy-duty
plastic container just large enough to hold the chicken. Stir to
dissolve the salt. Cool, then refrigerate until
completely cold. Place the chicken breast-side down in the brine. Weight
with a plate if necessary to keep the chicken completely submerged.
Refrigerate for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425ï‚° F.

Remove chicken from brine and allow to air dry at room temperature.

Squeeze 1 of the lemon halves in the cavity, squeeze the other over the
skin and then put both halves in the cavity. Truss the bird with string.

Place breast-side down on a rack in a roasting pan; roast for 30
minutes. Turn breast-side up and continue roasting until the juices run
clear, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken breast-side down to
a platter and let cool for 30 minutes. Remove the string and discard the
lemons. Carve the chicken into serving pieces and spoon any collected
juices over them.

Serves 3 or 4.

42 DEGREES' CIDER-CURED PORK CHOPS

4 center-cut pork loin chops, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches thick
Olive oil

Brine

4 cups Water
2 cups Cider, hard
1/2 cup Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Brown Sugar: light, packed
10 Peppercorns, whole
4 Bay Leaves
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
1 Onion, chopped
1 Carrot, peeled and chopped
1 Celery, chopped
1 Apple, peeled and chopped

INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Combine all brine ingredients in a
saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then remove from heat and let
cool. When cool, refrigerate until cold.

Add the pork chops to the cold brine. Weight with a plate if necessary
to keep the chops completely
submerged. Refrigerate for at least 1 day or up to 2 days.

To cook: Remove the chops from the brine and pat them dry. Heat 2
skillets over moderately high heat. Add just enough oil to coat the
bottom of each skillet. When the skillets are hot, add the chops and
reduce heat to moderately low. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn and cook
until the chops are no longer pink at the bone, about 10 minutes longer.

Serves 4. The calories and other nutrients absorbed from brines vary and
are difficult to estimate. Variables
include the type of food, brining time and amount of surface area.
Therefore, these recipes contain no
analysis.

VANILLA BRINE

This recipe makes enough brine for a 4 to 6 pound boneless pork loin, or
six; 1-3/8 to 1-1/2 inch-thick
center cut pork loin chops, or 4 pork tenderloins, 1 to 1-1/4 pounds
each. The recipe is from a forthcoming
cookbook on meat.

By: Bruce Aidells

INGREDIENTS:

9 cups Water, boiling
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Kosher Salt
2 tbs. Black Peppercorns, coarsely cracked
2-1/2 tsp. Vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS: Combine all brine ingredients in a bowl, small crock or
heavy-duty plastic container; stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Let
cool, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Add pork of choice (see headnote). Weight with a plate if necessary to
keep the meat completely submerged.

Refrigerate 3 days for pork loin, 1 to 2 days for chops and 12 hours for
tenderloin. Stir the brine each day
and turn the pork occasionally.

Roast or grill pork loin or tenderloins. Grill chops or pan-fry
according to directions in Cider-Cured
Pork Chops.

BOULEVARD'S STAFF TURKEY

If you're feeling flush, says Boulevard chef Nancy Oakes, substitute
apple juice or cider for the water, and
reduce the honey to 1/2 cup.

3 to 3-1/2 lb. bone-in turkey breast, bone in
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 quarts Water
3/4 cup Honey
1/2 cup Kosher Salt
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 Rosemary sprig, about 4 inches long

INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Bring water to a boil, then pour into a
container just large enough to hold the turkey breast; cool for 5
minutes. Add honey, salt, mustard and pepper; whisk until honey
dissolves. Add rosemary. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Add turkey breast to the chilled brine. Weight with a plate if necessary
to keep it completely submerged.
Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days.

Remove the turkey breast from the brine, place in a roasting pan and
bring to room temperature. Preheat
the oven to 350ï‚° F.

Roast the turkey for 30 minutes, then brush with the olive oil. Continue
roasting until the internal temperature reaches 150ï‚° F on an instant
read thermometer, about 30 minutes longer, basting occasionally with the
drippings. Remove from the oven and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Serves 6.

PART VII - BRINING ARTICLE FROM WEB PAGE

(Added June 26, 1999)

http://www.sirius.com/~evanc/brining.html

All of us know of the benefits of Brining, especially for todays leaner
meats. No longer are there old hens running around on grandmas farm like
one of my former instructors used to talk about. The pigs are eating
grain cooked to 136ï‚° F. I for one am completely sold on the benefits of
brining, everything from whole chickens and pork loin to fish and
seafood. This is how brining works.

Because there is more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
absorbs the salt water. There, the salt denatures the meat proteins,
causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. And if
the brine includes herbs, garlic and other seasonings, those flavors are
trapped in the meat too. Instead of seasoning on the surface as most
cooks do, brining carries the seasoning throughout.

Even a couple of hours in a brine will improve bland Cornish game hens,
and give chicken breast, pork chops, fish or even seafood a flavor
boost. Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended
brining times. But generally speaking, the saltier the brine, the
shorter time is required.

And the brine will penetrate a chicken breast or pork chop much faster
than a large thick muscle like a whole pork loin or turkey.

Meat left too long in brine tastes over seasoned and the texture is
compromised, producing a soggy or mushy quality, By playing around with
the liquid base, you can give your brine some personality. Some chefs
use apple juice or beer for some or all of the water. A mixture of
orange juice, cider vinegar and rice
wine vinegar is an excellent base for brining turkey.

Seasonings can run anywhere from thyme, rosemary and garlic to star
anise, cinnamon and vanilla beans. Many chefs put some sugar in their
brine to sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooking. This is
good for pork, but it tends to make everything else taste like ham.
Brining chicken parts before frying using salted buttermilk will give
you the benefits of the brine plus the tenderizing effect of the
buttermilk. Whatever you choose to use, brining is a very effective tool
for dealing with todays leaner meats.
How Long to Brine

The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own
taste will determine how long to brine for an item. 1 gallon of liquid
to 1-cup kosher salt is a happy medium. If you cant use kosher salt,
cut the
salt by half. Obviously, brined meats do not need to be salted before
cooking, because they are already salted throughout the meat.

Preparing the brine

Bring your liquid to a boil. Add your salt and sugar (if you are using
sugar) and dissolve completely. Add your herbs and seasonings. The
seasonings are added to the hot liquid to extract the flavors,
therefore, better flavoring the meat. Cool the brine completely! When
cool, put your meat into a non-corrosive container and pour the brine
over it. The meat must be completely covered, so use a plate to weigh it
down if you have to.

Shrimp: 30 minutes
Whole chicken: (4 pounds) 8 to 12 hours
Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
Chicken breasts: 1 hour
Cornish game hens: 2 hours
Whole turkey: 24 hours
Pork chops: 12 to 24 hours
Whole pork loins: 2 to 4 days

That's it, Gang. Now go enjoy BRINING!

--
Regards,

Piedmont

The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm

The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz

Brine Part 4



Posted By: Wiley Coyote Mixon, Nov 20, 1999
(Editors Note: Some of this is repeat from earlier post)
Article

Here is a great little source of info. on turkey brining. It was put
together by Mikey Lulejian on the BBQ list. Hope this helps.

HOLIDAY TURKEYS AND BRINING (REV A)

The Complete "How To€�; Compiled By Mikey Lulejian, Atlanta, GA,
November 19, 1999

INDEX

PART 1: GENERAL COMMENTS

PART 2: HOW TO BRINE A TURKEY (Courtesy Of Fergy)

PART 3: TURKEY HONEY BRINE (Jim Minion)

PART 4: IT'S TURKEY TIME AGAIN (Courtesy Of Fergy)

PART 5: TURKEY BRINING (By Dan Gill)

PART 6: THREE OTHER INCREDIBLE RECIPES

PART 7: HOW TO COOK TURKEY



PART 1 - GENERAL COMMENTS

BRINING is Easy To Do, and Produces Incredible Results ! You will be
Very Happy this Holiday Season if you chose to brine you turkey or
turkey breast first.

This has been compiled Thanks to some of America's Great Pitmasters and
Cooks - Such as "Fergy" Ferguson, Jim Minion, Dan Gill, and Marlene Rausch.

And brining works whether you plan to cook your turkey in the oven, or
smoke it on a pit.

Just a few General Notes to keep in mind as your read this document.

Be VERY CAREFUL on your salt solution. Brining is VERY easy to do. But
it DOES require that you follow the instructions detailed below. You
will almost ALWAYS have excellent results if your Turkey is Under Brined
(too little salt or too little time) but it MAY be almost uneatable if:

A: The brine solution includes too much salt,
B: The brine solution does not contain enough sugar,
C: The turkey is left in the brine solution too long or,
D: The turkey is not washed thoroughly afterwards before cooking.

We might suggest you try the following:

1.Make your (basic) Brine Solution up using: Slightly less salt than
suggested, especially if this is your first time to brine. And use at
least 1/2-cup of sugar. And, of course, your spices. Brown sugar is
preferred by many. Also note that Instead of sugar or maple syrup, you
can try sweetening the brine with honey, molasses, or even caramelized
sugar.

(HINT: See Jim Minion's Honey Brine Turkey In Part 2!)

2.Leave your meat in the brine solution on the low end of the timetable
described.

3.Brining MUST take place at 40º F or below. Please do not try and cut
corners on the proper temperature. Place your turkey in the brine
solution after it is Cool - not while it is still warm. Cool the brine
solution with ice in plastic bags, if necessary.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays, Mikey

PART 2 - NEW ARTICLES AND CHOICE RECIPES

Contributed Courtesy Of ; One Of America's Top Pitmasters, Jim Minion

HOW TO BRINE A TURKEY

Should I brine the turkey and what's brining?

Brining is simply soaking in a salt-water solution.

The benefits of brining are many fold. First, brining provides a cushion
for the breast meat, so even if it
overcooks by ten degrees or so, it remains moist.

Secondly, the meat of a brined bird tastes pleasantly seasoned, which
eliminates the need to season before
and after roasting.

Because the turkey sits overnight in a tub of salted water, brining also
ensures that all parts of the turkey are at the same temperature. This
is especially good insurance if you're roasting a previously frozen bird.
Yet another benefit is that the turkey meat absorbs water during the
brining process. Water is a heat conductor and therefore expedites
cooking. We tested this theory and found that indeed, a brined bird
cooks faster than an unbrined one by about thirty minutes. So while it
may seem a whole host of reasons.

Two important notes about brining: Do not brine for longer times than
those recommended here, and be sure to rinse the bird until all traces
of salt are gone it will take several minutes when it's done brining.
Both of these measures will prevent the bird from becoming too salty.

How To Brine Overnight:

Before brining, remove the giblets, neck, and tail piece and reserve for
gravy. To brine overnight, dissolve 1 cup table salt or 2 cups kosher
salt in 2 gallons cold water in a large stockpot or clean bucket
(whatever you use, it should be 6-8 gallons), submerge the bird in the
solution, and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours. For ease of cleaning, you
can line the brining vessel with a turkey-sized oven bag. If your during
the holidays, try using a more concentrated, and therefore quicker,
brine along with some disposable frozen ice packs, as explained below.

How To Brine For 4 Hours

Follow the instructions for brining overnight, doubling the amount of
salt in the solution. After 4 hours, remove the turkey from the brine,
rinse well under running water, and pat dry inside and out with paper
towels.

How To Brine Outside Of The Refrigerator For 4 Hours

Follow the instructions for brining overnight, doubling the amount of
salt in the solution. Place 4 or 5 large clean frozen ice gel packs in
the brine with the turkey, tie the bag shut (if using an oven bag),
cover the container, and place it in a cool spot for 4 hours. After 4
hours, remove the turkey from the brine, rinse well under running water,
and pat dry inside and out with paper towels.

PART 3 - Jim Minion's, TURKEY HONEY BRINE

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

The Honey brine is easy and very good for a first try.

1 gallon Water
1 cup Kosher Salt
1 ounce Tender Quick
1 cup Honey
3 Bay Leaves
1/4 tsp. Cloves, ground
1/2 tsp. Pickling Spices

Mix ingredients, and bring to a boil. (The salt will dissolve faster
this way). Allow to the brine solution to cool to room temp. (Hint:
IMPORTANT !) Place turkey in brine and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Rinse turkey very well twice. Rub with your favorite spices and
smoke/cook. There is already enough salt from the brine, so go easy on
the salt in the rub!

Smoke at 325º F to 350º F for best results.

Jim


PART 4 - IT'S TURKEY TIME AGAIN

Contributed Courtesy Of One Of America's Top Pitmasters, Wyndell "Fergy"
Ferguson

It's getting close to turkey day again. How strange we are to ignore a
tasty, economical source of protein ten months out of the year. Unlike
chicken, which we consume year round, we reserve turkey for that period
between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Surely our tradition drives the
turkey producers up the wall.

Besides tradition, turkeys present a few differences from chicken that
make some folks hesitate. Their large size puts off some people. Even if
they have a large oven and time, not many enjoy turkey seven days in a row.

Then there are those who have a terminal case of over cook when it comes
to turkeys. They consistently turn out turkey breast as dry as a dust
devil's breath. To head off such disasters, they use elaborate schemes
involving aluminum foil, roasting bags and even boiling.

Here is another place where a good grill and a little organized laziness
comes to the rescue. These days it is relatively easy to buy smaller
turkeys or even turkey breasts or thighs, year round. Therefore there is
no need to cook so much that you get sick of it before it is gone.
Surprise yourself several times a year with a tasty turkey dish. The
cooking part is easier than taking a nap.

Select a turkey that fits your needs - fresh, if available. I find the
cheaper brands as good as the premium. If it is frozen, carefully follow
the directions for thawing. Trim excess fat and skin and pat dry.

Fire up the grill for roasting - about 350º F. Build a good, large bed
of coals and reduce the heat by closing down the air supply. Collect a
small amount - 3 to 4 pounds of green fruit wood, white oak and hickory.

Sprinkle the turkey inside and out with a mixture of:

1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Onion powder
1 tsp. Celery seed, ground
1 tbs. Sage
1 tbs. Thyme
1 tbs. Black Pepper, ground
1 tbs. Salt

Place turkey on the grill, opposite the coals, breast up. Close the
grill and go away for about an hour.

Check the temperature of the exhaust, look over the coals and put on a
few pieces of green wood. If you must use chips or dried wood, soak in
water for at least thirty minutes. Maintain the temperature between 300ï‚°
F - 350ï‚° F with a gentle smoke floating from the exhaust. Tidy up, close
the grill and go rest from your labors.

Check back in about an hour later and insert your handy thermometer in
the center of the thickest part of the bird. When it reads 165ï‚° F, time
is up. It is done. Remove and let it sit for about 20 minutes before
carving.

It should be as juicy as the latest gossip and tender as a baby's sigh.

PART 5 - TURKEY BRINING

By Dan Gill, Dan Gills's Web Page ADVICE On Brining

Dan Gill is another one of America's most respected PitMaster's (like
Fergy, Danny G, Dan Gill, Rock,
Kit, Belly), a title bestowed upon very few.

He has an EXCELLENT home page, http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/

With a very large section dedicated to BBQ'ing and Smoking, and helping
others to learn the right methods. He also has a rather complete page
detailing the brining process.

http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/S...ng.htm#poultry

He has kindly allowed me to "borrow" his page intact.

NOTE: Dan is also the most kind host of the "6th Annual Remlik Steamed
Crab, Silver Queen, and Q Feast" held at his home in Virginia at the end
of July. You can read all about it at

http://members.tripod.com/~DanGill/Announce.htm

Turkey: To Brine Or Not To Brine

By Dan Gill

Turkey and chicken may be slow smoked but the skin is rubbery and not
very good.

They don't need a great deal of smoke flavor, so temperatures of 275º F
to 325º F are ideal. Use lighter
flavored woods such as cherry and apple.

If you smoke a turkey at temperatures of 180º F to 225º F., you need to
brine it or risk making everyone very sick because the bird spends a lot
of time in the danger zone (40º F to 140º F.). At 250º F. and above the
risk decreases dramatically. List members (starting with me) discovered
that brined birds are moist and taste really good. Many of us have
publicly declared that we will not cook another turkey without brining
it first.

Some people are sensitive to salt and find that birds subjected to the
full treatment are too salty for their
tastes. To reduce the saltiness, add sugar, decrease salt, decrease
brining time or soak the bird in fresh
water for an hour prior to cooking. You can brine just with salt but
since salt takes flavors in with it, why
not take advantage. Sugar moderates the salty taste and helps keep the
birds juicy.

Most of the people who have commented that their birds were too salty
did not use enough sugar. The garlic, ginger and maple flavors are very
subtle but enhance the flavor of the bird. For safety, I would
definitely recommend using the brine full strength when cooking below
200º F. At higher temperatures, you can cut the salt in half if you are
salt sensitive.

Do not over cook! Brined birds cook faster so be careful and use a real
thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast. Cook to 170º
F internal. There is no need to cook with the breast down because the
bird will be plenty juicy.

Estimate how much liquid will be required to completely cover the
bird(s). For each gallon (which should cover one 16# whole bird or two
8# breasts), mix:

1-1/2 cups Salt
1/2 cup Molasses
1-1/2 tbs. Garlic, crushed or minced (or garlic powder)
1/2 tbs. Onion Powder
1/4 cup Black Pepper
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Maple flavoring

I also usually throw in about 12 oz. ginger ale. Alternatively, use 1/2
tbs. ginger (ground, minced or
whatever) in place of the garlic and onion. Cover birds completely with
brine and refrigerate
overnight. In the morning, remove from brine and drain while preparing
smoker. Smoke at around 275ï‚° F
(measured at grate level) to an internal temperature of 170 ï‚° F basting
with butter every few hours to give you the golden brown skin.

PART 6 - THREE OTHER INCREDIBLE RECIPES

Molasses Turkey Brine Recipe

By: Jim Minion

1 gallon Water
3/4 cup Kosher Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Molasses
2 tbs. Black Pepper
1 tbs. Thyme
1 tbs. Oregano

Bring mix to boil and allow to cool to room temp. You can do your own
other ingredients like maple syrup,
garlic, onion, allspice, ginger, or spices you like can be used.

Honey and Apple Smoked Turkey

By: Marlene Rausch

You don't have to brine a turkey before smoking it, but it does provide
you with a moist, succulent bird.
I prepared four turkeys before getting this recipe right and it is quite
delicious. It turns out slightly
sweet and salty, nicely smoky and is one of those mahogany visions that
would be the envy of any every
gourmet magazine food stylist. You could probably use maple syrup for
this instead of honey. I also tried a
glaze of brown sugar and water, applied every hour or so, during smoking
and got great results.

1 turkey (10 to 12 lb.)

BRINE

16 cups Water
4 cups Water, hot
3 cups Pickling Salt
1/2 cup Sugar, white
1 tbs. Garlic Powder
2 tbs. Onion Powder
2 tbs. Pickling Spice

Optional: 1 teaspoon saltpeter

DRY RUB

2 tablespoons Paprika
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
4 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1/2 teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 cup Maple Syrup
2 Apples, quartered

SMOKER PREPARATION

Pre-soaked in water; apple and/or maple wood chunks and 3 medium apples,
quartered.

24 hours ahead: brine turkey, fill a large, non-reactive container such
as a large stockpot with 16 cups of water. In another bowl, stir the
four cups of hot water with the salt, sugar, onion powder, garlic
powder, pickling spice and saltpeter (if desired). Stir into cold water
in a stockpot to dissolve salt and sugar.

Immerse turkey in salted, spiced water and weigh down to keep submerged.
(I used a brick wrapped in a ziplock bag). Refrigerate overnight or at
least 4-6 hours. Once in awhile, swish turkey around (this is called
"overhauling€�).

Meanwhile, soak about 12-20 medium large chunks of maple and/or apple
hardwood in water overnight (or at least a couple of hours).

Next day, remove turkey from brine. Dry very well. Mix dry rub
seasonings together: paprika, Old Bay, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Pat all over turkey. Fill turkey cavity with a couple of quartered apple
sections.

Prepare smoker according to manufacturer's instructions. Add apple
pieces to water tray. Once briquettes are hot, place 4-6 wet wood chunks
on top.

Place turkey on cooking grate and close lid. Baste with maple syrup
during the last three hours (every 45 minutes or so).

Smoke cook, about 4-1/2 to 6-1/2 hours. Until turkey temperature reads
160ï‚° F to 165ï‚° F. Technically, turkey is thoroughly done when a meat
thermometer inserted into the thigh reads l80ï‚° F. However, I found if
you actually keep it on the grill until that point it will dry out. At
160ï‚° F to 165ï‚° F, the temperature continues to climb rather quickly -
even as you remove the turkey. Taking it off at l60 ï‚°F ensures it will
not be overdone and dry.

The first three turkeys I smoked were taken off between 170ï‚° F and 180
ï‚°F. They were flavorful but rather dry. The last one, removed at 160ï‚°
F., was perfect. For safety's sake, please note that many home
economists are emphatic about the l80ï‚° F minimum. Remove turkey from the
smoker, drain inside cavity. Cool to warm before placing in fridge to
"mature". (24 hours is best. Overnight is okay). Eat and Enjoy !

APPLE CIDER BRINED TURKEY

By: Marlene Rausch

4 gallon Apple cider
4 oz. Kosher Salt
1 ea. Onion, diced
2 ea. Heads Garlic, split
4 oz. Fresh Ginger, chopped
3 Star Anise
4 Bay Leaves
4 ea. Oranges, quartered

Method (In a large stock pot): Sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, and
anise together in a little canola oil, until lightly browned. Add the
bay leaves and the oranges. Sauté another 2-3 min. Add the cider and the
Kosher salt. Bring to a simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat, transfer
to another container and chill completely (use an Ice bath if possible).

Rinse and dry bird. Place bird in a large vessel to marinate in. Pour
the well chilled brine over the bird and turn to coat well. Place a
weighted plate or something of the sort over the bird to keep it
immersed. Cover and refrigerate while marinating. Turn the bird daily.
Marinate a minimum of 48 hours. Reserve some of the brine to baste with
if you like.

Proceed with roasting as usual (I like to start with the breast side
down). I made this much brine to marinate 2-14 LB birds.

PART 7 - HOW TO COOK TURKEY

This is the way we like our Turkey cooked for Thanksgiving. It is easy
and produces a beautiful bird that is as juicy as it gets.

Melt 1/4 cup of butter and mix in 2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.
Prepare the Turkey for seasoning as you normally would (remove the
little bags of parts from the cavity and clean that kind of thing). Rub
the Turkey inside and out with the butter mixture, working the mixture
under the skin as far as possible without tearing the skin and on top of
the skin. Do this the night before if practical if not just before you
put the bird on works just fine. Now season the bird with lemon pepper
per your taste.

Just before placing the bird in the pit thinly slice 1 Lemon and 1
medium Onion. Insert the Lemon and Onion slices into the cavity. Run
your pit up to 325º F (grill level temperature) and hold using your
favorite wood, I prefer Apple and Oak for this.

Place the bird breast down in the pit with the legs and thighs facing
toward the hotter end. The cooking time will be the same as "oven"
cooking the bird at 325ï‚° F. Halfway through the cooking time flip the
bird over to breast side up. Be careful not to spill the juices out of
the cavity.

Remove the Turkey after checking to be sure that it is done. Remove the
onion and lemon slices and discard the slices. Your done, the skin will
be perfect golden brown, not rubbery at all, and really tasty. The
higher temperature will not only produce a perfect skin texture but will
also not dry out the bird and the cooking time is greatly reduced from
say a 225ï‚° F temperature pit.


TIPS

1.Get a pair of rubber coated cooking gloves for flipping the turkey or
handling any heavy meat.
2.Wrap the wings and the very end of the drumstick with aluminum foil.
3.Do a practice chicken this week exactly the same way (except cut the
amount of the onions, lemon and butter sauce) It will come out great. A
practice chicken will hone your skills for the big day.


--
Regards,

Piedmont

The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm

The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz

Brine Part 5 of 5


BRINING WITH BUTTERMILK


Article: Buttermilk Brine
Article credit goes to Dan Gill and Gary Wiviott
Posted By: Cuchulain Libby, Nov 29, 2001

Is brining the latest culinary fad? Is it a crutch we need to make up
for the dismal industrial birds churned out by the millions, as opposed
to the scratch-for-worms birds our moms grew up with? Is the anti-fat
crowd so strong that the only hogs that'll sell are lean, tasteless
hormone and antibiotic fed hunks of protein?

Heck I don't know, but I found this on the Porch: http://www.bbq-porch.org/

-Hound

CHAPTER 9 - TURKEY BUTTERMILK BRINING

By Dan Gill and Gary Wiviott

A Buttermilk Bird for Thanksgiving

By Dan Gill

I have always thought that the use of buttermilk with meat was somewhat
aberrant - Something that Jeffy would do in the privacy of his own
kitchen - alone - with drawn shades. But then, I keep seeing references
to the wonders of soaking meat in milk that is past its prime. The whole
Middle East uses yogurt on lamb and goat; hunters use buttermilk to
improve the flavor and texture of game; and Fine Cooking says it is the
only marinade that actually tenderizes and improves flavor without
turning protein to mush.

OK, I'm a traditionalist and it sounds like spoiled milk is a
traditional adulterant for meat that may actually have some flavor of
it's own. So, I got a boneless New Zealand leg of lamb from Sam's and
determined to give it a try. The cow went dry about 3 weeks ago, but I
found a quart or two of milk in the back of the fridge that smelled a
little like buttermilk: I skimmed off the more colorful life forms and
soaked the dry-rubbed lamb overnight in the curdled remainder (see
recipe below). The lamb was tender, flavorful and downright outstanding.

Segue to Thanksgiving: (Did I really write that?) I had thawed a 20 LB
sale bird and one of our guests brought over a 16 pounder - just in
case. As luck would have it, I had just made the last butter of the year
.... so I added a quart of 'real' (strong) buttermilk to my standard
overnight turkey brine (see recipe below).

Around here, my cooking is always an adventure. Every event is an
experiment (and some of you actually thought I knew what I was doing!).
The truth is, we do battle with the forces of nature and try to outwit
fire. There are umpteen variables to consider, a few of which we can
control with some regularity but there always seems to be at least one
that is beyond the bounds of standard deviation. The whole idea is to
minimize the latter type so you know to what to attribute the results,
and what to do different next time.

We were supposed to eat at 5:30; that's when the rolls and Barbara's
German potato stuffing would be ready. I allowed my usual 5 hours then
started by washing out the dogs' water dish that came with my Weber
Smoky Mountain (WSM) and put it to its intended use €“ catching
drippings. The smaller bird went on the bottom rack and the 20 pounder
on the hotter top rack. Since I was completely out of my homemade cherry
lump charcoal, I had to start the fire with some gawdawful Walmart
briquettes - the ones you need a blowtorch to light.

They burn a long time after you flare off the stinky stuff, but leave a
pile of clay in the bottom of the smoker. I kept a nice fire going with
cherry chunks and some Cowboy Brand I found in a corner of the garage,
but the variables were gaining on me. I had a hard time getting the WSM
up to 250ï‚° F and did most of the cooking around 235ï‚° F. About 4:30 I
started a half chimney of gawdawful briquettes to kick things up a tad.
I knew we would not eat at 5:30. Then Barb came out and asked me when
the turkey would be ready.

"Only 8 more degrees" I said with authority. Both birds were hanging
tough at 152ï‚° F in the breast; I usually go to 165ï‚° F or about two more
hours.

"I don't understand what that means. How long do you think it will take
you to finish cooking the turkeys?"

"It'll be a little while yet, Sweetie" I replied. That she understood
and disappeared into the house to turn the gravy down and put the
candied sweet potatoes in the oven to stay warm. The rolls went into the
cooler to slow their rise.

Shortly, she came back out to check on me. I was sitting in a plastic
chair near the smoker enjoying my beer and cigar and obviously making no
visible effort to get the birds back on schedule. "When should I put the
rolls in?" I thought I detected a note of exasperation: She was trying
to pin me down.

"Sweetie, This is an art form, not a science! It'll be ready when it is
done. You can't rush genius" I mumbled while furtively switching between
three polder probes looking for a degree of progress.

She asked again at 5:30. "Only 4 degrees to Go!" I had decided to take
them off at 160ï‚° F, ready or not. I have heard that turkey is cooked at
160º F, and this was an opportunity to find out.

We ate at 6:30. The turkey was cooked - barely. The rolls were large.
Nobody seemed to mind that the thigh joint was a little red: They kept
me busy carving second and third helpings. Complements were profuse.

When we were cleaning up later, I said "Sweetie, I think I outdid
myself! That turkey was sure tender and good - Think it was my best
ever". She likes my cooking but often needs a little prompting to tell
me how good it really is.

"You always say it's your best ever and then wait for me to agree."

"Well, it is true; I just keep getting better, Sweetie", I chortled.
"But I didn't say anything last time!"

She agreed remembering the high point of Oyster Festival weekend: Me
frantically trying to remove a huge (fully engulfed) shoulder, a ham and
4 charred turkey breasts from a flaming pit with a long handled shovel.

Back to the topic. I'm not sure what role the buttermilk played in this
masterpiece, but it certainly didn't hurt anything! I am definitely
adding fermented milk product to my arsenal of techniques.

TYPE OF BUTTERMILK THAT CAN BE USED

I think just about any milk product will do. The enzymes and
biochemistry do the trick - Acid in buttermilk and yogurt intensifies
the effect. Like salt, and unlike other acid and enzymatic tenderizers,
the improvement in flavor and tenderness seems to penetrate deep into
the meat. I agree with many of you about store-bought cultured
buttermilk, but for this application it probably makes no difference.

RECIPES AND PROCEDURES

Dan Gill

I usually use salty dry rubs for meat and fish and brines for poultry.
They both do the same thing because the salt draws extra-cellular fluids
and makes its own brine, some of which is re-absorbed. There is no
dilution of flavor with water. I don't use recipes per se - It is just
not that critical. The following are approximations.

BUTTERMILK BRINED LAMB

By: Dan Gill

1 leg of Lamb, boned & butterflied
1/2 cup Kosher Salt
1 bunch Rosemary
1 bunch Mint
1/2 bunch Thyme
3 tbs. Black Pepper, ground
1 tbs. Garlic Powder
1tbs. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Coriander
1 pinch Allspice
1 drizzle Molasses
1 quart Buttermilk

Using a mortar and pestle, thoroughly crush herb leaves with salt. Mix
in spices and rub all surfaces of meat with a light coating. Drizzle
some molasses on and put the prepared meat in a plastic bag or
non-reactive container and add buttermilk. Allow to marinate in the
refrigerator over night turning a couple of times. About an hour before
you are ready to cook, drain the meat and allow it to sit at room
temperature until the smoker is ready. Smoke-cook at around 300ï‚° F to an
internal temperature of 135ï‚° F to 140ï‚° F. A butterflied leg should take
about 3 hours to cook; a whole leg should marinate and cook longer.

Serve with mint sauce.

BUTTERMILK BRINED TURKEY

By: Dan Gill

Estimate how much liquid will be required to completely cover the bird(s).

For each GALLON - Which should cover one 16# whole bird or two 8# breasts:

Mix:
1-1/2 cups Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Molasses or Maple Syrup (I used some of each as I didn't have
any maple flavoring)
1 tbs. Garlic, crushed or minced (or garlic powder)
1 tbs. Onion Powder
1/4 cup Black Pepper
2 tbs. Franks Sauce
1/2 tsp. Allspice
1 tsp. Coriander
1 Quart Buttermilk

The turkey does not need to be completely thawed but should be close.
Mix ingredients with cold water until the salt and molasses dissolve.
Cover birds completely with brine and refrigerate overnight. Choose a
container that is just slightly larger than the birds, or use a food
grade plastic bag. I often use an ice chest and just enough ice to keep
it cold. In the morning, remove from brine, rinse and drain while
preparing smoker.

Smoke cook between 250ï‚° F and 325ï‚° F (measured at grate level - large
turkeys do better at the lower temps) to an internal temp of 165ï‚° F
basting with butter every few hours to give you the golden brown skin.

May your house be safe from tigers.
Dan Gill - 1999

Homepage: http://DanGill.tripod.com/
Barbecue, curing and smoking meat, Woodworking and more


BUTERMILK BRINING BY GARY WIVIOTT


BUTTERMILK BRINED CHICKEN

By Gary Wiviott

I am did a little smoked chicken experiment today: 4 chickens, and 4
different brines. I will be using lump style charcoal with hickory for
smoke in my Weber Smoky Mountain cooker (WSM). All the chickens were put
in refrigerator the first day at 4pm in individual 2-gallon plastic food
bags, and I started the smoker the next day about noon.

BRINE CONSTANTS

1 gallon of water (excluding buttermilk brine)
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup brown sugar

BUTTERMLK BRINE 1

One half-gallon buttermilk, added to the water to make up one gallon.

BUTTERMILK BRINE 2

Juice of one lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit and a teaspoon of grated
peel of each. (Except the grapefruit) Chopped scallions, crushed fresh
ginger, crushed fresh garlic, soy sauce, hot sauce, crushed red peppers,
black and white pepper, chopped inside stalks of fresh lemon grass, 1
teaspoon of sesame oil. (toasted oriental style)

BUTTERMILK BRINE 3

Crushed dried basil, oregano, hot peppers, hot sauce, soy sauce, black
and white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a little extra virgin
olive oil.

This is pretty much my standard brine and is loosely adapted from
O'Reilly's brine in the BBQ FAQ.
http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/default.asp

OR

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/toc.html


BUTTERMILK BRINE 4

Old Bay seasoning.


RESULTS

The results of my brining experiment are in and I have a definite
winner: Buttermilk ! I will follow my comments in order of the brine
recipes shown above.


BRINE 1 (BUTTERMILK)

The buttermilk brine lent the chicken a subtle undercurrent of tang and
was extremely tender and juicy. The brown sugar tends to lend the birds
a slight "ham" taste and this was quite mild and nice in this bird.

The meat, most noticeable in the breast, had a slightly denser texture
then a standard brined bird. I would imagine this was due to some type
of chemical interaction between the meat and the acid in the buttermilk.


BRINE 2 (CITRUS)

This one surprised me: The flavors of the citrus, ginger, lemon grass
and garlic did not come through as strongly as I had thought they would.
I may try this again with a lighter wood for smoke. The breast meat,
Probably due to the acids in the citrus, was very dense, almost as if it
had tightened up. The breast, while still somewhat juicy, was not as
tender or juicy as the rest of the bird.


BRINE 3
Variation of O'Reilly's brine from the FAQ - See above)

This is a good all around brine that I have used for turkey and chicken
in the past. A slight "ham" flavor, barely discernible heat and good all
around flavor. This brine, as do all brines, makes for a very tender and
juicy bird.


BRINE 4 (OLD BAY)

This was a surprise: The flavor of the Old Bay really came through and
the bird was very flavorful. The brown sugar combined well with the Old
Bay and the bird was quite juicy.

I should note that I did not use standard Old Bay loose crab boil. The
Old Bay that I used was a, (new to me), product called Old Bay Seasoning
and was ground to approximately the consistency of garlic powder. I used
a .4oz package.

CONCLUSION

I really liked what the buttermilk did for the chicken: Very subtle
flavor and quite juicy. I also liked the Old Bay. My thought is to
combine the Old Bay with a buttermilk brine and smoke with a lighter
wood like ash so the flavors are not masked. I would not combine
buttermilk with the citrus, though I will try the buttermilk with my
standard brine.

Next time out I will try straight buttermilk brine, the full one gallon,
and see if there is a difference. I recommend buying a few chickens (or
turkeys) and trying various combinations of brines and woods, not
expensive to do and you may find a flavor combination that suits your
taste to a tee.

I would highly recommend trying buttermilk in your next brine.

Regards
Learning to smoke in Chicago,
Gary
--
Regards,

Piedmont

The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm

The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz

Janet Fletcher is not a chef,. She is a food writer and critic for the San
Francisco Chronicle. She has her name as coauthor of about 15 books on
completely different cooking subjects. All of these are coauthored with
someone else dedicated to preparing and refining the recipes in the books.
She is one step above the book editor that any publisher uses before
publishing the book.
I would wager that someone else is responsible for the content of the above
article. I think that she has brined and smoked only rarely, certainly much
less than a large number of posters on this NG.
Just my 2c.
Kent

"Piedmont" > wrote in message
...
> Extremely long repostings of numerous AFB about brining, by many different
> contributors. Some old, old names most of you probably never heard of. If
> you can't brine after this, don't come crying to me! ; )
> Enjoy, Mike (Piedmont)
>
>
> This article is from the March 25, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle.
> {Posted By: Ed Pawlowski, Nov 06, 2002}
> Ready For Brine Time
>
> Salt and spices put old-fashioned flavor back into modern meats
>
> Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer
>
> Have you had it with tasteless, juiceless pork chops and sawdust chicken
> breasts? Many professional cooks have, too, which is why they're turning
> to an age-old technique to restore the flavor and moistness that many
> meats used to have naturally.
>
> In a growing number of restaurant and home kitchens, brining is putting
> the juice back into pork chops and at least some taste back into
> factory-raised chickens. By soaking the meat for hours or days in a
> seasoned salt-water solution, cooks find that they can transform lean pork
> and poultry with minimal cost and effort.
>
> "This brining, it's become an urban legend," says Pam Anderson, Cook's
> Illustrated executive editor who has written about brining for the
> magazine and jokingly calls herself "the brine queen." Anderson once
> roasted more than 30 turkeys to find the best cooking method, settling on
> an overnight brine as an essential first step. "Every time we do a poultry
> story now," says Anderson, "we find that salt is the answer."
>
> With brines, cooks like Anderson are trying to compensate for the
> shortcomings of modern animal husbandry. Chickens raised to market weight
> quickly on carefully formulated feed don't have the flavor of those
> old-time barnyard hunt and peckers. Nor does pork have the taste appeal it
> used to. Bred for leanness to accommodate contemporary concerns about fat,
> American pigs are 50 to 70 percent leaner than they were 20 years ago,
> says East Bay sausage maker Bruce Aidells. Fat, whatever its other
> failings, contributes moisture and flavor.
>
> "When they decided to market pork as the new lean white meat, they
> completely ruined the product," complains Nancy Oakes, chef at Boulevard
> in San Francisco (and Aidells' wife). "If you cook pork loin at home, you
> end up with this hard, dry, very lean white meat."
>
> In response, Oakes began brining pork several years ago at L'Avenue, her
> former San Francisco restaurant. At Boulevard, a spit-roasted pork loin,
> brined for four days, is a menu fixture, and brined turkey breast with
> applesauce is a favorite staff meal.
>
> Aidells, too, is a brining convert. His forthcoming book on meat, due this
> fall from Chapters Publishing, will include a small treatise on the
> practice. "To be honest with you," says the meat maven, "unless you're
> really careful, it's damn near impossible to produce a decent pork chop
> without brine."
>
> The succulent cider-cured pork chop at San Francisco's 42 Degrees
> testifies to brining's merits. Chef Jim Moffatt swears by the technique,
> not only because it infuses the meat with flavor but because it gives the
> kitchen a larger margin of error. A brined chop will stay moist even if
> it's cooked a little too long.
>
> By what mechanism does a little salt water work such magic? "It's our old
> friend osmosis," says Harold McGee, the Palo Alto specialist in the
> science of cooking. "If there's more of a diffusable chemical in one place
> than another, it tries to even itself out."
>
> Because there's more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
> absorbs the salt water. There, the salt denatures the meat proteins,
> causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. And if the
> brine includes herbs, garlic, juniper berries or peppercorns, those
> flavors are trapped in the meat, too. Instead of seasoning on the surface
> only, as most cooks do, brining carries the seasonings throughout.
>
> Aidells calls this technique "flavor brining" -- done not for preservation
> (which would require a saltier solution and longer immersion) but for
> enhancing texture and taste. Even a couple of hours in a brine will
> improve bland Cornish game hens, says Anderson, or give chicken parts a
> flavor boost before deep-frying or grilling.
>
> Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended brining
> times. But generally speaking, the saltier the brine, the shorter the
> required stay. And, logically, the brine will penetrate a Cornish game hen
> or duck breast much faster than it will penetrate a thick muscle like a
> whole pork loin or turkey breast. Meat left too long in a brine tastes
> over seasoned and the texture is compromised, producing a soggy or mushy
> quality.
>
> Most cooks start their brine with hot water, which dissolves the salt and
> draws out the flavor in the herbs and spices. But they caution that the
> brine should be completely cold before adding the meat or it will absorb
> too much salt.
>
> By playing around with the liquid base and the seasonings, chefs give
> their brine personality. Some use apple juice or beer for some or all of
> the water. The smoked turkey that Jeff Starr of Stags' Leap Winery
> produced for a food editors' conference in Napa Valley last year was
> brined in orange juice, rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar; some
> who tasted it swore they would never cook a turkey any other way again.
>
> Seasonings can run the gamut from thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and garlic to
> cinnamon stick, star anise or vanilla. Many cooks put some sugar in their
> brine to sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooked. Others
> avoid sugar, arguing that it makes everything taste like ham.
>
> Whatever their recipe, brining advocates keep looking for other uses for
> their favorite technique. Anderson says some people brine shrimp for half
> an hour; she herself has begun soaking chicken parts in salted buttermilk
> before frying to get the benefits of brine with the tenderizing effect of
> the buttermilk. If cooks like Anderson and Aidells continue to preach the
> gospel of brining, diners can kiss sawdust chicken goodbye.
>
> WHAT THE PROS KNOW
>
> Here are some tips to start you in the brining business:
>
> A heavy-duty plastic tub, earthenware crock, stainless-steel bowl or even
> a re-sealable plastic bag can work as a brining container as long as the
> meat is fully submerged. Weight with a plate if necessary to keep the meat
> fully covered by brine.
>
> To determine how much brine you'll need, place the meat to be brined in
> your chosen container. Add water to cover. Remove the meat and measure the
> water.
>
> Start your brine with hot water to dissolve the salt (and sugar if using)
> and to draw the flavor out of any herbs and spices. Chill brine completely
> in the refrigerator before adding meat.
>
> Although some cooks prefer lighter or heavier brines, 1 cup of salt per
> gallon of water is a happy medium. Use kosher salt that has no additives.
>
> Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else is
> optional. Consider garlic, ginger, fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove,
> cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, mustard seed, coriander seed, star anise,
> hot pepper flakes or Sichuan peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge and
> encourage browning, add 1/2-cup sugar to each 2 quarts of water.
>
> You don't need to rinse meat after you remove it from the brine unless the
> brine is highly salted (more than 1-cup salt per gallon).
>
> Don't salt brined meat before cooking; it is already salted throughout.
>
> Don't reuse brine.
>
> HOW LONG TO BRINE
>
> The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own taste
> determine how long to brine an item. For a moderately strong brine (1 cup
> salt to 1-gallon water), the following brining times are rough guidelines.
> If you aren't ready to cook at the end of the brining time, remove the
> meat from the brine, but keep the meat refrigerated.
>
> Shrimp: 30 minutes
> Whole chicken: (4 pounds): 8 to 12 hours
> Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
> Cornish game hens: 2 hours
> Turkey (12 to 14 pounds): 24 hours
> Pork chops (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch thick): 1 to 2 days
> Whole pork tenderloin: 12 hours
> Whole pork loin: 2 to 4 days
>
> Bird Brine
> By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times Deputy Food Editor
>
> Posted By: Alan Zelt, May 09, 2001
>
> If someone told you to go soak your bird, you might take offense. But it
> could be the best cooking advice you've ever gotten.
>
> Brining - essentially soaking meat or poultry in a solution of salt and
> cold water - has long been used as a preliminary step in smoking. It
> flavors the meat and also plumps it, giving it the needed moisture to
> withstand the long, slow, dry cooking that the smoking process involves.
>
> But what's good for the smoker is also good for the roaster - and for the
> grill too. Campanile's Mark Peel figures he brines about 100 turkeys a
> year before roasting them at his restaurant. Most wind up in sandwiches at
> lunch.
>
> "We started brining the turkeys about three years ago and, to tell you the
> truth, I can't remember why," he says. "My sense, in an unscientific way,
> is that it gives a tenderness to the meat.
> "That's especially necessary with turkeys. With the turkeys you buy, even
> the organic ones, the breast meat is pretty dry. That's because they've
> been bred for big breasts. The white meat has very little blood
> circulation and very little fat in it. But if you brine it and roast it
> properly, it doesn't turn out dry."
>
> There's a very good reason for that, according to Alan Sams, an associate
> professor of poultry science at Texas A&M University. Sams, who has
> published several papers on brining poultry, says it's basically an
> electric thing.
>
> "What is happening is that salt [the chloride part more than the sodium]
> penetrates into the muscle," Sams says. "The charged ions cause the muscle
> fibers to swell, and that sucks in even more water. It also binds the
> water to other protein, meaning the meat holds more water during cooking.
> That's what causes the juiciness effect.
>
> "The three big benefits I've seen are increased juiciness, better flavor
> because of the saltiness and improved tenderness," Sams continues.
> "Brining generally creates a looser protein network. It's the discharge
> propulsion - the negative ions repelling each other and loosening the
> muscle fibers."
>
> All of this was documented in a 1977 paper by five scientists from the
> University of Florida. They compared roast chickens that had been brined,
> chickens that had been soaked in plain ice water and
> chickens that had not been treated.
>
> They found that the brined chickens scored much higher with testers in
> terms of flavor and tested better for juiciness and tenderness (the
> difference in tenderness was much greater for white meat than for dark).
> Microbial testing also showed slightly lower populations of various
> bacteria in the brined chicken than in the others.
>
> I knew none of that the first time I tried brining. Having read something
> about it somewhere, last summer on a whim I tried soaking some cut-up
> chicken in a weak brine (a couple of tablespoons of salt to about a quart
> of water) for an hour or so before grilling. The results were decidedly
> favorable. The chicken was plumper and juicier, had real seasoned flavor
> throughout and didn't scorch nearly as quickly.
>
> As the holidays approached, I thought I'd try brining my turkey. I started
> small, running through a few roast chickens before stepping up in class. I
> wound up with a brine of about 2/3 cup of salt to a gallon of water -
> about a 5% saline solution. If you're going to smoke your bird, it can
> handle a more forceful brine. Try using a full cup of salt per gallon -
> that's about 7%.
>
> I tried concentrations from 10% down to 2%, and the main difference was in
> the amount of saltiness - the texture was improved even with a fairly weak
> brine. Incidentally, if you're worried about sodium intake, remember that
> the meat absorbs only 10% to 15% of the brine - roughly 1 to 1-1/2
> tablespoons of salt per turkey.
>
> When Thanksgiving arrived, I took the plunge - and so did my bird. Finding
> a bath big enough to brine a 14-pound turkey can be a bit of a bother.
> (And so can clearing enough space in the refrigerator to store it.) I
> ended up using the biggest stockpot I had, and a plain 5% salt-and-water
> brine. I turned the bird occasionally to make sure it was evenly cured.
>
> After six hours, I removed the turkey from the brine and dried it. Then I
> returned it to the refrigerator in the empty stockpot to dry further
> overnight. I wanted it to have a nice crisp skin – something that's
> difficult to achieve if there's much moisture present.
>
> The next day I stuffed the turkey and roasted it in my usual way - 450º F
> for the first 45 minutes, then 325º F until a thermometer registered 160º
> F when poked in the fat part of the thigh. (The USDA recommendation of
> 180º F, by the way, allows considerable margin of error. With a 20-minute
> rest, a 160º F turkey will reach 170º F - more than enough to kill any
> bacteria.) When I checked the temperature of the stuffing, it was still a
> little cool, so - mindful of the danger of salmonella – I returned the
> turkey to the oven until the stuffing reached 160º F.
> The turkey was puffed, bronzed and gleaming. And unlike most roast
> turkeys, this one did not deflate in the 20 minutes between roasting and
> carving. It retained its swollen grandeur all the way to the table.
>
> When I carved the breast meat, I noticed another peculiar thing: The white
> meat had developed that somewhat thready appearance you get when you
> overcook the breast meat (the result, no doubt, of waiting
> for the stuffing to get safe). Usually that means dry meat that crumbles
> when carved. But in this case, the slices held their shape perfectly and
> the meat was moist and tender.
>
> What's more, the meat was nicely seasoned throughout. Cold, the next day,
> it made terrific sandwiches - even the parts closest to the bone, which
> normally taste bland and under-seasoned.
>
> Coincidentally, Judy Rodgers of San Francisco's Zuni Cafe tried her first
> brined turkey this year. Rodgers is a big fan of salt and uses what she
> describes as a "dry brine" on most of the meat dishes at her restaurant,
> including her famous roast chicken. She salts the meat dishes the normal
> way, only she does it hours (or even a day) before cooking.
>
> "Most of the salt that goes on food in this restaurant goes on before you
> wake up in the morning," she says. "It's something I learned from a
> restaurant I worked at in Paris. The matriarch would always say, 'Put a
> little salt on it and let it rest.' It makes the meat more succulent. I
> don't know exactly how it does it, but it changes it - and it changes it
> in a way that I like."
>
> This Thanksgiving, however, Rodgers decided a real wet-brine was in order.
> "That sure was good," she says. "I used my classic brine for pork chops: 2
> parts salt to 1 part sugar mixed in water. For my turkey, I cut back a
> little further on the sugar to more like 4 to 1. Poultry and sugar is not
> a big hit to me, but a little sweetness is OK.
>
> "I put the turkey in the brine on the Friday before Thanksgiving, then
> took it out Tuesday night and rinsed it real well, then dried it and let
> it sit a day before roasting. I've found that when you brine big meats,
> the taste is more even if you let it rest a day before cooking. If you
> pull it straight out of the brine and roast it, it's not as tender, and
> the surface of the meat will be too aggressively salty. If you let it
> relax and stabilize, it generalizes the degree of brininess throughout."
>
> Of course, brining is nothing new. Until recently, smoked meats were very
> heavily brined (meat processing textbooks give formulas of 12% to 15%
> salt). And there is an old Welsh dish called salted duck in which a bird
> is dry-salted for three days before being slowly poached, starting in cold
> water. Not exactly brining, but the same principles might be in effect.
>
> Although my brine was a simple salt-water solution, Peel and Rodgers used
> a combination of spices and herbs for additional flavor. Sugar is a
> component of many brines.
>
> Arthur Maurer, a professor of poultry product technology at the University
> of Wisconsin who has done a lot of work with smoked poultry says sugar
> does three things for a brine: "First, it's a flavoring; it helps mellow
> out the saltiness. It also helps with browning, especially if there's some
> left on the surface. It can
> also help with the ionic strength of the brine, helping the meat take up
> more of the moisture."
>
> And because most dried herbs and spices are water soluble, their flavor
> will penetrate the meat as well. Using fresh herbs and garlic probably
> won't have much of an effect, though. Besides, even a turkey wouldn't want
> to take a bath in garlic.
>
> Roast Brined Turkey
>
> You can substitute Mark Peel's brine recipe for this or develop one of
> your own. The important guideline is 2/3 cup salt to 1 gallon water. After
> that, feel free to play with seasonings to your taste, though be aware
> that some dried spices, such as cloves and bay leaves, are very powerfully
> flavored and should be used cautiously.
>
> Basic Brine
>
> 2/3 cup Salt
> 1 gallon Water
> 12 to 14 lb. Turkey
>
> Combine salt and water and stir until salt dissolves. Pour brine over
> turkey in pot just large enough to hold both. If turkey is completely
> covered, don't worry about using all of brine. Cover with foil and
> refrigerate 6 hours or overnight, turning 2 or 3 times to make sure turkey
> is totally submerged.
>
> Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate,
> unwrapped, 6 hours or overnight.
>
> Place turkey on its side on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast at 450º F
> 15 minutes. Turn turkey to other side and roast another 15 minutes. Turn
> breast-side up and roast another 15 minutes.
>
> Reduce heat to 325º F and roast until meat thermometer inserted in center
> of thickest part of thigh registers 160º F to 165º F, about 2 hours.
> Remove from oven and set aside 20 minutes before carving.
>
> Makes 10 to 12 servings.
> Each of 12 servings
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Piedmont
>
> The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm
>
> The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Again, not an article by someone who did the brining and/or the roasting.
I look upon a lot of this with some askance. The writer, because he/she
doesn't understand all of this, screws up somewhere in the article. Recently
I picked up a glaring error in the Wall Street Journal written by someone
who knew absolutely nothing about investing. That is all too prevalent in
the popular press.


"Piedmont" > wrote in message
...
> Brine Part 3
>
>
>
> PART VI - IMPORTANT BRINING ARTICLE
>
> This includes RECIPES From FAMOUS Restaurants!
>
> Terry Light: Long IMPORTANT Ed Powlowski Post About Brining:
>
> I've copied below a post from Ed Pawlowski about brining. I tried the 42
> Degree Cider Cured Pork Chops recipe but used a tenderloin instead of
> chops. It was excellent!
>
> I'm kinda sold on the whole brining idea. For sure, I won't ever cook a
> turkey again without brining it first. I once "over" brined some wings
> (got called out of town and they were in the brine 72 hours!) which tasted
> a lot like ham but otherwise have had good success doing it.
>
> Hope the article is of some value!
> Terry Light
> Oak Hill, Virginia
>
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>
> This article is from the March 25, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle. I have
> not tried any of the recipes in
> this article.
>
> READY FOR BRINE TIME
>
> Salt and spices put old-fashioned flavor back into modern meats.
> Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer
>
> Have you had it with tasteless, juiceless pork chops and sawdust chicken
> breasts? Many professional cooks have, too, which is why they're turning
> to an age-old technique to restore the flavor and moistness that many
> meats used to have naturally.
>
> In a growing number of restaurant and home kitchens, brining is putting
> the juice back into pork chops and at least some taste back into
> factory-raised chickens. By soaking the meat for hours or days in a
> seasoned salt-water solution, cooks find that they can transform lean pork
> and poultry with minimal cost and effort.
>
> "This brining, it's become an urban legend," says Pam Anderson, Cook's
> Illustrated executive editor who has written about brining for the
> magazine and jokingly calls herself "the brine queen." Anderson once
> roasted more than 30 turkeys to find the best cooking method, settling on
> an overnight brine as an essential first step. "Every time we do a poultry
> story now," says Anderson, "we find that salt is the answer."
>
> With brines, cooks like Anderson are trying to compensate for the
> shortcomings of modern animal husbandry. Chickens raised to market weight
> quickly on carefully formulated feed don't have the flavor of those
> old-time barnyard hunt-and-peckers. Nor does pork have the taste appeal it
> used to. Bred for leanness to accommodate contemporary concerns about fat,
> American pigs are 50 to 70 percent leaner than they were 20 years ago,
> says East Bay sausage maker Bruce Aidells. Fat, whatever its other
> failings, contributes moisture and flavor.
>
> "When they decided to market pork as the new lean white meat, they
> completely ruined the product," complains Nancy Oakes, chef at Boulevard
> in San Francisco (and Aidells' wife). "If you cook pork loin at home, you
> end up with this hard, dry, very lean white meat."
>
> In response, Oakes began brining pork several years ago at L'Avenue, her
> former San Francisco restaurant. At Boulevard, a spit-roasted pork loin,
> brined for four days, is a menu fixture, and brined turkey breast with
> applesauce is a favorite staff meal.
>
> Aidells, too, is a brining convert. His forthcoming book on meat, due this
> fall from Chapters Publishing, will include a small treatise on the
> practice. "To be honest with you," says the meat maven, "unless you're
> really careful, it's damn near impossible to produce a decent pork chop
> without brine."
>
> The succulent cider-cured pork chop at San Francisco's 42 Degrees
> testifies to brining's merits. Chef Jim
> Moffatt swears by the technique, not only because it infuses the meat with
> flavor but because it gives the
> kitchen a larger margin of error. A brined chop will stay moist even if
> it's cooked a little too long.
>
> By what mechanism does a little salt water work such magic? "It's our old
> friend osmosis," says Harold
> McGee, the Palo Alto specialist in the science of cooking. "If there's
> more of a diffusable chemical
> in one place than another, it tries to even itself out."
>
> Because there's more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
> absorbs the salt water. There, the salt
> denatures the meat proteins, causing them to unwind and form a matrix that
> traps the water. And if the brine includes herbs, garlic, juniper berries
> or peppercorns, those flavors are trapped in the meat, too. Instead of
> seasoning on the surface only, as most cooks do, brining carries the
> seasonings throughout.
>
> Aidells calls this technique "flavor brining" - done not for preservation
> (which would require a saltier solution and longer immersion) but for
> enhancing texture and taste. Even a couple of hours in a brine will
> improve bland Cornish game hens, says Anderson, or give chicken parts a
> flavor boost before deep-frying
> or grilling.
>
> Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended brining
> times. But generally speaking, the
> saltier the brine, the shorter the required stay. And, logically, the
> brine will penetrate a Cornish game hen or duck breast much faster than it
> will penetrate a thick muscle like a whole pork loin or turkey breast.
> Meat left too long in a brine tastes over seasoned and the texture is
> compromised, producing a soggy or mushy quality.
>
> Most cooks start their brine with hot water, which dissolves the salt and
> draws out the flavor in the herbs and spices. But they caution that the
> brine should be completely cold before adding the meat or it will absorb
> too much salt.
>
> By playing around with the liquid base and the seasonings, chefs give
> their brine personality. Some use apple juice or beer for some or all of
> the water. The smoked turkey that Jeff Starr of Stags' Leap Winery
> produced for a food editors' conference in Napa Valley last year was
> brined in orange juice, rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar; some
> who tasted it swore they would never cook a turkey any other way again.
>
> Seasonings can run the gamut from thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and garlic to
> cinnamon stick, star anise or vanilla. Many cooks put some sugar in their
> brine to sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooked. Others
> avoid sugar, arguing that it makes everything taste like ham.
>
> Whatever their recipe, brining advocates keep looking for other uses for
> their favorite technique. Anderson
> says some people brine shrimp for half an hour; she herself has begun
> soaking chicken parts in salted buttermilk before frying to get the
> benefits of brine with the tenderizing effect of the buttermilk. If cooks
> like Anderson and Aidells continue to preach the gospel of brining, diners
> can kiss sawdust chicken goodbye.
>
> WHAT THE PROS KNOW
>
> Here are some tips to start you in the brining business:
>
> A heavy-duty plastic tub, earthenware crock, stainless-steel bowl or even
> a re-sealable plastic bag can work as a brining container as long as the
> meat is fully submerged. Weight with a plate if necessary to keep the meat
> fully covered by brine.
>
> To determine how much brine you'll need, place the meat to be brined in
> your chosen container. Add water to cover. Remove the meat and measure the
> water.
>
> Start your brine with hot water to dissolve the salt (and sugar if using)
> and to draw the flavor out of any herbs and spices. Chill brine completely
> in the refrigerator before adding meat.
>
> Although some cooks prefer lighter or heavier brines, 1 cup of salt per
> gallon of water is a happy medium. Use kosher salt that has no additives.
>
> WATCH THIS !!!!!!! Try LESS kosher salt. Maybe 3/4 to 2/3 cup per gallon.
> Do NOT try and use sea salt.
>
> Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else is
> optional. Consider garlic, ginger,
> fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, mustard
> seed, coriander seed, star anise, hot pepper flakes or Sichuan
> peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge and encourage browning, add 1/2 cup
> sugar to each 2 quarts of water.
>
> Rinse meat twice after removing it from the brine solution.
>
> Don't salt brined meat before cooking; it is already salted throughout.
>
> Don't reuse brine.
>
> HOW LONG TO BRINE
>
> The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own taste
> determine how long to brine an item. For a moderately strong brine (1 cup
> salt to 1-gallon water), the following brining times are rough guidelines.
> If you aren't ready to cook at the end of the brining time, remove the
> meat from the brine, but keep the meat refrigerated.
>
>
> Shrimp: 30 minutes
> Whole chicken: (4 pounds) 8 to 12 hours
> Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
> Cornish game hens: 2 hours
> Turkey: (12 to 14 pounds) 24 hours
> Pork chops: (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch thick) 1 to 2 days
> Whole pork tenderloin: 12 hours
> Whole pork loin: 2 to 4 days
>
> SUPER-JUICY ROAST CHICKEN WITH GARLIC & THYME
>
> Even the breast meat is moist in this simple roast chicken, which spends
> half a day in brine. If desired, brine it overnight, then remove it from
> the brine in the morning but keep refrigerated until dinner time.
>
> INGREDIENTS:
>
> 1 Chicken, 3-1/2 to 4 pounds
> 1 Lemon, halved
> 1 gallon Water, boiling
> 1 cup Kosher Salt
> 1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
> 4 cloves Garlic, peeled and halved
> 1 tbs. Peppercorns, coarsely cracked
>
> INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Combine all brine ingredients in a bowl,
> small crock or heavy-duty
> plastic container just large enough to hold the chicken. Stir to dissolve
> the salt. Cool, then refrigerate until
> completely cold. Place the chicken breast-side down in the brine. Weight
> with a plate if necessary to keep the chicken completely submerged.
> Refrigerate for 12 hours.
>
> Preheat the oven to 425? F.
>
> Remove chicken from brine and allow to air dry at room temperature.
>
> Squeeze 1 of the lemon halves in the cavity, squeeze the other over the
> skin and then put both halves in the cavity. Truss the bird with string.
>
> Place breast-side down on a rack in a roasting pan; roast for 30 minutes.
> Turn breast-side up and continue roasting until the juices run clear,
> about 30 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken breast-side down to a
> platter and let cool for 30 minutes. Remove the string and discard the
> lemons. Carve the chicken into serving pieces and spoon any collected
> juices over them.
>
> Serves 3 or 4.
>
> 42 DEGREES' CIDER-CURED PORK CHOPS
>
> 4 center-cut pork loin chops, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches thick
> Olive oil
>
> Brine
>
> 4 cups Water
> 2 cups Cider, hard
> 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
> 1/2 cup Brown Sugar: light, packed
> 10 Peppercorns, whole
> 4 Bay Leaves
> 1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
> 1 Onion, chopped
> 1 Carrot, peeled and chopped
> 1 Celery, chopped
> 1 Apple, peeled and chopped
>
> INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Combine all brine ingredients in a
> saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then remove from heat and let
> cool. When cool, refrigerate until cold.
>
> Add the pork chops to the cold brine. Weight with a plate if necessary to
> keep the chops completely
> submerged. Refrigerate for at least 1 day or up to 2 days.
>
> To cook: Remove the chops from the brine and pat them dry. Heat 2 skillets
> over moderately high heat. Add just enough oil to coat the bottom of each
> skillet. When the skillets are hot, add the chops and reduce heat to
> moderately low. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn and cook until the chops
> are no longer pink at the bone, about 10 minutes longer.
>
> Serves 4. The calories and other nutrients absorbed from brines vary and
> are difficult to estimate. Variables
> include the type of food, brining time and amount of surface area.
> Therefore, these recipes contain no
> analysis.
>
> VANILLA BRINE
>
> This recipe makes enough brine for a 4 to 6 pound boneless pork loin, or
> six; 1-3/8 to 1-1/2 inch-thick
> center cut pork loin chops, or 4 pork tenderloins, 1 to 1-1/4 pounds each.
> The recipe is from a forthcoming
> cookbook on meat.
>
> By: Bruce Aidells
>
> INGREDIENTS:
>
> 9 cups Water, boiling
> 1/2 cup Sugar
> 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
> 2 tbs. Black Peppercorns, coarsely cracked
> 2-1/2 tsp. Vanilla
>
> INSTRUCTIONS: Combine all brine ingredients in a bowl, small crock or
> heavy-duty plastic container; stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Let
> cool, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
>
> Add pork of choice (see headnote). Weight with a plate if necessary to
> keep the meat completely submerged.
>
> Refrigerate 3 days for pork loin, 1 to 2 days for chops and 12 hours for
> tenderloin. Stir the brine each day
> and turn the pork occasionally.
>
> Roast or grill pork loin or tenderloins. Grill chops or pan-fry according
> to directions in Cider-Cured
> Pork Chops.
>
> BOULEVARD'S STAFF TURKEY
>
> If you're feeling flush, says Boulevard chef Nancy Oakes, substitute apple
> juice or cider for the water, and
> reduce the honey to 1/2 cup.
>
> 3 to 3-1/2 lb. bone-in turkey breast, bone in
> 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
> 2 quarts Water
> 3/4 cup Honey
> 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
> 2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
> 1-1/2 teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
> 1 Rosemary sprig, about 4 inches long
>
> INSTRUCTIONS: To make the brine: Bring water to a boil, then pour into a
> container just large enough to hold the turkey breast; cool for 5 minutes.
> Add honey, salt, mustard and pepper; whisk until honey dissolves. Add
> rosemary. Refrigerate until well chilled.
>
> Add turkey breast to the chilled brine. Weight with a plate if necessary
> to keep it completely submerged.
> Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days.
>
> Remove the turkey breast from the brine, place in a roasting pan and bring
> to room temperature. Preheat
> the oven to 350? F.
>
> Roast the turkey for 30 minutes, then brush with the olive oil. Continue
> roasting until the internal temperature reaches 150? F on an instant read
> thermometer, about 30 minutes longer, basting occasionally with the
> drippings. Remove from the oven and let rest for 30 minutes before
> carving.
>
> Serves 6.
>
> PART VII - BRINING ARTICLE FROM WEB PAGE
>
> (Added June 26, 1999)
>
> http://www.sirius.com/~evanc/brining.html
>
> All of us know of the benefits of Brining, especially for today's leaner
> meats. No longer are there old hens running around on grandmas farm like
> one of my former instructors used to talk about. The pigs are eating grain
> cooked to 136? F. I for one am completely sold on the benefits of brining,
> everything from whole chickens and pork loin to fish and seafood. This is
> how brining works.
>
> Because there is more salt in the brine than in the meat, the muscle
> absorbs the salt water. There, the salt denatures the meat proteins,
> causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. And if the
> brine includes herbs, garlic and other seasonings, those flavors are
> trapped in the meat too. Instead of seasoning on the surface as most cooks
> do, brining carries the seasoning throughout.
>
> Even a couple of hours in a brine will improve bland Cornish game hens,
> and give chicken breast, pork chops, fish or even seafood a flavor boost.
> Brines vary considerably from chef to chef, as do recommended brining
> times. But generally speaking, the saltier the brine, the shorter time is
> required.
>
> And the brine will penetrate a chicken breast or pork chop much faster
> than a large thick muscle like a whole pork loin or turkey.
>
> Meat left too long in brine tastes over seasoned and the texture is
> compromised, producing a soggy or mushy quality, By playing around with
> the liquid base, you can give your brine some personality. Some chefs use
> apple juice or beer for some or all of the water. A mixture of orange
> juice, cider vinegar and rice
> wine vinegar is an excellent base for brining turkey.
>
> Seasonings can run anywhere from thyme, rosemary and garlic to star anise,
> cinnamon and vanilla beans. Many chefs put some sugar in their brine to
> sweeten the meat and make it brown better when cooking. This is good for
> pork, but it tends to make everything else taste like ham. Brining chicken
> parts before frying using salted buttermilk will give you the benefits of
> the brine plus the tenderizing effect of the buttermilk. Whatever you
> choose to use, brining is a very effective tool for dealing with today's
> leaner meats.
> How Long to Brine
>
> The thickness of the muscle, the strength of the brine and your own taste
> will determine how long to brine for an item. 1 gallon of liquid to 1-cup
> kosher salt is a happy medium. If you can't use kosher salt, cut the
> salt by half. Obviously, brined meats do not need to be salted before
> cooking, because they are already salted throughout the meat.
>
> Preparing the brine
>
> Bring your liquid to a boil. Add your salt and sugar (if you are using
> sugar) and dissolve completely. Add your herbs and seasonings. The
> seasonings are added to the hot liquid to extract the flavors, therefore,
> better flavoring the meat. Cool the brine completely! When cool, put your
> meat into a non-corrosive container and pour the brine over it. The meat
> must be completely covered, so use a plate to weigh it down if you have
> to.
>
> Shrimp: 30 minutes
> Whole chicken: (4 pounds) 8 to 12 hours
> Chicken parts: 1-1/2 hours
> Chicken breasts: 1 hour
> Cornish game hens: 2 hours
> Whole turkey: 24 hours
> Pork chops: 12 to 24 hours
> Whole pork loins: 2 to 4 days
>
> That's it, Gang. Now go enjoy BRINING!
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Piedmont
>
> The Practical Bar-B-Q'r at: http://web.infoave.net/~amwil/Index.htm
>
> The Secret American Government: http://tinyurl.com/rbwbz
>
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