On Jan 14, 9:38*am, (Steve Pope) wrote:
> Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
> >"Steve Pope" > wrote in message
> >> Brining is used to help tenderize a tough, but flavorful
> >> piece of meat. *It's not a flavoring technique, at least
> >> in its basic form.
> >I've never heard that. It does add moisture through osmosis and adding
> >moisture may make what would otherwise have been a dried out chicken breast
> >or pork chop seem more tender. * I've brined many a corned beef and until
> >properly cooked like any other brisket, it is still tough.
>
> Okay, thanks for this datapoint. *So your thinking is it
> will make like a pork chop seem more tender, because it
> makes it moister, but it doesn't really tenderize the connective
> tissue in any real way?
>
> I'll believe this however the results can be pretty good,
> in terms of faux-tenderizing.
>
> Steve

I've only noticed brining tenderizing the meat when including citrus
in the brine. Then of course, it's the citrus doing the tenderizing.
The citrus adds great flavors to poultry, but you have to be careful
to not over do it.