Brining prior to cooking

[wallie]

I came across an article on Brining prior to cooking.
This was a whole chicken being brined in an 80% brine for 2 hours, rinsed then cooked.
Am I right in assuming an 80% brine would be 80grams salt to 1 litre of water?

cheers
wallie

[Spuddy]

No, the percentage refers to the ratio against saturation point (if I remember rightly) so 100% brine would be something like 360g of salt in a litre and 80% would be something like 288g in a litre.
Don't take the figures as accurate, the 360g/L is from memory and may not be correct but is for illustration only. Wait for someone (probably Dave) to verify or elaborate first.

[saucisson]

You rang?

At 15.5 �C (60 �F) saturated brine is 26.4% salt by weight, so 264g salt to give 1 litre 100% brine. So you want 211g salt Wallie.

Dave

PS. I had to look up the number as I couldn't remember it either Spuddy

[Spuddy]

That's IN a litre as opposed to ADDED TO a litre though isn't it Dave?

[saucisson]

Yes, a very important point, thanks,

Dave

[wheels]

There's a brine table here:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/curing/making-brine.htm

80% brine is 21.116% salt

268g salt added to 1 litre water gives:

268/(268+1000)*100=21.135%

Phil

[Greyham]

To simplify things a little. I brine a lot of my meat for extra flavour including chicken breasts large pork chops whole birds etc. I use a basic brine and vary the aromatics to suit which ever meat you are going to brine.
my basic brine is this
4 litre water (1 gallon)
250g salt
several Fresh bay leaves not dry
12 or more juniper berries
few good sprigs of fresh thyme
12 or so black peppercorns.

This is a good basic brine just use a little imagination with the aromatics.

[saucisson]

Wallie's 2 hour brine is about 4 times stronger than yours Greyham, do you brine for longer? or about the same?

Dave

[wheels]

Rulman in 'Charcuterie' uses a very similar brine to Greyhams - he adds about 125g sugar as well.

Times:

Chicken breast 2 hours
Pork Chops (thick) 2 hours
1kg Chicken 4-6 hours
1.5kg-2kg Chicken 8-12 hours
Turkey Breast 4 inch thick 12-18 hours
2kg Pork Loin 12 hours
4kg-7kg Turkey 24 hours
Over 7kg Turkey24-36 hours
Fish - thin fillets 1 hour
Fish - 1 inch (or more) thick fillets 6-8 hours

Hope this helps

Phil

[vinner]

I, too, add sugar to my brine, usually about 75% of the weight of the salt. But honestly, I don't measure my brines for items Iwill be roasting or grilling, just a "handfull" type measure. Salt in proteins seems to find equilibrium. I try to brine overnite so the savories (peppercorns, garlic etc) have a chance to penetrate.

[david1233]

Try this

http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-arc ... 9804.shtml

Its from an American site I worked on for 4 or 5 years

[johnfb]

What's the point of brining before cooking??? I understand ham, bacon and corned beef but chicken breast etc???

[vinner]

Brining anything before cooking (turkey, chicken, porkc hops) swells the protein cells, and makes for juicier meat, as well as introducing seasoning to the interior of the meat. I tried it with turkey 8 years ago, and now brine all sorts of meat that are to be roasted or grilled.

[wheels]

I take it that it's a fairly common practice in the US given the amount of blog posts etc about it just before Thanksgiving?

Whilst there have been posts on here before, it seems to have become more 'mainstream' only recently following a recipe that uses it for Christmas turkeyby celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

Phil

[saucisson]

Yes, I was most put out when Nigella stole my idea

Dave