I had my first experience with brining last week when I decided to brine a 22# turkey. The brine consisted of 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, 5# ice, the juice and remains of about four oranges, rosemary, and garlic.
The cooled brine was placed in a 6 gallon insulated water jug, the bird placed in the container breast down, the ice dumped over the bird, and water added until the bird was submerged. Obviously, this wasn't going to fit in the refrigerator, but with the ice and insulated container I was able to leave it out to brine for about 16 hrs. There was some ice left when the bird was removed from the brine.
I was the best turkey I have ever cooked. Normally I don't like the white meat because of dryness, but that wasn't the case here.

Table salt weighs about 10 oz per cup, Morton Kosher salt weighs about 7.7 oz per cup, and Diamond Crystal Kosher salt weighs about 5 oz per cup. Therefore you need to adjust the volume of salt thusly:
Table Salt 1 cup
Morton Kosher Salt 1-1/2 cup
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 2 cups

Hi J Robert. While you are correct in quoting the ratios of those brands, we have tried to simplify the calculation process in this lesson by eliminating the need to do complicated calculations at the time of preparing the brine. One doesn’t always need a cup of salt to brine, so we tried to make the calculation simpler, so one can easily know how much salt to use, even if only brining a single chicken breast.

Also, rather than having to find a particular salt or brand and figure out their corresponding volumes, we are simply saying that you need 30 grams of any salt per liter or quart of liquid (for a low concentrate brine). By weighing it, you will end up with about the same concentration every time no matter what salt you use. You won’t have to depend on certain brands that may not be available in your country.

Thanks for your feedback. Hope this helps.

I brined a turkey for Thanksgiving following your instructions. It turned out really great. Now I'm thinking pork roast since its rather lean meat and I find it difficult to get the cooking time just right (even using a thermometer).

What do you think?

Pork roast is perfect for brining. Here's one we did a couple of weeks ago. It's a text recipe but it will walk you through the whole recipe.

http://rouxbe.com/recipes/1841

Good luck. Let us know if you need any help.

I've been looking for an excuse to use Calvados so this is perfect.

Of course we'll have to enjoy a little bit of "trou normand" as a before dinner drink as well.

Thanks

Wow! I'd heard of brining, but I had no idea it made THAT big a difference until just now, trying it on chicken. It made it much more moist and the flavor went the whole way through. That was one of the things I always disliked about white meat poultry...so dry and flavorless on the inside. It helped even the dark meat, but the white meat was especially impressive. I may never eat unbrined chicken again!

Dawn, sounds lovely your "Pork Roast" - can I brine a piece of pork called "solomillo" in spanish and which I 'm thinking of frying lightly and serving with a sauce?

I am a barbecue judge and like to smoke my turkey. I use the same solution to inject the breast & thighs the day before and leave in the same solution for 24 hours, acting as a brine. I use:
1-1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup water
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup table salt
1/4 cup Worcestershire
1/4 cup maple syrup (double if you like it sweeter)

Modify the amount to cover the turkey. This is a good recipe and does not overpower the meat.

Yes, if solomillo is what I think it is, you can brine it. Just brine it according to it's size. Meaning that if you only have a small piece then don't brine for very long. And don't forget to pat the meat dry before you pan fry it.

Good Luck - Let me know how it turns out!

I tried out the recipe you suggested: rouxbe.com/recipes/1841 and it worked perfectly. I actually brined pork loin and it came out a lot more juicy and tender than any other time I'd done it. Thanks for the suggestion.

On the other hand, your recipe doesn't specify if the roast should be covered once in the oven or not. I took the safe route and put a lid on.

Isn't brining just great! As for the roast, I did not cover it, but if it worked out for you...then super! Thanks for the comment.

Will there be a lesson on Dry-Brining? If not, what's the difference in result between dry-brining and wet-brining?

The main difference with dry brining (which is really just a dry salt rub) is that there is no water used. The salt is simply rubbed over the meat and left to penetrate. The salt draws out some of the moisture and opens the pores. Over time the moisture and the salt are then reabsorbed back into the fibers of the meat (basically brining the bird with its own juices).

Dry brining usually takes a bit longer; it also can’t be sped up or rushed, because if you were to roast the meat, say a chicken or turkey, after the salt had just started to draw out moisture and it didn’t have the time to reabsorb that moisture, it would make for dry meat.

There are those that say that “dry brining is superior…and there are those that say the opposite. Basically it comes down to personal preference.

As for whether or not we will be doing a lesson on this…the answer is quite possibly….Hope this helps!

Hello. Just curious, but what is the difference between marinating and brining? I've heard of people saying they marinated in salt water. Were they simply incorrect on their lingo or are the terms interchangeable?

The difference between marinating and brining is that in a brine salt is one of the main components. Marinating on the other hand doesn't have to contain any salt...in fact marinades usually contain either an acid or an oil or both...whereas a brine can simply be salt and water.

So to answer your question...I believe that the "incorrect lingo" was used if someone referring to "marinated in salt water". But then again I do not know the context of what they were referring to...so I don't want to judge :-)

Hope this helps!

We tried brining for the first time today. Nothing too big, just three large chicken breasts. We went with the brining flavoring suggestions in the video but also added orange, just for fun. I can't believe we went our whole lives cooking chicken without brining it first. We're never going back. Once you've tasted juicy, brined chicken you are spoiled for life!

I have a question about using orange in a brine. Is orange something that you have to use a LOT of in order to detect it in the flavor of the chicken? We were unable to really taste any of the orange we put in the brine. Any suggestions about how to incorporate orange into a brine so that it is detectable?

We love this site. We never knew how much fun cooking together in the kitchen could be! We haven't gone this long without eating out since I don't know when!

I too have always wondered why people don't take the extra time to do this step. Glad you've had the breakthrough. Great with Pork too. We are doing a rack of pork today in fact.

As for flavoring, depending on the flavoring, it might take more than you think. For example, our apple cider brine takes quite a bit of apple cider:

http://rouxbe.com/recipes/121;text

You could also try using the zest from a few oranges as the zest typically has more flavor.

So in short, don't hesitate to experiment with your flavorings. The salt to liquid ratio remains important for the brining to work but the rest is up to you. Just add more if you want more. Cheers,

If you er to tenderize the meat, say pork, with a tenderizing hammer, should you brine first then tenderize or vice versa

Super Question. Brining is used to infuse flavor and moisten as you know. Tenderizing is a different process. If you cut and then pound first, your pieces will be very small (thin) so they will become very salty if brined in for a long time.

However, if you only had a very short amount of time, I don't see why you couldn't cut, tenderize then do a REALLY quick brine, say under 5 or 10 minutes. Would be a great experiment.

But generally, brining is for larger pieces of meat where you want to season internally. A pork tenderloin cut and tenderized would be just as good with topical seasonings sprinkled on top of the meat before cooking.

Thank you. Also, we love to smoke meat here in Texas and feel I'm pretty good at it and I always use a good dry rub that has very little if any salt on my meats, particularly brisket. I have always been afraid to try a wet brine for fear that too much salt would actually dry the meat out as it is cooked low and slow. Am I paranoid or should I experiment with a certain type of meat?

I would suggest trying a nice pork butt/shoulder. The shoulder has a good amount of connective tissue and fat for added flavor and moisture.

Here is a link to the lesson on "Combination Cooking Lesson" from the Rouxbe Cooking School
http://rouxbe.com/school/sections/210

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Is it all right to use stainless steel to brine with, or should you just use glass? What are the safe vessels one could use? I don't want the brine to ruin my stock pot.
Dennis K

I use a big stainless steel pan all of the time to brine. Your stock pot will also work.

Here is a Drill-down on "Food Safe Containers for Brining" from the lesson on Brining:
http://rouxbe.com/drilldowns/366

For more info you can check out the full lesson on Brining.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for getting back to me. I was a little worried the salty brine might have a chemical reaction with the stainless steel and do something to it. Guess I was concerned for nothing. Thanks again, Dennis