How to Brine

Lesson Goals

Brining is simply the technique of submerging meat, fish, or vegetables into a salty solution. Brining is an easy way to add additional moisture to leaner cuts of meat that can tend to dry out during cooking.

Brining is also a very effective way to infuse flavor into neutral-flavored meats such as chicken, turkey and pork loin. For example, if you’d like to infuse the flavor of garlic and thyme into your next chicken, you can do this through brining. Learn this simple and important technique and you will enjoy juicy, flavorful meat every time.

At the end of this cooking school lesson, you will be able to:

• define brining and explain how it works
• choose the appropriate container for brining
• understand salt-to-water ratios
• understand how to substitute different salts
• modify the flavor of a brine
• identify brining times
• properly prepare meat for cooking after brining

Prerequisites

None