Brining Basics
Brining meat takes us as humans right back to basics in terms of some of the first things we as a species learned both to store food, and ensure it was healthier to eat in terms of killing germs and other bugs which could not survive such a high saline solution. Basically here is what you want :
- 1 US/UK gallon water (4 liters)
- 1.5 cups non-iodized salt (kosher, pickling, sea)
- 1.0 cups white or brown sugar, maple syrup, honey or whatever (I always use honey from a local apiary)
- herbs and spices to your preference
You simply mix this ideally first in a pot on the stove and bring to near-boiling just for the sake of fully dissolving the sugars and salts.
For "herbs and spices" you can use just about anything your imagination can come up with as "yummy" as long as it is something you know for sure is edible. We regularly use any combination of dill, thyme, basil, various diverse peppercorns, cinnamon, ginger (root and powder), onion, garlic, leek, raddish (grated) and ... really ... just anything you can think of!
The only important rules for brining are time-wise, and you have to know that various cuts of meat can be brined for various lengths of time (or not) and have them turn out well. In very general terms, the less fat there is in a cut, the shorter it can be brined without become "over-brined". Though anything is "safe" at 12 hours, I personally prefer a basic brining time of 24 hours, and for tougher cuts of meet, or for a bunch of stuff going into a brining bucket out of the freezer as I often do, brine 48 hours.
After 48 hours it will not get any brinier in my experience, so you can leave it in there for the whole shelf-life of the meat if not more because both heavy-brine and heavy-sugar act to preserve it. I've brined whole chickens for 5 days and they turned out pretty incredible when I eventually smoked or deep fried them!
I often brine a huge 27 litre bucket (or two) once or twice a year, and re-freeze it all after doing so. I only recommend doing this if you are well-read in the area of safely preserving food, as I personally am. This is not something to "tinker with" since it can potentially kill you and/or people you love.
Comments
I gotta try this
I need to know if i can get actual ingredients and amounts (like a recipe) to give it my first shot and then store in the refrigerator before freezing and keeping. just to take the guess work out of my first try. As I build in confidence i will probably start experimenting on my own with spice combos etc. any help out there?
what spices?
What spices do you want to try, and I can give you an idea of amounts.
Pepper is easy to overdo. Other than that probably not so much that I've tried anyway. So start with small amounts of pepper - maybe 1/4 tsp per unit volume at most.
in case it was not obvious
The meat being brined should be in the fridge the whole time. That is easy for me to do with at least 2 keg fridges at any point in time. But you can also brine smaller amounts like ribs, a whole bunch of chicken, or whatever else in a regular 5L or so square Rubbermaid(TM) container, with a tight-sealing lid.