Brine – lean meat’s best friend
When you are grilling or roasting lean meats, brining the meat will keep it moist and add flavor. I use the same basic brine with turkey, pork and chicken. The brining time changes from 1 hour for thin cuts of meats (less than 1 inch) to overnight for a whole turkey. The brine adds salt and sweetness along with a variety of aromatic flavors. The aromatics that you can use are orange or lemon zest (cut 1/2 inch wide strips), cloves, black pepper, bay leaves, ginger and star anise. I add the sugar and salt to a pan, add water and all the flavorings then bring the water to a simmer and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Let the hot mixture cool and steep those flavorful additions. Then add more water and ice to bring the mix up to volume and cool it off. My basic brine recipe is below.
Below are grilled pork chops with sage that were brined for 2 hours. Because the chops had been brined, I could cook them over lower heat for much longer without drying them out. This let the smoke from the grill penetrate the meat. I grilled these over indirect heat (coals on the sides) turning every 5 minutes until the internal temperature was 140 F. The sage leaves pressed into each side are decorative and tasty.
Recipe: Basic Brine Recipe
Summary: A basic brine recipe for meat. Use at current volumes for small cuts like pork chops and chicken breasts. Double for larger roasts and quadruple for a whole turkey.
Ingredients
- ¾ C Brown Sugar
- ½ C Kosher Salt (table salt use ¼ C – non Iodized)
- 10 cloves Garlic – crushed
- 4 Bay leaves crumbled
- 8 Whole cloves
- 4 Whole Allspice
- 3 Tbl Peppercorns – crushed (I use a coffee grinder)
- 1/4 Zest of an Orange (I carve off slivers off the outside)
- 1/2 A whole Orange
- 2 C Water to boil
- 4 C Water to dilute after boil
- 2 C Ice
Instructions
- Add the salt, sugar and spices to a large pot
- Add first portion of water. Heat until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
- Put pot in sink in cold water to cool to room temperature or just let sit.
- Add rest of the water and ice to cool the mixture.
- For smaller cuts of meat, put them in a ziplock bag. For a whole turkey, use a 5 gallon plastic food pail.
For pork chops, chicken breasts – use the 1 X measurements and let sit for 1 to 3 hours. For turkey breast, whole chicken large pork roasts – use the 2 X and let sit for 2 to 6 hours. For a whole turkey, use the 4 X and let sit for 12 to 24 hours.
Take the meat out of the brine. Rinse under the tap to remove the extra brine on the surface and pat dry. The brine will impart a subtle flavor but not a lot of flavor. The meat has been salted so don’t add more salt to the meat. Season the meat and cook as you normally would but don’t add extra salt.
Quick Notes
If you make gravy from the pan drippings, they can be salty so taste and thin the drippings with broth, stock or water.
TRICKS: Warm up the solution just enough to get the salt and sugar to dissolve. Let cool slowly to extract the flavors. Remember the meat is already salted!
You can add an extra (1X) cup or two of water if need to. At the 4X end, you can add another quart if you need.
Pork Loin Roast – Sear 5 min each side – Roast at 450°F for 6 min / pound about
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