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Cooking Method: Brining
This one isn't a recipe -- it's a method. Specifically, it's a method for making chicken or pork taste better, and it's so effective I use it almost every time I cook chicken or pork.
Those of you who cook regularly very likely already know about this one -- it's a means of making chicken and pork both taste better and be moister and be less prone to overcooking. (It also works for turkey, and cornish game hen. It doesn't work with beef, or fish, which tend to get mushy in brine. I don't know about lamb or duck or goose or venison or etc.) It requires a little advance planning, but not a whole lot (just half an hour to an hour before you're ready to cook for chicken -- more for a great big turkey, of course), and very little actual active time. And it's so worth it -- I basically always brine my chicken or pork these days, even for quick evening meals. Especially for quick evening meals, because it means I don't have to fret about overcooking the meat.
Vegetarians can pass on by this one, though. ;)
(And don't let my extremely verbose description scare you! It's really simple. I'm just... verbose about food.)
How does brining work? Well, when you brine a piece of meat, you're submerging it water with a high salt content. This may seem counterintuitive for making your meat more moist -- after all, doesn't salt dehydrate things? But in this case, the first thing that happens is that the salt diffuses into the cells of the chicken. Then, the increased volume of salt in the chicken meat means that the process of osmosis draws more water into the chicken cells, and the salt there tends to hang onto that moisture. Furthermore, the salt partially denatures the protein, making the chicken even less inclined to 'dry out' during cooking.
Properly done, brining doesn't make your meat taste salty -- it should just make the chicken taste more, well, chickeny. It also doesn't raise the sodium content by that much, since only a fraction of the salt in solution is drawn into the chicken. (Some, yes, but on the other hand, if you brine your chicken/pork, you'll need to add less salt later in the process, so it tends to even out. People on specifically low-sodium diets for health reasons may need to be careful, though.) And it really makes it plumper, moister, and more resilient when cooking.
So how do you do it? Well, somewhere between half an hour to an hour before you want to start cooking, prepare the brine. (That is, for instance, if you want to eat at 8, and your recipe takes 30 minutes without including brining time, you'll want to start brining at 6:30 or 7.) To prepare the brine, boil one cup of water (in a kettle or a saucepan or the microwave, doesn't matter) and dissolve salt in it. How much salt? It depends on how much meat you're cooking.
For up to half a chicken (anything from 'one breast' to 'two thighs' to 'a split chicken), or up to about 3 lbs of chicken meat: 1/4 cup
For one to two whole chickens (or equivalent amount of chicken pieces), or 3 1/2 - 4 lbs of chicken meat: 1/2 cup
For two whole chickens (or equivalent amount of chicken pieces), or 4 1/2 - 8 lbs of chicken meat: 1 cup
For up to 3 lbs of pork: 3 tbsp
For 3-6 lbs of pork: 1/4 cup
Note: these numbers are for regular table salt. If you're using kosher salt, double the numbers. If you're using fancy artisinal salt... um, don't; it's wasted on this.
Many recipes also have you add sugar -- usually either half as much sugar as salt or an equal amount of sugar as salt. I'm still deciding whether I like sugar in my brine, and if so, in what ratio, and for what applications. So you can experiment, or you can leave it off.
Once the salt is thoroughly dissolved in the hot water, put it in a great big bowl or pan (it should be able to hold at least a gallon, and more if you're brining a big piece of meat), and add 7 cups of cold water. (That is, you'll have two quarts, or eight cups, of liquid total -- it's just that you already added one cup when you dissolved the salt in hot water.) Add the chicken. Annnnnd.... okay, most recipes will tell you to put it in the fridge for the sake of Food Safety, and this is probably a good idea. I, however, often chuck a bunch of ice in the bowl instead, and leave it on the counter, because it's easier than clearing out fridge space and it's only going to be brining for an hour tops. So do as your conscience bids you.
And now you get to just forget about it for half an hour to an hour. An hour is better; half an hour is fine if you want to cook sooner. Be careful about going too much longer than that -- I mean, if you forget about it for an extra half-hour, you'll be fine, but it will continue to get saltier and saltier the longer you brine. If you leave it in the brine for six hours, you will probably be Very Unhappy.
When you're done, just pull the chicken out of the brine, dump the brine water, and then rinse the chicken under running water (to prevent a surface salt crust, which can be unappetizing).
You can fiddle with the process, too. If an hour makes the meat saltier than you like, you can decrease the brine time to half an hour. If you want it saltier, you can experiment with brining longer. You can add herbs or spices (peppercorns and bay leaves are nice) to the boiling water to steep when you dissolve the salt in it. You can also brine things in advance if you're on a tight schedule -- just brine the meat, remove from the brine, rinse well, put in a ziplock, and use later in the week right out of the bag.
But whenever I cook chicken or pork, I almost always dump a quarter cup of salt and a bunch of water in a bowl and do a simple brine, and it's made a remarkable difference in my chicken and pork cooking.
Important Note: Do not brine kosher birds. They are already essentially 'brined' by the koshering process. If you brine them, they will become inedibly salty. In fact, buying kosher birds is a handy way of skipping the brining process if you don't want to be bothered, although you'll generally pay more for them. Similarly, some pork these days is injected with a saline solution to make it moister. Don't brine your pork if it was "enhanced" like this.
EDIT: I just now, after years and years of cooking, realized that a quart is called a quart because it has four cups in it (and/or because it's a quarter of a gallon). I feel... kind of dumb, actually! I mean, I knew quart = 4 cups, but I didn't notice the etymology at all.
Those of you who cook regularly very likely already know about this one -- it's a means of making chicken and pork both taste better and be moister and be less prone to overcooking. (It also works for turkey, and cornish game hen. It doesn't work with beef, or fish, which tend to get mushy in brine. I don't know about lamb or duck or goose or venison or etc.) It requires a little advance planning, but not a whole lot (just half an hour to an hour before you're ready to cook for chicken -- more for a great big turkey, of course), and very little actual active time. And it's so worth it -- I basically always brine my chicken or pork these days, even for quick evening meals. Especially for quick evening meals, because it means I don't have to fret about overcooking the meat.
Vegetarians can pass on by this one, though. ;)
(And don't let my extremely verbose description scare you! It's really simple. I'm just... verbose about food.)
How does brining work? Well, when you brine a piece of meat, you're submerging it water with a high salt content. This may seem counterintuitive for making your meat more moist -- after all, doesn't salt dehydrate things? But in this case, the first thing that happens is that the salt diffuses into the cells of the chicken. Then, the increased volume of salt in the chicken meat means that the process of osmosis draws more water into the chicken cells, and the salt there tends to hang onto that moisture. Furthermore, the salt partially denatures the protein, making the chicken even less inclined to 'dry out' during cooking.
Properly done, brining doesn't make your meat taste salty -- it should just make the chicken taste more, well, chickeny. It also doesn't raise the sodium content by that much, since only a fraction of the salt in solution is drawn into the chicken. (Some, yes, but on the other hand, if you brine your chicken/pork, you'll need to add less salt later in the process, so it tends to even out. People on specifically low-sodium diets for health reasons may need to be careful, though.) And it really makes it plumper, moister, and more resilient when cooking.
So how do you do it? Well, somewhere between half an hour to an hour before you want to start cooking, prepare the brine. (That is, for instance, if you want to eat at 8, and your recipe takes 30 minutes without including brining time, you'll want to start brining at 6:30 or 7.) To prepare the brine, boil one cup of water (in a kettle or a saucepan or the microwave, doesn't matter) and dissolve salt in it. How much salt? It depends on how much meat you're cooking.
For up to half a chicken (anything from 'one breast' to 'two thighs' to 'a split chicken), or up to about 3 lbs of chicken meat: 1/4 cup
For one to two whole chickens (or equivalent amount of chicken pieces), or 3 1/2 - 4 lbs of chicken meat: 1/2 cup
For two whole chickens (or equivalent amount of chicken pieces), or 4 1/2 - 8 lbs of chicken meat: 1 cup
For up to 3 lbs of pork: 3 tbsp
For 3-6 lbs of pork: 1/4 cup
Note: these numbers are for regular table salt. If you're using kosher salt, double the numbers. If you're using fancy artisinal salt... um, don't; it's wasted on this.
Many recipes also have you add sugar -- usually either half as much sugar as salt or an equal amount of sugar as salt. I'm still deciding whether I like sugar in my brine, and if so, in what ratio, and for what applications. So you can experiment, or you can leave it off.
Once the salt is thoroughly dissolved in the hot water, put it in a great big bowl or pan (it should be able to hold at least a gallon, and more if you're brining a big piece of meat), and add 7 cups of cold water. (That is, you'll have two quarts, or eight cups, of liquid total -- it's just that you already added one cup when you dissolved the salt in hot water.) Add the chicken. Annnnnd.... okay, most recipes will tell you to put it in the fridge for the sake of Food Safety, and this is probably a good idea. I, however, often chuck a bunch of ice in the bowl instead, and leave it on the counter, because it's easier than clearing out fridge space and it's only going to be brining for an hour tops. So do as your conscience bids you.
And now you get to just forget about it for half an hour to an hour. An hour is better; half an hour is fine if you want to cook sooner. Be careful about going too much longer than that -- I mean, if you forget about it for an extra half-hour, you'll be fine, but it will continue to get saltier and saltier the longer you brine. If you leave it in the brine for six hours, you will probably be Very Unhappy.
When you're done, just pull the chicken out of the brine, dump the brine water, and then rinse the chicken under running water (to prevent a surface salt crust, which can be unappetizing).
You can fiddle with the process, too. If an hour makes the meat saltier than you like, you can decrease the brine time to half an hour. If you want it saltier, you can experiment with brining longer. You can add herbs or spices (peppercorns and bay leaves are nice) to the boiling water to steep when you dissolve the salt in it. You can also brine things in advance if you're on a tight schedule -- just brine the meat, remove from the brine, rinse well, put in a ziplock, and use later in the week right out of the bag.
But whenever I cook chicken or pork, I almost always dump a quarter cup of salt and a bunch of water in a bowl and do a simple brine, and it's made a remarkable difference in my chicken and pork cooking.
Important Note: Do not brine kosher birds. They are already essentially 'brined' by the koshering process. If you brine them, they will become inedibly salty. In fact, buying kosher birds is a handy way of skipping the brining process if you don't want to be bothered, although you'll generally pay more for them. Similarly, some pork these days is injected with a saline solution to make it moister. Don't brine your pork if it was "enhanced" like this.
EDIT: I just now, after years and years of cooking, realized that a quart is called a quart because it has four cups in it (and/or because it's a quarter of a gallon). I feel... kind of dumb, actually! I mean, I knew quart = 4 cups, but I didn't notice the etymology at all.
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