BRINING - THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
< Rev E >

By Mikey Lulejian
(Atlanta, GA)
November 9,1999

This is hopefully the most complete factual info available about
BRINING.  We start off with our questions, and the respective
responses from experienced people - Top Pitmasters In Their Own
Rights.

We then go on to FURTHER information after SALTINESS was
encountered on our first go-around.

IMPORTANT NOTE !

Below please review the INDEX ===> and then go to "General
Comments" directly below the Index to read Important
Thoughts !

INDEX

Part 1 - INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS BRINING ?

Part 2 - GENERAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Part 3 - MORE QUESTIONS AFTER 1st "BRINE"

Part 4 - TIME FOR FOOD TO BE LEFT IN BRINE

Part 5 - BRINING THOUGHTS FROM FERGY AND DAN GILL
           (Includes a major article From Dan Gill -
            "Turkey: To Brine or Not To Brine")

Part 6 - EXCELLENT BRINING RECIPES
         (Courtesy of Jim Minion, BigWheel,
          Garry Howard, Marlene Rausch and Dan Gill

Part 7 - BRINING VENISON By Dan Gill

Part 8 - 3 IMPORTANT BRINING ARTICLES (Long)
           (These include additional Recipes)

GENERAL COMMENTS

Be VERY CAREFUL on your salt solution.  Brining is VERY easy to
do.  But it DOES require that you follow the instructions detailed
below.  You will almost ALWAYS have excellent results if your
Poultry or Pork is Under Brined (too little salt or too little time)
but it MAY be almost uneatable if:

A) The brine solution includes too much salt,
B) The brine solution does not contain enough sugar,
C) The meat is left in the brine solution too long or
D) The meat is not washed thoroughly afterwards before cooking.

We might suggest you try the following:

1) Make your (basic) Brine Solution up using:
a HALF CUP of Kosher salt
a GALLON of water,
and use at least a HALF CUP of sugar.
And of course, your spices.

Brown sugar is preferred by many. Also note that Instead of
sugar or maple syrup, you can try sweetening the brine with
honey, molasses, or even caramelized sugar.

2) Leave your meat in the brine solution on the low end of the
time table shown, or maybe an hour or more less to begin with.

3) Brining MUST take place at 40 degrees or below. Please do not
try and cut corners on the proper temperature. Place your poultry
in the brine solution after it is Cool -  not while it is still warm.
Cool the brine solution with ice in plastic bags, if necessary.

4) Please be CAREFUL with what you put into your brine solution.
Acidic foodstuffs, such as apple juice, beer, orange juice should
NEVER be used on POULTRY.

5) To help make this text file easier to read, we have divided the
"Parts" with long ****** marks, and divided up the recipes, etc
contained in each part with  ===== marks.
   

This should make this document easier to read.

Hope y'all enjoy this !

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE ARTICLE IN TXT FORMAT