by Rolland Judd

Created on: January 12, 2009   Last Updated: January 28, 2009

Brining meat is an often overlooked technique that ensures the meat you are cooking will be tender and juicy. It is a very simple technique that can be done in any number of ways. If you are looking to enhance the overall texture of the meat you cook then brining is a must-know skill.

The first thing to consider when brining meat is what kind of meat are you going to be cooking. Different proteins will require different types of brine to fully accentuate the flavor of the meat. A few simple brining recipes will help you get the idea.

Let's start with poultry. There are many different brining recipes for poultry and they are all effective in enhancing the flavor of the dish you might be making with it. One fairly simply recipe for brining poultry is to take a sauce pan and fill it with a gallon of water. Add in one and a half cups of Kosher salt and three tablespoons of brown sugar, then bring that mixture to a boil. After the mixture cools add in a half cup of white vinegar, a tablespoon of pickling spice, a teaspoon of black pepper, a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a teaspoon of tarragon. Stir this all together and place the cooled mixture in a container with your poultry product. Let it sit for an hour or two and you're done. Your poultry will be juicy and flavorful any way you cook it.

Some brines are much simpler than that. Take pork ribs for example. All you need for a very straightforward brine for pork ribs is a gallon of water, two cups of Kosher salt, and a half pound of brown sugar. That's it, you don't even need to heat it up. Mix these all together and brine your ribs for about two hours. You will end up with ribs that are so tender that the meat will almost be falling off of the bones after you cook them.

For a brine with a little more flavor some people like to use a beer brine. This tends to work very well with fish but it can be used with other proteins as well. A very uncomplicated beer brine for fish involves taking out the sauce pan again. Fill it with four cups of brown ale (darker ales tend to infuse more flavor into the protein, so leave the Budweiser in the fridge), a half cup of sea salt, a quarter cup of pickling spice, and a half cup of brown sugar. Stir this mixture well and bring it to a boil. After you have brought it to a boil let it cool and pour it into a container with your fish. An hour usually does the trick with beer brines, but letting it go a little longer won't hurt. Now you've got a flavorful, juicy fillet of fish ready to go on the grill.

No matter what you are cooking brining your meat before you cook it is a sure-fire way to ensure that you will end up with a very savory dish. Once you experiment with brining a little bit you will be able to easily notice the difference between meat that was brined first and meat that wasn't. It is like night and day. People that taste your cooking once you start brining will be amazed by the tenderness of the meat and will always wonder how you make things so juicy.

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