Use a Quick Brine to Make Any Cut of Meat More Tender (2024)

FAQs

How to brine meat to make it tender? ›

What's the Secret Recipe? We might have a few marinade secrets up our sleeve, but brining is a no-recipe-required kind of event. Simply combine one tablespoon of salt for every cup of water. You'll need enough water to completely cover the meat, and usually 4 cups of water (and 1/4 cup of salt) will do the trick.

Basic Brine

Place that volume of water in a container large enough to hold the brine and the meat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt for every cup of water you used and mix until the salt is completely dissolved. For example, if you are using 1 gallon (16 cups) of water, add 16 tablespoons (1 cup) of salt.

For all-purpose brine, a good rule of thumb is: ¼ cup of kosher salt and ¼ cup of sugar for every quart of water. You can also add aromatics or other flavorings to intensify the seasoning, like whole peppercorns, garlic cloves, dried herbs, whole spices, citrus or other fruit, mirepoix or fruit juices.

According to research published in the Journal of Food Science , the salt in the brine dissolves a bit of the protein in the muscle fibers, and allows the meat to absorb the brine and retain moisture during cooking. This makes the poultry juicier, more tender and improves the flavor.

Meanwhile, the brine also tenderizes meat by causing its muscle fibers to unravel and swell. It all comes together to trap so much liquid inside that it can't all evaporate during the cooking process, creating a moister, juicier piece of meat.

Some recipes call for rinsing meat after brining, while others skip this step. Do whatever the recipe calls for. Rinsing is common in recipes with a very high salt concentration or that contain sugar, since sugar can burn on the surface of meat during cooking.

Step-by-Step Quick Brining Guide

Add your meat. If there's not quite enough liquid to cover, add a solution of 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of fine table salt) until the meat is completely submerged. Cover the container and refrigerate.

Brining super-thin meat cuts such as fish filets for 10 minutes is a practical rule of thumb. Other meats, such as shrimp and thin pork chicken breasts or chops, normally require 15 to 30 minutes to brine. Larger meats, such as a whole chicken, can be brined overnight, and huge turkeys can be brined for up to 48 hours.

A general rule of thumb is to leave your meat in its brine for roughly one hour per pound—never brine your meat more than the prescribed amount, lest the proteins break down too far, turning it into unappetizing mush.

Brine is a strong solution of water and salt. A sweetener such as sugar, molasses, honey, or corn syrup may be added to the solution for flavor and to improve browning. The brining of meats is an old process used for food preservation.

Can you dry brine in a Ziploc bag? ›

Plastic Bags For Brining

Regular Ziploc bags can be used safely for brining. The one-gallon size can be used for small cuts of meat like pork chops, chicken pieces, while the two-gallon size will accommodate a whole or butterflied chicken.

Force: Pounding, Massaging, Cutting, and More

Mallets and meat pounders, for example, can be used to hammer steaks and thin slices of meat; the heavy force from banging the meat breaks up the connective tissue and collagen around the muscle fibers, causing the muscle fibers to separate and the meat to be more tender.

Place the meat on the bed and completely cover it with kosher or coarse sea salt. You can rub it in or just let it sit for approximately **15 minutes (or up to 45 minutes for thicker cuts). The salt breaks down the muscle fibers and connective tissue to maximize the tenderness and texture of the steak.