Brine for Pork & Poultry
Brining meat ensures that it will stay moist and the brine adds flavor. I like to brine both pork and poultry. Beef generally benefits from just a dry brine (kosher salt applied liberally 2-12 hours before cooking) or an injection in the case of brisket.
Brine for Pork & Poultry
Ingredients
- 16 cups of water – 8 cups warm and 8 cups cold water and/or ice.
- – I like to replace some or all of the water with apple juice when I do pork
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar 1/2 cup if you are using apple juice
- Optional Additions
- 1/2 – 1 cup cider vinegar replaces water
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 4 Bay leaves
- 2-4 smashed cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 4 tsp Thyme
- 2 tsp Rosemary
Instructions
- Combine the brown sugar and salt with the 8 cups of warm water and bring to a boil.
- Add any additional ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add some ice (figure that into the water total) to cool it down when done.
- Add the brine and the meat to a large container or a zip lock bag and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Rinse the meat when you remove it from the brine. Don’t use much if any salt when you season the meat for cooking.