The accepted rule of thumb has been a 1-1-1 recipe for a brine. 1 cup of kosher salt (Morton for reference), 1 cup of sugar and 1 gallon of water.
Lots of folks use this site...
http://bbq.about.com/od/brinerecipes/r/bl90821a.htm
as a source for this concentration. This is what I have always used based on the great Brining 101 that Smokin' Okie published a while back...
http://www.cookshack.com/Websites/cookshack/Images/2010brining101.pdf
Others have referenced this article...
http://www.food.com/recipe/basic-brine-for-juicy-tender-chicken-or-turkey-306144
It calls for 1/2 cup kosher salt to a gallon of water.
So, what's right?
A couple of weeks ago I posted the following...
The minimum salt level for a brine to do it's thing is 150g/gallon of water. The volume that equals 150g. is tough to say because it depends on the salt type (Diamond brand K salt vs. Morton K salt vs. table salt) due to the size of the crystals. The ideal salt level based on research by Dr. Etstes Reynolds at the University of Georgia is 272g/gallon and Cooks Illustrated recommends 568g/gallon. In home measurements the Cooks illustrated recommended brine is 1 cup or Morton K Salt to a gallon of water. Dr. Reynolds recommendation is 1/2 cup Morton K salt/gallon. So, for two gallons, using Dr. Estes recommendation, you would need one cup of Morton K salt for two gallons of water. You have 3/16 cup (4 T = 1/4 cup) (assuming that you used Morton K salt).
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If you're interested in the science behind brining I recommend this site...
http://www.edinformatics.com/math_sc...ng/brining.htm
Based on the above, we need a minimum of 150g of salt per gallon of water. The accepted rule of thumb above yields approx. 568g/gallon, which is well above the minimum. Based on research, Dr. Reynolds recommends the concentration that Geoff referenced, which yields approx. 272g/gallon, still above the minimum.
So, even the experts disagree on this
Both concentrations will get the job done. The 1-1-1 recipe may be able to achieve the moisture increase that we are looking for faster, but may also have more of an effect on the structure of the proteins, which will impact the texture of the meat.
I have been using the standard 1-1-1 ratio, but after reading the article above I am going to try a side-by-side experiment with both recipes to see if I can tell the difference. If I get acceptable results with the lower concentration I'll probably switch to that.
Thoughts? What do you use and what are your results?
