Brine Expert Needed, Fast Help Requested. Dinner is waiting!!!

Here is my understanding.

Brine is salt based. Marinade is acid based.

Brine is intended to make things more moist, not to impart flavor, and is usually rinsed off after working its magic. Marinade is used to impart flavor.

Basically rinsing off the excess salty water so you have a clean base for your rub.

Did you brine or marinate your chicken? I rinse off brine, but don't when marinating... I also pat the chicken dry after rinsing before putting on additional spice. Sugar and salt are the only things I use to brine. I then add additional spice on top of and under the skin before putting it on the grill.

Brine is very salty, your meat will be salty enough. If you don't rinse you'll probably end up with an over-salted meal.
Like HeSmellsLikeSmoke has stated, the brining process has already done it's job inside the meat and it's a good idea to rinse off all the exterior liquid.

I brine whole birds and don't parts and pieces.
When you brine you get a salty film on exterior, that is what I rinse off.

Brining sucks moisture into the bird. What is on the outside doesn't add anything and like he said above doesn't let your rub adhere well.

Bringing by process carries a bit of the flavor of the water into the meat. You should get a noticeable amount of flavor in the meat. If not, you need to look at the flavors your using and perhaps extend the duration of the brining.

If you want a good example, try using mace. It is VERY strong. It will absolutely be present when you taste the meat. I would only do this with a leg or thigh, don't do an entire bird. Just as an example.

Brining 101 guy here, just some comments/clarifications as it's that time of year and a lot of new people have brining questions:

HeSmellsLikeSmoke said:

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Brine is intended to make things more moist, not to impart flavor, and is usually rinsed off after working its magic...

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Then you've used the wrong brines.

One of the main reasons for brining is to add flavor deep. When you brine, any spices, flavors in the brine will be carried deep into the bird. So the flavor it adds is dependent on the brine you added.

Saiko said:

Brine is very salty, your meat will be salty enough. If you don't rinse you'll probably end up with an over-salted meal.

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The brine is salty to make Osmosis work, but it doesn't make the meat overly salty. If it does, it's because your taste buds are sensitive more so to salt. Done right, with the right balance of liquid, salt, sugar, flavors, it should give more moisture, and more flavor and not be overly salty.

Ever since my first versionof Brining 101 came out in 2000 there just so much information, it's hard to know what's right, what's wrong.

Like rinsing. I don't rinse birds, when I teach, when I cook and no one has ever told me it's overly salty, even when I've used an overly salty brine for testing. One of the main reasons I DO hear people talk about rinsing is more to make sure you rinse, pat dry and let it air dry because they think it will help with a more moist skin.

Here's my suggestion. Test it yourself and Practice. Your taste buds will be the ones to know AND it's important, but if your rub is salty, I've seen that, when added to a brined bird actually increase the salt taste. Get some chicken. Brine some. Don't brine some. Experiment. Rinse, don't rinse. A little experimentation with cheap chicken will let you zero in on a brine that works for you.

Russ. Not to put too fine of point on it, but isn't brine defined as salt desolved in water? If you add elements to the saline solution for flavor, such as sugar or spice, seems to me you are doing more than just brining. If the added elements are acidic, then you are mixing brine with marinade to some extent.

I realize that the word brining, in cooking, has evolved to include more than salt and water, but that doesn't mean that using salt and water brine is the wrong brine to use to add moisture.

HeSmellsLikeSmoke said:

Russ. Not to put too fine of point on it, but isn't brine defined as salt desolved in water? If you add elements to the saline solution for flavor, such as sugar or spice, seems to me you are doing more than just brining. If the added elements are acidic, then you are mixing brine with marinade to some extent.

I realize that the word brining, in cooking, has evolved to include more than salt and water, but that doesn't mean that using salt and water brine is the wrong brine to use to add moisture.

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Russ is the Brine master. Everyone should try his Big time Holiday Brine with 1 Turkey this year.
Check out Waynes "Thirdeye" site. He explains it well also. He also has some recipies for Brines & Flavor Brines.

In my opinion, Brining makes the meat, All Meat moist and flavorful where marinades are made to help in tenderizing a piece of meat to be grilled.

HeSmellsLikeSmoke said:

Russ. Not to put too fine of point on it, but isn't brine defined as salt desolved in water? If you add elements to the saline solution for flavor, such as sugar or spice, seems to me you are doing more than just brining...

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Well, I agree, you are putting too fine a point on it.

I guess in theory the most BASIC brine would be salt and water, but all I've read said it has to have some component of sweet to work too, but osmosis does indeed happen because just the salt and water % is higher in the brine than the meat.

I for one have never seen a brine of just salt and water. Typically it's salt, liquid and some level of sweet to balance out the flavor of the salt.

That being said, my point was that the point made that brining doesn't add flavor was wrong.

Why would you want to add just salt flavor and miss an opportunity to carry more flavors deep into the meat. That's probably why I've never seen just a salt & water brine.

But adding flavors doesn't make it NOT a brine?

Brine = Salinity
Marinde = Acid

SmokinOkie said:

I guess in theory the most BASIC brine would be salt and water, but all I've read said it has to have some component of sweet to work too, but osmosis does indeed happen because just the salt and water % is higher in the brine than the meat.

I for one have never seen a brine of just salt and water. Typically it's salt, liquid and some level of sweet to balance out the flavor of the salt.

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Come on over and I will show you a brine with nothing but saltwater. :thumb:

The reason I brine? I like to cook my poultry outside. (Kettle or smoker) Smoking poultry can dry it out.
Brining ensures it doesn't dry out.

If i want to go to flavortown (to use a geeky Guy Fieri expression) I utilize other methods.

• Apply rub to exterior of bird (tasty skin)
• Apply rub under skin (much more effective for meat)

Yes, adding spices to a brine will add some flavor to meat, if added at proper amounts, but it's those proper amounts that will throw you.

Throw a 15lb turkey in 10 gallons of water - what is the ratio of spices to water? (depends on the spice)

Throw a 15lb turkey in 10 gallons of water - what is ratio of salt to water? - easy! 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water.

Now I do add some seasonings to my brine upon occasion, but if I am giving advice for newbie briners? K.I.S.S.

I use the K.I.S.S. method on all my smoking. Simple is better.

IMHO

Further to the topic:

When is brining your turkey NOT a good idea? http://sirporkalot.com/2010/11/brining-turkeys-fact-fiction/