Briners beware of double salt jeopardy! Rubs are a great way to add flavor to meat. Brines are also a great way to add flavor as well as moisture. Rubs often contain a lot of salt (click here to read about The Zen of Salt). You can use both a rub and a brine, but beware of double salt jeopardy. If you use a brine and then a rub, you should make your own rub mix and leave the salt out of the blend. A salty rub on top of brined meat can make the meat unbearably salty. Remember, you can always add salt, but there's no taking it away.

For the Juciest Meats:
Brine them

The problem with cooking is that the heat dries out meat. And the longer you cook the more moisture escapes.

Marinades do not penetrate more than 1/8 inch or so and really only add a bit of flavor, not much moisture. Basting and spritzing do not penetrate the meat, all they do is cool down the surface and when you open the oven the oven temp drops a lot. Bad idea.

There is a way to get moisture deep down into the muscle tissue that will produce juicier meat: Soak it in water. Better still, soak it in salt water.

Here's the concept. If the meat is submerged in a water, a physical and chemical process called osmosis will cause the meat to absorb the liquid. Osmosis is the tendency of two liquids, the one in the meat and the one outside the meat, to equalize the concentration of the stuff dissolved in it. In effect, osmosis causes the water from the outside to enter the meat and dilute the fluids in an attempt to equalize. At the same time, some of the fluids inside flow out. The end result is that osmotic pressure swells the meat with moisture.

By adding salt to the water you can create more osmotic pressure because of salts unique chemical properties, and because salt is a flavor enhancer, you can add flavor. In addition, salt also changes the way the meat proteins are arranged. They unwind and form a matrix that traps the moisture so less is lost during cooking. This process is called denaturing. The process does not tenderize. It only adds moisture, improves moisture retention, and it can enhance flavors.

Salt can enhance flavors, but too much can make it unpleasant. So the trick is to not make the brine too salty and not leave the meat in too long. The time left in the brine depends on the thickness of the meat. If you add sugar and other seasoning to the brine, some of it will get pulled into the meat, too. It is common to add garlic powder and even vegetable stock to brines.

Yes, it adds a bit of saltiness to the meat, but no, it doesn't make the meat too salty, unless you overdo it. If you are on a low salt diet, you can just soak meat in water. Brining is especially good on pork, chicken, and turkey. It is not recommended for red meats.

Recipe for a basic brine

A basic brine for should be 1 cup of table salt to 1 gallon of water and 1 hour in the refrigerator. If sugar is added it should not exceed the salt. A good ratio for sugar to salt is 1/2 to 1 or less. Keep thicker meats such as turkey in the brine longer, up to 12 hours, but not more.

Do not brine meats that say "enhanced" or "flavor enhanced" or "self-basting" or "basted." They have salty fluids already injected. If you can only find pumped meat, do not brine!

Yield. Makes 1 gallon, enough for 6 pounds of meat
Preparation. 10 minutes
Soaking time. 1 hour for ribs

1/2 gallon hot water
1/2 gallon plus 1 cup of crushed ice
1.8 cups pickling salt (or 1 cup of table salt)
1 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons of garlic powder (not garlic salt)
3 tablespoons ground black pepper

About the salt. If you have it, use pickling salt because it dissolves more easily in cold water and there are no additives.

About the sugar. Molasses dissolves faster in cold water, but it can color the meat. It is good with some meats, bad with others.

About the ice. Ice takes up more volume than water, that's why the extra cup. When the ice melts it should yield 1/2 gallon of water. If you use ice cubes not crushed ice, use another cup or two of ice because there is more air between the cubes. It's hard to get this exactly right, but don't sweat it. If your measurements aren't exact, nobody will die.

Option. If you plan to cook the meat indoors, you might want to add 1/4 cup liquid smoke to the brine to get a mild smoky flavor.

Do this
1) In a non-reactive pot or other container (aluminum or copper are no good, they will react with the salt), stir the dry ingredients in the hot water until the salt and sugar dissolve. If necessary you can boil it. Add the ice until you have a bit more than 1 gallon in total volume. Let the ice dissolve in the hot liquid so that it becomes cold.

2) Submerge the meat in the brine and refrigerate. If you can't fit it in the fridge, you can add ice cubes if the brining time is less than an hour because they will not likely melt completely and dilute the brine. If you are brining a thick piece of meat like a turkey, put the ice cubes in a plastic bag. You may need to weight the meat down to submerge it. If you cannot submerge it, make sure you turn it periodically and extend it's time in the bath. For thin cuts like ribs or chicken breasts, brine for only one hour. Do not leave thin cuts in too long or the brine will make the meat too salty and pull out too many of the juices! When it comes to brining, more is not better. A reader who brined ribs overnight emailed me to say the result tasted like ham from a can.

3) Remove the meat, rinse with cold water to wash off excess salt off the surface (this is important), and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. If time permits, let the meat rest in the refrigerator for another hour to allow the brine to equalize itself throughout the meat and for the rub to penetrate.

This page was revised 12/2/2008