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The Science Behind Brining

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The Science Behind Brining The Science Behind Brining Jacob Burton StellaCulinary.com/Brine What is a Brine and How Does it Work? What is a brine? Why Brine? How does a Brine Work? Brine is a salt and water Texture Most conventional explanations of how solution that food products, brining works describes the movement (most commonly meats), are Flavor of salt into the proteins through a soaked in to improve overall Moisture Retention process called osmosis. quality. Understanding the Concepts of Osmosis and Diffusion as Applied to Brines Osmosis The approaching molecule will Brine in a Container Air (In a Vacuum) Water = Solvent Solute block the opening from the Semi-Permeable Molecules side it is approaching from. Diffusion Overtime, the Membrane Water “solute” molecules Osmosis is the will equilibrate, movement of a higher Chicken moving from a higher concentration of Breast concentration to a water to a lower lower concentration. concentration of water through a semi- Salt Dissolved Gas. permeable membrane. What is a Brine and How Does it Work? What is aOsmosis brine? deals specificallyWhy Brine? with the movementHow does of awater Brine Work? Brine is a saltfrom and anwater area ofTexture higher concentration toMost that conventional of a lower explanations of how solution that foodconcentration, products, through a semi-permeablebrining membrane. works describes the movement (most commonly meats), are Flavor of salt into the proteins through a soaked in to improve overall Moisture Retention process called osmosis. quality. First, whenever you have less of something dissolved into more of something, you have a solution. Understanding the Concepts of Osmosis and Diffusion as Applied to Brines Osmosis The approaching molecule will Brine in a Container Air (In a Vacuum) So a brineWater = Solventcan actually beSolute thought block the openingof as from a the salt water Semi-Permeable Molecules side it is approaching from. Diffusion solutionOvertime, the, in whichMembrane the salt is dissolved in the water. Water “solute” molecules Osmosis is the will equilibrate, movement of a higher Chicken moving from a higher concentration of The thing you have more of in a solution, in this case Breast concentration to a water to a lower lowerthe concentration.water, is called the solventconcentration, and the of thing water you have less of, in this case the salt, is throughcalled a semi-the solute. Salt Dissolved Gas. permeable membrane. What is a Brine and How Does it Work? If osmosis occurred during the brining process, two things would have to be true: 1. The solute, or the dissolved salt, would We know this is false because the interior of brined meat can obviously have to be too large to penetrate a become salty. protein’s outer membrane. 2. If the salt was actually too big to pass through the protein’s outer membrane, We know this isn’t true because properly brined proteins are more moist then the moisture within the object being than proteins that haven’t been brined. brined would actually flow outward into the salt water solution. What is a Brine and How Does it Work? Now, the natural question is: Why do we need salt in the first place? If water moves into a protein through diffusion, why can’t we just soak a protein in water and have it become juicier? The answer to this is...technically you can. You can soak a protein in pure water, and it will swell, taking on additional water weight, but not as much as if you added salt to the soaking liquid, and more specifically, proteins will not bind to water as effectively during the cooking process unless salt is present. Now why this actually occurs is extremely interesting and we’ll be discussing this process in more depth, in part two, of this brining video. How Does a Brine Really Work? This prevents muscle fibers Food products containing from shrinking and squeezing more than 1% salt by weight Salt = Sodium Chloride out water during the cooking usually taste overly salted. (NaCl) process. When salt is dissolved, it breaks into a positively charged sodium ion and a Salt Proteins are still modified and bind Container negatively charged chloride ion. water more tightly, up to 6% salinity, at which point the muscle fibers will start to contract and squeeze out water. Water The sodium & chloride ions will diffuse throughout food much like heat does Why do both dry salt rubs during cooking. Just like heat will flow Na and brines yield juicier meat? Chicken Breast + - Cl from hot areas to cold areas, sodium & chloride ions in a brine will flow from areas of higher concentration to areas of Negatively H2O FiberZoom lower concentration. charged Muscle chloride ions It takes about 100-1,000 times longer for salt diffuse into H2O to diffuse into food than heat. This is why we muscle fibers. roast a pork belly in a matter of hours, but H2O that same pork belly will take 3 months for the salt to transform into pancetta. The negatively charged ions If given enough time, the ion content of repel one-another, creating gaps for water to enter. the brine & food will form an equilibrium, up to a certain point. Brining Strategies Dry Rub Gradient Brining Equilibrium Brining “Brining” (Traditional) (Modernist Cuisine) Salt is mixed with other dry Brine usually has 5-10% salt Water and food are weighed seasonings such as herbs and spices content. together (minus any bone weight). and rubbed onto the surface of the Food is placed in brine for as protein. The combined weight of the water little as15 minutes and as and meat are multiplied by the A good starting point for the long as a few days. amount of salt being used is around desired finished salt percentage of 1% based on the proteins weight. The surface of brined food is the brined food (usually .5-1%) rinsed under cold water to The “salt rub” is left on for a given remove excess sodium from The appropriate amount of salt is period of time (anywhere from 4-48 the surface. dissolved into the water and the hours) and is then cooked as is, food is placed in the brine. During the resting period, the without being rinsed. salt gradient is allowed to A salinity meter is used to read the Although this method doesn’t “equilibrate,” or finish salt content in the surrounding introduce excess water to be diffusing. brine. When the salinity of the brine absorbed, the salting does allow the reaches equilibrium, you know that protein to bind moisture more your desired finished salinity has tightly. been achieved. Calculating and Making a Brine Using the same When the PPM drops amount of water as Gradient Brining to half of it’s initial food is easiest. Equilibrium Brining reading, you know Added to water. that a state of equilibrium has been Water Food Bone Finished Salt Water Salt - X = Desired X = reached and the food ( Weight +(Weight Weight ( ( Salinity Weight Brine Salinity Weight Weight is finished brining. Enough water A salt meter will Usually 5-10% Ex) Let’s assume that we’re brining a whole, bone-in to comfortably usually read out in by weight. chicken with a total weight of 5 pounds. cover food. PPM not a percentage. Since the average bone weight of a whole chicken is usually around 40%, we’ll calculate the weight of Ex) 1,000g Water X .05 (5%) = 50g Salt The water will start at a 2% salinity (assuming the bones as follows: Dissolve salt into water and you’re that equal amounts of 5 # X .40 = 2# Bone Weight (5 # - 2# = 3#) ready to go. water and meat are used by weight). 3 # Water + 3# Chicken (meat) = 6# (Total) 6 # X .01 (1% Salt) = 0.06 X 16 = .96oz X 28.3 = 27.1g When equilibrium is Calculating PPM 1% Salt 0% Salt reached, the food 1 Parts Per Million Equals 1mg / 1,000g. 1g = 1,000mg. So a 1% salt water product is now brined 1% Salt Solution 2% Salt Solution solution would be 10g (10,000mg) of salt dissolved into 1,000g (or and ready to go. (10,000 PPM) (20,000 PPM) 1,000,000mg) of water, making the salt content 10,000 PPM. Speeding Up The Brining Process Jaccard Injection Vacuum Tumbling Picture Picture Picture Allows brines and marinades to be directly injected into Tumbles proteins and liquids Tenderizes meat by (such as brines and shortening muscle the interior of a protein, speeding up diffusion. marinades) together under fibers, but also allows for vacuum. The combination of brines and marinades to low atmospheric pressure diffuse quickly (caused by the vacuum) and throughout the protein. the tumbling process, can reduce brine durations from hours and days to minutes. 5% Brine Chart Please Note: The times given here are approximation. Please refer to given recipe for more information. Item Brine Time Rest Time % Sweetener Special Notes Allow more time for bone in, skin on. Chicken Breast 4-6 Hours 2-4 hours 3% Sugar or 2% Honey Jaccarding is recommended. Allow more time for bone in, skin on. Chicken Leg & Thigh 8-12 Hours 3-6 hours 2% Sugar or 1% Honey Jaccarding is recommended. Allow to rest uncovered in refrigerate so Whole Chicken 24-48 Hours 8-24 Hours 3% Sugar or 2% Honey that the skin dries out. Substitute cola for water. Do not mix with Pork Tenderloin 12-16 Hours 2-4 Hours 3% Honey or 100% Cola curing salts. Could be lethal! Substitute cola for water. Do not mix with Pork Loin 12-24 Hours 4-8 Hours 3% Honey or 100% Cola curing salts.
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