The Science of Brining
Source of Recipe
by Julie/meowlady2/EDC, from Cook's Magazine Test Kitchen
Recipe Link: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-fdcooking&msg=8011.7
Brining; which consists of soaking in a solution of water, salt, and often sugar, has a dramatic effect on meat of all kinds. It not only makes the meat more tender when cooked, it also boosts flavor.
But how does this work? Basically, it works because of two principles. The first is osmosis, the phenomenon by which particles on one side of a semipermeable barrier can move through the barrier to the other side. The second principle is that nature likes equality.
What does this have to do with brining? Well, when you put a turkey into a brine of water and salt, you have a very high concentration of water and salt molecules on one side of the skin, which is a semipermeable barrier. Since nature wants the amount of water and salt to be equal on both sides of the barrier, some of the salt molecules and some of the water molecules work their way into the turkey meat on the other side of the barrier. (The meat molecules are too large to move through the skin, of course.)
With a higher water content, the turkey stays more tender when subjected to heat; with that salt right in the meat, the flavor of the turkey is amplified.
So the next time you want a really flavorful and tender turkey (or chicken or pork roast, for that matter), give it a good soak in salt water. You'll be amazed at the difference.
(They say this really improves the flavor of shrimp too.)
|
|
member logon
