Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 9 | Page 20

Roasted turkey breast. Thick-cut pork chops. A sizeable whole chicken.
These large but lean cuts of meat are particularly susceptible to a taste
and texture akin to old shoe leather with even a minimum of over-cooking. A minute too long in the pan and they become dry, tough and tasteless. That’s a risk you can’t take when preparing festive meals!
Thankfully, there is a solution. And it’s an easy one! Wet brining—a soaking solution of salt and water that is sometimes notched up with flavor
enhancers like herbs or sweeteners like maple syrup, or even a simple
dry salt brine— can make Poulet a la Nine West a thing of the past.

Brining a Better Bird
WHY BRINE?
Meats can lose up to 30% of their
weight due to moisture loss during cooking. In basic terms, that
means the meat becomes less juicy
and more tough. Brining can reduce
moisture loss, enhancing juiciness
in several ways, some more technical
than others.
One way to imagine the benefits
of brining is a basic weight test on a
kitchen scale, which will indicate that
meats weigh more after brining than
before. Brined meats soak up quite a
bit of moisture, often 30-40%! Importantly, all that juice stays put even
after the meat is cooked. Of course,
some of that will be lost in roasting,
but if you are adding juice to juicy,
you get extra juicy or at least juicier,
even with some loss.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt provided another explanation in a November,
2012 Serious Eats Food Lab blog post.
Lopez-Alt says cooking poultry above
150°F causes muscle fibers to squeeze,
not unlike a tube of toothpaste, forcing precious juices out of the meat.
“Salt helps mitigate this shrinkage
by dissolving some of the muscle proteins (mainly myosin). The muscle
fibers loosen up, allowing them to
absorb more moisture, and more importantly, they don't contract as much
when they cook, making sure that
more of that moisture stays in-place
as the turkey cooks.

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GREENBOOK | FALL/WINTER 2016

WET BRINE
The greatest advantage of wet brining
is that it results in the juiciest possible
meat. Drawbacks are that the water in
the brine will dilute the flavor you want
to achieve. The skin, which for some is
the best part of the bird, may not end
up as crisp. And wet brining can be a
messy affair, since the bird needs to be
thoroughly dunked and covered in the
brine at all times, taking up space in
your refrigerator on the days you will
need every single inch the most.
DRY BRINE
Dry brining produces a richer, pure
turkey flavor, because the inherent
poultry juices haven’t been diluted by
liquid as in wet brining. A dry brine
creates a thin, crispy skin that caramelizes during roasting to that beautiful golden brown every fine turkey
cook hopes to achieve. Dry brining
can claim the great advantage of being cleaner and quicker—it’s a simple
rub inside and out. This method requires less refrigerator space, and can
be done in 8-10 hours or overnight. For
a quick and easy guide to dry brining
your bird, you can find a recipe and
video at wholefoodsmarket.com, keyword brine.
Brining can be a messy business,
fraught with coolers, basters, plastic
garbage bags and other detritus. A
foolproof shortcut is to use a kit. You
can find them at area kitchen stores,

but for an all natural version without
MSG, artificial ingredients or preservatives, that tastes delicious, consider
Whole Food’s 365 Everyday Value® Organic Brine & Seasoning Kit. Step-bystep instructions, brine ingredients,
herb turkey rub and a brining bag
come in a recyclable container so you
have no mess, no fuss and no worry.

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A generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and a
brush of butter are delicious but sometimes
you want something more.
Here are three easy ways to boost flavor for poultry and
pork.
INJECT: Blast flavorful liquids (broth, butter, olive oil, etc.) directly into the meat with a poultry
injector. This technique works almost instantly
and is less cumbersome for really big birds.
SMOTHER: Using your fingers, loosen the skin over
the breast meat and thigh of the of the bird. Smother
the breasts and thighs with softened butter. Coarsely
chop fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, marjoram
and savory. Stuff the herbs under the skin as well. Alternatively, make or buy a compound butter and use that
to rub the bird inside and out. You can find several compound butter recipes at www.foragingforflavor.com.
STUFF: Rub softened butter or olive oil all over the
exterior of the bird. Season it with sea salt, cracked
pepper, minced garlic and chopped fresh herbs. Add
whole fresh herbs, orange rind and a garlic clove to
the cavity of the bird. Roast as directed.