Brining

[Participant]

Any tips for the perfect brine solution?

Brining works well with a chicken, but I thought I'd try it with pork belly at the weekend. We made pork belly with spiced roast potatoes (cumin, chili powder + garam masala, reheated from previous night's meal), broccoli, and a white wine and shallot velouté.

Pics (plus obligatory apology for poor phone photos):

For the brine:

- A pint of water.
- 120ml salt (sea salt works well as it's tasty).
- 120ml sugar.
- A dozen peppercorns.
- I used star anise and a couple of bay leaves, but use any combination of herbs and spices you fancy to suit your taste and the meal.

I only brined it for 24 hours then dried it for another 24 (a lot of recipes say brine for three days) but it was really, really tasty. Packed with flavour, soft meat, crispy crackling. 4 hrs at 130C fan and then five minutes under a medium grill to bubble up the crackling. Make sure the skin has dried out thoroughly after brining though.

The veloute was made by adding a caramel-coloured roux to chicken stock, then in another pan I sauted some shallots in butter and then added a glass of white wine that had been reduced by half (or just reduce it in the shallot pan).

The only other thing I'd say is, when carving the pork, turn it skin side down and carve the meat then break the crackling neatly by pressing firmly on the top of the knife.

Any other brine lovers? I'm definitely going to try it again, maybe with beef brisket or a gammon.

 

[Jonny69]

Never brined anything unless I'm specifically making ham or salt beef, but I've seen you mention it a few times and have been meaning to give it a go.

 

[TheDean]

I've never brined anything before. What does it bring to the food? I thought it was just a method of preserving foods.

 

[Participant]

Brining softens the meat and adds flavour as the meat takes on the flavour of the brine.

 

[randomshenans]

Have a book on it, keep meaning to do more (other than the hams I have done) but never seem to have the time thinking that far ahead, should read that book shouldn't I...

How long did you cook the belly for?

 

[TheDean]

Brining softens the meat and adds flavour as the meat takes on the flavour of the brine.

Would you only use this if cooking with poor quality meant then? I can't imagine I'd want to try this with nice dry aged beef or free range middle-white pork for example

 

[randomshenans]

Works with fish too but generally cheaper cuts it seems. Would be a waste on something like that.

 

[Participant]

How long did you cook the belly for?

Oops! 4 hrs at 130C fan and then five minutes under a medium grill to bubble up the crackling.

Would you only use this if cooking with poor quality meant then? I can't imagine I'd want to try this with nice dry aged beef or free range middle-white pork for example

General wisdom is that it works well with cheaper, tougher meats, yes. Pork is one meat that's commonly quoted as lending itself well to brining, but obviously take into account quality and cut.