Brining

[snowangel]

There is Dave The Cook's course on brining.

Then, there is this current discussion, which reveals some dissention.

Your thoughts? (assuming, of course, one has bought a poultry or pork item that hasn't been injected with whatever they inject them with.)

Thanks, in advance for joining us. These EG Q & A's are absolutely fabulous for all of us, and from what I've read, this one will be another feather in the cap! The time you are taking is most appreciated.

[Harold McGee]

Hey, I like those experiments in the Course! Regarding the effects of salt on the muscle proteins, I wouldn’t exactly say they’re denatured in the way that cooking denatures them. Instead, the fiber proteins seem to be disassociated from each other, so that instead of being tightly wound together, there’s more space between molecules, and therefore more room for fluid—and the charged salt ions are both attracted to charged regions of the proteins and help retain the polar (electrically asymmetrical) water molecules. So the muscle tissue soaks up and holds the brine, even when the proteins are subsequently denatured during cooking.

Though I agree that brining can produce meat that is remarkably juicy, I’m not a big fan of it and almost never do it. The meat and pan residues end up much saltier than I like, and the overall flavor one-dimensional. Brining is one effective way of coping with modern low-fat immature meat, but it amounts to making up for the meat’s tendency to become dry by filling it with salt water. For myself, I prefer to cook such meats gently and carefully to make the best of their own flavor and juice as much as possible.