Pork Brine [use it whenever you want your pork to taste good]
One of my favorite recipes in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc Ad Home cookbook is his pork brine. And I think it should be yours too. This brine has saved me tons of overcooked pork. Do you ever notice how the texture of your pork chops is always kinda tight? Like the meat isn't very juicy?
That’s because they’re overcooked, which is easy to do even if you’re a seasoned chef [oh, cooking humor] like me. Sure, you could sous vide them, but even then it often tastes just good, not eyes-roll-back-in-your-head great, which is guaranteed whenever you eat brined pork. Try brining.
Brining is fantastic for a few reasons:
It seasons the meat. Salt makes meat taste good. Sprinkling salt on the outside seasons just the outside. Brining seasons all the meat. And, as it soaks, it absorbs the seasoned water, which means that all that flavor goes into the meat. It also means that brined meat is...
It makes it more moist. I know, everyone's least favorite word. But brining meat pulls in moisture, making the meat more tender, more flavorful, and more…better?
Okay, so the recipe is basic. Tweak it however you'd like. The one thing you should not alter is the time and salinity. You can, but you risk under or over salting the meat.
Ingredients
1000 g water
70 g kosher salt
50 g rosemary
25 g thyme
50 g garlic cloves, smooshed, but with skins still on
5 g peppercorns
whatever else you want (a little honey for sweetness, perhaps?)
Directions
Add all ingredients to a small pan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let cool to room temperature. Put in the fridge and let cool overnight. Note: to shorten this step, I'll often add half the water (500g) to the pan for the first step and then add the rest (500g) as ice after I remove it from the heat.
Put the brine and pork into a large ziplock back, seal, and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Remove pork from brine and rinse under running water to remove any stray herbs or peppercorns stuck to the meat. Dry with paper towels, and then cook. You can reserve in the fridge for a few hours, uncovered, until you’re ready to cook them. Leaving them uncovered will help dry them even more, leading to a browner crust and more flavor.
