THE MASTER BRINE- only brine you'll ever need.

[IndianBBQ]

I have been looking at multiple brines recipes online and have been experimenting at home as well, with a HUGE array of spices/herbs available near me - rest assured I give you the winner. I call this "The Master Brine". Give it a try- and you'll see why it is names as such. Now of course the most important ingredient remains salt, however other spices infuse together and give those silent low flavour notes to your meat inside out that you just can't get from a non-brined piece of meat.
Plus if you are into rotating your meal couple of hundred times before eating (rotisserie) - it would be really awesome.
I am a home chef - my receipes dont follow strict instructions. Only important things that I learned carry volume/weight measure e.g. water and salt in this one.

• 500 ml water ( i guess this is about half a quart) / per pound of meat
• 1/8 cup (approx 30 gms) salt per 500 ml of water (reduce by half is using normal table salt ) - I tried different salts - it doesn't matter- those posts with using only "kosher" , "pink himalayan" does not affect the final product.

You can brine your meat with only the components written above i.e. water+salt - but if you really want to stand out- continue to read the magic. Below is assuming your meat size is about 3 pounds. If your meat is bigger - just bump up the amount of each ingredients. - don't worry few grams here and there doesn't matter .

• Mixed herbs(fancy for dry italian seasoning)  - Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Rosemary -  I found these ones bottled premixed - you can look for italian seasoning at your grocery store. Don't sweat if you don't find it exact - as far as you got oregano and rosemary you are good to go. Throw in as about 1.5 tea spoons. I always add extra dried rosemary - love the aroma.
• Chilli flakes (just a little) - it adheres to the skin/sometime go under the skin or hides in nooks and cranny of the meat- after grilling its a little surprise in your mouth that you dont really see. Half tea spoon or 1 - personal choice.
• Garlic - dry power or fresh cloves - both work. For me this is one of the favourite ingredient. About 1 tablespoon if dried powder or about 3-4 cloves if fresh.
• Red chilli powder ( America can do paprika) or look for red chilli powder at the Indian section. Don't worry it wont make your food hot. - 1 tablespoon.
  
• Mixed spice powder (fancy for dry Indian spices) - Turmeric , Cumin , Dry coriander.  - Half tablespoon each. You can throw in dry coriander more if you like it doesn't matter adds an extra earthy note in the brine.
• Half/1 full lemon + Vinegar (about 4 tablespoon) - This goes directly into the container.
• Bonus point: Throw in couple of dried bay leaves if you have them handy. - I din't notice much of a difference in taste but if you are into bragging it looks nice/almost exotic sticking to your meat along with all those chilli flakes and awesomes.

So, you can do this two ways.
First , throw those all awesome ingredients into a  container and stir until everything mixes really really well.
Second, put all the dry ingredients into a pan with small amount of water, simmer the mixture and stir, it blends together really well and faster, once done mix it together with remaining water. (remember : Keep the temperature low before adding meats ) .

Leave meats to brine for hours ( I did full chicken 3 lbs for 6-8 hours)- it would be well worth it. I brine the meat and then season it before grilling/low and slow. The medley of flavours will get you hooked.

I hope you get to try this. Happy grilling!

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[IndianBBQ]

You can use it on any kind of meat.

[Mike in Roseville]

That looks like a good recipe! Thanks for sharing.

I will have to give this one a try.

One question: have you tried longer than 3-6 hours? If so how would you compare to the 3-6 hour brine.


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[IndianBBQ]

@Mike in Roseville : Thank you for reading and posting a question. Yes, I have done > 8 hours brine. I once left chicken for 24 hours in brine and it turned out fine. But if you are planning to leave meat in brine for longer duration >8-10 hours for softer meat like poultry you can cut back just a tad bit on salt , rest everything remains the same. I would say 12 hours is fairly good enough for chicken. However tougher meats like pork etc, feel free to leave them 24 hours, actually i never do <12 hours for pork. If you have your meat cut in smaller pieces then it would take much lesser time for example 3 lbs of chicken cut in pieces - 4 hours are good but one whole bird of same weight will need 12 hours in my kitchen.

For comparison - chicken/turkey/other poultry is more tastier that has stayed in 12 hours or more. It is more - juicer and esp with spices it has more time to absorb those flavors in.
Pork - esp if you have leaner meat you can visually see the difference in the amount of juices running between 6 hours and 12 hours.
Sorry I cant say about beef - LOL.

[mhiszem]

Thanks for sharing.


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[HoosierKettle]

I haven't tried a brine yet but when I do, I will use this recipe. Thank you.


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[jcnaz]

I will check this out. Thanks!

[bigmac53]

this sounds like a great brine - thanks for sharing!

[Creep Life]

I'm going to have to try this out.