What Is Brine And How Does It Work?

Brine is a solution of water and salt and it serves to dehydrate and therefore promote weight loss, so why do many people talk about brine adding succulence and tenderness to food? I learned about osmosis as a student and how water moves through a semi permeable membrane from an area of high concentration to one of low. If osmosis were the process then surely a brine would serve to dehydrate the meat? Here's what I've learned.

What Is Brine?

Without question, brine is a salt solution that can be mixed to various concentrations to support the drying and preserving of food. The issue really is how long to brine and most importantly the concentration of the brine.

Brine For Smoking Fish And Red Meat

When using brine as a wet cure for meat or fish, the objective is definitely to dehydrate and the concentration of the brine will be strong - 70-80%. In these instances, brining is done for a relatively short period of time and is usually followed by rinsing (to halt the dehydration) and a drying process.

The science behind the dehydration is osmosis - the flow of water through a partially permeable membrane from a place of high concentration to a place of low concentration. ie. the concentration of water in the brine is lower than the concentration of water in the muscle cells of the meat or fish.

Brine For Smoked Turkey

This is a completely different brine concentration and the science behind it is completely different too. The brine is much weaker, usually anywhere between 5-20%, the active ingredient is still salt but it's not dehydration or an osmotic effect.

The salt serves to denature the protein sheaths around the muscles in the meat. Normally these muscle cells are tightly bound so not much water is in them but when the protein sheath is denatured, the whole thing relaxes and so water is absorbed (and retained).

To further enhance the water retention during cooking, the denatured protein sheaths don't contract as much as they normally would when exposed to heat so less moisture is "squeezed out" during the cookout.

Note: - Because the brine concentration is so low it is arguable as to whether there is also an osmotic effect taking place too and there probably is. If it were exclusively osmosis however it would stand to reason that pure water would be the best for soaking your turkey, yet studies have shown that a weak brine concentration delivers better water retantion than pure water. Therefore something else has to be having the effect.

Brining Tips & Techniques

So there's a lot of debate between food scientists as to which processes are involved in flavor enhancement and moisture retention through brining. I hope I've managed to explain what is brine and how different concentrations work in different ways. To finish off I've got a few tips and techniques to help you with yuur brining:-

1. Remember, brining isn't the everyone's taste so if you don't like it, just accept that others do.
2. Don't leave food in brine for too long when you first start experimenting with brine.
3. When using a concentrated brine, use an electronic timer to ensure that you get your timings right.
4. Always make notes about the brine concentration and timings. That way you can refer back and refine the process to what best suits your tastes

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