Brining Beef



L

LongPoint

Guest
We've had good results brining pork, chicken and turkey, but have never
tried brining beef. In theory, the moisture exchange in brining, which
infuses flavor into the meat, should work for beef, too. Has anyone
tried this? Or does brining actually leach out flavor from beef?
 
LongPoint wrote:
> We've had good results brining pork, chicken and turkey, but have never
> tried brining beef. In theory, the moisture exchange in brining, which
> infuses flavor into the meat, should work for beef, too. Has anyone
> tried this? Or does brining actually leach out flavor from beef?

Brining does the same thing for all meats. Lightly flavored meats will
benefit most from the flavor boost. All meats can benefit from the
additional moisture in them.

But beef is at its best if dry-aged, which means that the beef has been
dehydrated a bit. So brining will be of less value here. Same goes for
all red meats.

Pastorio
 
LongPoint wrote:

> We've had good results brining pork, chicken and turkey, but have never
> tried brining beef. In theory, the moisture exchange in brining, which
> infuses flavor into the meat, should work for beef, too. Has anyone
> tried this? Or does brining actually leach out flavor from beef?

Depending on how much and for how long, brining will give
it a cured texture and flavor. Think corned beef. Whether
that's good or not is a matter of taste. One example of
"brined beef" I like is pastrami.

Pastrami

Soak a brisket flat for one week refrigerated in the
following

5 q water
10 T salt
1/4 C prague #1
1/2 C minced garlic
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C pickling spice
One dried new mexico chile

Remove from brine, dry, and coat with cracked black pepper
and ground coriander. Smoke at 250 F to 185 F internal.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com
 
Reg wrote:
> LongPoint wrote:
>
>> We've had good results brining pork, chicken and turkey, but have never
>> tried brining beef. In theory, the moisture exchange in brining, which
>> infuses flavor into the meat, should work for beef, too. Has anyone
>> tried this? Or does brining actually leach out flavor from beef?
>
> Depending on how much and for how long, brining will give
> it a cured texture and flavor. Think corned beef.

That's a whole lot more flavor components and for a much, much longer
time than the sort of brining that's done for birds and white meats.

Nobody uses Prague Powders for short-time brining to plump and slightly
flavor meats.

Pastorio

> Whether
> that's good or not is a matter of taste. One example of
> "brined beef" I like is pastrami.
>
> Pastrami
>
> Soak a brisket flat for one week refrigerated in the
> following
>
> 5 q water
> 10 T salt
> 1/4 C prague #1
> 1/2 C minced garlic
> 1/2 C sugar
> 1/4 C pickling spice
> One dried new mexico chile
>
> Remove from brine, dry, and coat with cracked black pepper
> and ground coriander. Smoke at 250 F to 185 F internal.
 
Bob (this one) wrote:

> Reg wrote:
>
>> Depending on how much and for how long, brining will give
>> it a cured texture and flavor. Think corned beef.
>
> That's a whole lot more flavor components and for a much, much longer
> time than the sort of brining that's done for birds and white meats.

Yup. I don't care for the weaker, shorter term type of
brines for beef. It doesn't do much to enhance the moisture
level as it does for poultry, and there's not much flavor
benefit either.

> Nobody uses Prague Powders for short-time brining to plump and slightly
> flavor meats.

In this recipe I use prague powder for color and flavor.
Salt can be substituted one for one. I much prefer the
prague powder though.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com
 
Reg wrote:
[snip]
> One example of "brined beef" I like is pastrami.
>
> Pastrami
>
> Soak a brisket flat for one week refrigerated in the
> following
>
> 5 q water
> 10 T salt
> 1/4 C prague #1
> 1/2 C minced garlic
> 1/2 C sugar
> 1/4 C pickling spice
> One dried new mexico chile
[snip]

If prague #1 is the same as Insta-Cure, that seems like a lot of it for
a regular-sized brisket. I've seen specs like 1 oz. per 25 lb. of meat
for Insta-Cure. -aem
 
aem wrote:

> If prague #1 is the same as Insta-Cure, that seems like a lot of it for
> a regular-sized brisket. I've seen specs like 1 oz. per 25 lb. of meat
> for Insta-Cure. -aem

Prague #1 and instacure are indeed the same.

One ounce per 25 lbs is for "direct addition" formulas, i.e.
adding it directly to a ground mix for sausage or salami. This
recipe involves a brine, which uses a different ratio. It's
based the federal guideline of 200 ppm or less for immersion
cured meats.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> In this recipe I use prague powder for color and flavor.
> Salt can be substituted one for one. I much prefer the
> prague powder though.
>

I don't know this one - what is prague powder?

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> On 2005-11-01, Peter Huebner <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I don't know this one - what is prague powder?
>
> Sodium nitrate and sodium chloride (side):
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_ingredient.cgi?prague-powder

Thanks. I actually have some in the pantry :) Just never heard/read
that term for it before and thought you might be referring to some spice
mix unknown to me. Localised usage ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> On 2005-11-01, Peter Huebner <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I don't know this one - what is prague powder?
>
> Sodium nitrate and sodium chloride (side):
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_ingredient.cgi?prague-powder

Thanks. I actually have some in the pantry :) Just never heard/read
that term for it before and thought you might be referring to some spice
mix unknown to me. Localised usage ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> On 2005-11-01, Peter Huebner <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I don't know this one - what is prague powder?
>
> Sodium nitrate and sodium chloride (side):
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_ingredient.cgi?prague-powder

Thanks. I actually have some in the pantry :) Just never heard/read
that term for it before and thought you might be referring to some spice
mix unknown to me. Localised usage ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 
Peter Huebner wrote:
> > [email protected] says...
> >
> > In this recipe I use prague powder for color and flavor.
> > Salt can be substituted one for one. I much prefer the
> > prague powder though.
> >
>
> I don't know this one - what is prague powder?

http://www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/hospitality/procooking/glos/ch22.htm

Prague Powder: #1 A blend of 6 percent sodium nitrite and 94 percent
sodium chloride (table salt), used to cure meats; also called curing
salt and tinted curing mix.

Prague Powder: #2 A curing mixture similar to Prague Powder #1 but
containing sodium nitrate in addition to sodium nitrate.
---

It's very important to follow meat curing recipes carefully, not
something to experiment with except for the very experienced.

Sheldon
 
Peter Huebner wrote:
> > [email protected] says...
> >
> > In this recipe I use prague powder for color and flavor.
> > Salt can be substituted one for one. I much prefer the
> > prague powder though.
> >
>
> I don't know this one - what is prague powder?

http://www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/hospitality/procooking/glos/ch22.htm

Prague Powder: #1 A blend of 6 percent sodium nitrite and 94 percent
sodium chloride (table salt), used to cure meats; also called curing
salt and tinted curing mix.

Prague Powder: #2 A curing mixture similar to Prague Powder #1 but
containing sodium nitrate in addition to sodium nitrate.
---

It's very important to follow meat curing recipes carefully, not
something to experiment with except for the very experienced.

Sheldon
 
Peter Huebner wrote:
> > [email protected] says...
> >
> > In this recipe I use prague powder for color and flavor.
> > Salt can be substituted one for one. I much prefer the
> > prague powder though.
> >
>
> I don't know this one - what is prague powder?

http://www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/hospitality/procooking/glos/ch22.htm

Prague Powder: #1 A blend of 6 percent sodium nitrite and 94 percent
sodium chloride (table salt), used to cure meats; also called curing
salt and tinted curing mix.

Prague Powder: #2 A curing mixture similar to Prague Powder #1 but
containing sodium nitrate in addition to sodium nitrate.
---

It's very important to follow meat curing recipes carefully, not
something to experiment with except for the very experienced.

Sheldon
 
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