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Brining

 

 
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Brining
 
 
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In cooking
Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food....
, brining is a process similar to marination
Marination

Marination, also known as marinating, is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origins of the word allude to the use of brine in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid....
 in which meat
Meat

In modern English usage, meat most often refers to animal biological tissue used as food, mostly skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also refer to offal, including livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, in some countries lungs, and a variety of other internal organs as well as blood....
 is soaked in a salt solution (the brine
Brine

File:Kissingen-Solepumpe-1848.JPGFile:Kissingen-Solepumpe-1848-2.JPGBrine is water Saturation or nearly saturated with a Salt .It is used to preserve vegetables, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining ....
) before cooking.

Brining makes cooked meat moister by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue before cooking, via the process of osmosis
Osmosis

Osmosis is the diffusion of a solvent through a Semipermeable membrane, from a solution of low solute concentration to a solution with high solute concentration , up a solute concentration gradient....
, and by allowing the cells to hold on to the water while they are cooked, via the process of denaturation
Denaturation (biochemistry)

Denaturation is a process in which proteins or nucleic acids lose their structure by application of some external stress or compound for example, treatment of proteins with strong acids or bases, high concentrations of inorganic salts, organic compound solvents , or heat....
. The brine surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other solutes.






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In cooking
Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food....
, brining is a process similar to marination
Marination

Marination, also known as marinating, is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origins of the word allude to the use of brine in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid....
 in which meat
Meat

In modern English usage, meat most often refers to animal biological tissue used as food, mostly skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also refer to offal, including livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, in some countries lungs, and a variety of other internal organs as well as blood....
 is soaked in a salt solution (the brine
Brine

File:Kissingen-Solepumpe-1848.JPGFile:Kissingen-Solepumpe-1848-2.JPGBrine is water Saturation or nearly saturated with a Salt .It is used to preserve vegetables, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining ....
) before cooking.

Brining makes cooked meat moister by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue before cooking, via the process of osmosis
Osmosis

Osmosis is the diffusion of a solvent through a Semipermeable membrane, from a solution of low solute concentration to a solution with high solute concentration , up a solute concentration gradient....
, and by allowing the cells to hold on to the water while they are cooked, via the process of denaturation
Denaturation (biochemistry)

Denaturation is a process in which proteins or nucleic acids lose their structure by application of some external stress or compound for example, treatment of proteins with strong acids or bases, high concentrations of inorganic salts, organic compound solvents , or heat....
. The brine surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other solutes. This leads salt ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
s to enter the cell via diffusion
Diffusion

Molecular diffusion, often called simply diffusion, is a net transport of molecules from a region of higher concentration to one of lower concentration by random molecular motion....
, whilst the solutes in the cells cannot diffuse through the cell membranes into the brine. The increased salinity of the cell fluid causes the cell to absorb water from the brine via osmosis. The salt introduced into the cell also denatures its protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
s. The proteins coagulate, forming a matrix which traps water molecules and holds them during cooking. This prevents the meat from drying out, or dehydrating
Dehydration

Dehydration is the removal of water from an object. In Physiology terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes....
.

In many foods the additional salt is also desirable as a preservative
Preservative

A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical compound that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, wood, etc....
. Note that kosher meats are salted during the process of koshering so they should not be brined.

Some cheese
Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
s are periodically washed in brine during their ripening. Not only does the brine carry flavors into the cheese (it might be seasoned with spices or wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
), but the salty environment may nurture the growth of the Brevibacterium linens bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
, which can impart a very pronounced odor (Limburger) and interesting flavor. The same bacteria can also have some impact on cheeses that are simply ripened in humid conditions, like Camembert
Camembert (cheese)

Camembert is a soft, creamy France cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century in Normandy in northwestern France....
. Large populations of these "smear bacteria" show up as a sticky orange-red layer on some brine-washed cheeses.

See also

  • Pickling
    Pickling

    Pickling, also known as brining or corning, is the process of preserving food by Anaerobic organism fermentation in brine , to produce lactic acid bacteria, or marination and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar ....
  • Pickling salt
    Pickling salt

    Pickling salt is a salt that is used mainly for canning and manufacturing pickles. It is made without iodine or any anti-caking products added. Pickles made with table salt will have dark and cloudy juice, due to the iodine in the salt, although the flavor should be about the same....


External links

  • on Cooking For Engineers - a discussion on what happens to meat as it brines (with reader comments)