Day. But it’s not all pie and gravy. There are a few distinct
and definite downsides to wet-brining, and many folks are
now making the switch to dry-brining (aka extended
salting). The question is, which method is best?
How Brining Works
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s do a quick
recap of brining basics. The process involves soaking meat
(usually lean meats like turkey, chicken, or pork chops) in a
tub of heavily salted water overnight (most brines are in the
6- to 8-percent salt range by weight of the water). Over the
course of the night, the meat absorbs some of that water.
More important, that water stays put even when the meat is
cooked. By brining meat, you can decrease the amount of
total moisture loss by 30 to 40 percent.
To demonstrate, I cooked three identical turkey breasts in
a 300°F oven to an internal temperature of 145°F. One was
brined, one was soaked overnight in plain water, and the
third was left as is. All three breasts came from nonkosher,
nonenhanced birds (i.e., the birds were minimally
processed). I charted their weights straight from the
package, after brining, and then after cooking.
Both the bird soaked in brine and the one soaked in water
gained a significant amount of weight prior to roasting, but
the watered bird lost nearly all of that weight as it cooked
and the brined bird retained significantly more. This
corresponded to a juicier texture on eating. So, what’s going
on here?
Some sources attribute it all to osmosis—the tendency for
water to move across a membrane from an area of low