Brining meat. Does it actually work?

After having some success brining a whole turkey for Thanksgiving, I wanted to try smaller cuts of meat with the same process to see if the results were as juicy and flavoursome as promised. I chose a small piece of pork tenderloin and after some research found some generic, foolhardy principles for brining meat.

The basic rule of thumb I found was 1 tbsp salt for every cup of water, ensuring the water fully covers whatever you are brining. 1/2 tbsp of some sort of sweetener can also be added, be it sugar, honey, molasses or maple syrup and any herbs or spices required can also be used, along with aromatics like onion, celery and garlic, for example. Also, the liquid doesn't have to be water, alcohol, fruit juice or any other liquid to suit your meat would be a good adaptation, (for example, apple juice with pork, white wine with chicken). Generally, the liquid is heated with the salt and sweetener until dissolved, left to cool and then poured over the meat and refrigerated. The recommended time for pork loin was 12 hours, mine had 6.

I used:

3 cups water

3 tbsp salt

1.5 tbsp sugar

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped small

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 apple, chopped small

4 sprigs thyme

I heated the water, salt and sugar together over high heat until the salt had dissolved and then cooled the brine in the fridge. 

Once cooled, I added all the other ingredients and poured over the pork in a container so that the pork was completely submerged.

The pork and brine was refrigerated for 6 hours. (Up to 12 was recommended, any longer and the pork could get very salty).

Once removed from the brine, the pork was dried on paper towels and roasted at 400oF for about 25 minutes with a little oil and seasoning.

As you can see from the photograph, the meat was indeed very tender, juicy and flavourful. At first I thought the salt may have permeated the meat too much but needn't have worried as it gave an extra taste that was not overpowering. The juices that gather from cooking, however, are quite salty and not really suitable for making a sauce or gravy unless tempered really well with cream or something else quite bland. I added some butter and lemon juice to the baking pan, stirring and scarping all the little browned goodness from the meat which resulted in a very strongly flavoured sauce that I enjoyed but may be a little too intense for some. (I know Neil wouldn't have liked it).

So, a success! The texture of the meat is the real prize! Almost springy, easily able to be pulled apart with a fork to show the grain, it was this that really made my dinner worthwhile. 

A chicken is next on my list and possibly also baked in salt, another intriguing use of the white stuff of life.

Baked Ricotta with lemon and saffron

The above magazine is one of my favourites. From Australia, it has some of the most beautiful food and travel photographs imaginable. The kind that make you want to jump up and start cooking or planning your next vacation. In the most recent edition available here, I noticed an interesting little recipe for baked ricotta. It immediately jumped at me not least because it looked so fragile and delicate with pale creams and yellows intermingling together and a crumbly, creamy texture, but also because it meant I could use the ricotta I bought misguidedly for Christmas thinking I possibly couldn't do without it and now sitting on the shelf nearing its sell by date. So, a nice little dish and no guilt.

Sort of like a souffle, this required an egg white to be beaten to soft peaks. I did it by hand. Getting out a whisk and spending 8 minutes exercising my arm is easier than getting a chair to reach the electric whisk, plugging it in, getting egg whites all over the walls and then having to clean it all up, wash the whisks and put it away. Madness.

  
And of course, being sort of like a souffle, they deflate.

The texture was creamy and slightly crumbly with an airy lightness which was very nice. I added saffron and some lemon juice to the original recipe to really bump up the colour. It worked well with stripes of sunset yellow, buttercup and palest cream. Nice.

Recipe (Adapted from Gourmet Traveller)

200g ricotta cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 tbsp thyme leaves

1 egg, separated

pinch of saffron strands

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

a little flour

Process the ricotta, Parmesan, thyme, saffron, lemon juice and egg yolk together in a processor until smooth.

Season to taste.

Whip the egg white until soft peaks form and gently stir in to ricotta mixture.

Pour the mixture into two buttered and lightly floured ramekins and bake at 400oF for about 15 - 20 minutes or until golden, puffy and firm. 

Eat immediately, they will start to deflate as soon as they come out of the oven, but no matter, it doesn't affect the taste and they stay pretty firm.