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Turbo brine help, please


 

michele p

TVWBB Pro
I am using a recipe I found on this site for a stuffed pork roast. The recipe requires the roast to brine for one or two days, I do not have that kind of time, so can I turbo brine this, for lets say 2 hours??? What would I need to do differently?? Bump up the salt? How much?

Here is the brine recipe:
2 quarts water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
ground pepper
crushed garlic
crushed rosemary
the juice from 1 orange
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by michele p:
I am using a recipe I found on this site for a stuffed pork roast. The recipe requires the roast to brine for one or two days, I do not have that kind of time, so can I turbo brine this, for lets say 2 hours??? What would I need to do differently?? Bump up the salt? How much?

Here is the brine recipe:
2 quarts water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
ground pepper
crushed garlic
crushed rosemary
the juice from 1 orange </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Michele, bring the brine to a boil, simmer for 10-15 minutes, strain and cool. Then inject the brine into the loin and refridgerate for several hours.
 
Or just up the salt to 1/2 c (DC kosher) per quart. Or use 1/4 c table salt per quart.

Definitely simmer the flavor elements first in some of the water.
 
Like the previous posts...Id cut the salt out..or use very little an inject. There is no such thing as a turbo brine..It needs to do its thing..several hours for the pork roast as its so dense. Def. inject, w/ less if any salt.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">There is no such thing as a turbo brine </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Really? Nearly twenty years of using one (though 'turbo brine' was not in the vocabulary) suggests otherwise.

'Several hours' is unnecessary if the roast is not too thick, as one butterflied for stuffing won't be. Injecting without a salt addition is barely worth the trouble--not if you want the flavors of the injection to actually--maybe--remain. Injecting is a cooking modernisn; fine, as far as it goes, but hardly at all required, or even necessarily a good idea.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Injecting without a salt addition is barely worth the trouble </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I agree.....

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger: Injecting is a cooking modernisn; fine, as far as it goes, but hardly at all required, or even necessarily a good idea. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
How is it not a good idea? I've been injecting brines for a while now and there is absolutely no difference between a turkey I've pumped with a brine and let sit in the fridge for a couple hours over a turkey that I brined in a bucket for 12-18 hours. I can understand if it's not your preferred method, but would like to know why you think it's not a good idea. Not creating a debate, I would just like understand your thoughts better.
 
Really, Ive never experienced a turbo brine that was as effective as one that was used for an extended period of time, mind as well inject
 
Larry-- It's not that it is not a good idea, it's that it is not necessarily a good one, i.e., not automatically a good one. Like other techniques, injecting requires some mastery of the details. I've you've ever been served injected meats by cooks who haven't yet figured out proper flavor ratios and/or methods of injecting that don't result in the meat looking injected when it is served (streaks of color through the meat, odd looking the slices from poor needle placement) you know what I mean.

You're right that injecting isn't my preferred method (I do use it as a standard for curing thick meats like hams) but I do think it can have its place among the techniques cooks should master. And I do think that thick meats and poultry that will be sliced for service (as opposed to pulled) are good candidates for injections. I just think that injections, for many, require thought and practice ahead of time.

Gary-- In terms of imparting flavor(s) I'd agree with you. In terms of imparting seasoning they are effective.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Larry-- It's not that it is not a good idea, it's that it is not necessarily a good one, i.e., not automatically a good one. Like other techniques, injecting requires some mastery of the details. I've you've ever been served injected meats by cooks who haven't yet figured out proper flavor ratios and/or methods of injecting that don't result in the meat looking injected when it is served (streaks of color through the meat, odd looking the slices from poor needle placement)you know what I mean. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, and I agree certainly with darker injections/brines. Basic brines like the ones Michele is using would work fine with little to no noticable streaking.
 

 

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