The fine people of ChefSteps are trying to show you a thing or two about things that aren't up for debate. Critique them all you want but it's just an easier way for the general public to see and understand the benefits of HYGROSCOPIC SUBSTANCES. Something that chefs are always looking for... moisture, infusion of flavor, texture, seasoning and on and on
I think a dry brine is better when you are going to cook the meat in a fryer or oven, to crisp them up. Because dry brining draws the moisture from the skin. I've heard accounts that dry brining is altogether, a better way to inject salt or flavor into meat. Con is, if you're dry brining a lot of stuff, say, chicken wings, you would need a pretty big tray and fridge because you have to space them out and let them air d ry. In this case, wet brining is just appropriate.
Isn't this a shifting ratio? We have two exact pieces of meat at 300g, One is in a large flat, shallow container, number two fits in its container very snug. Add water to both until covered. No.1 has a net weight of 2600g and gets 39g of salt @ 1.5%, and No.2 has a net weight of 800g and gets 12g of salt @ 1.5%. If we look at the salt saturation in the water is where we get a huge disparity and what I think would equate to inconsistency in product. No.1 is in a brine of 1.6% salt and No.2 is in a brine of 2.4% salt. Wouldn't the one with water twice as salty end up making the meat much more salty?
I was thinking the same kind of thing. The surface area of the meat is what makes the difference in saltiness. I guess that is why they give you a range for the salt content for a brine---1%-2% the total weight. I find it to be a sloppy technique, but at the same time I also don't feel like calculating the surface area of a hunk of pork.
I'll admit I fudge my brine, I just make up 20L at a time with one handful of sugar and two of salt, add spices/citrus rind in when its appropriate for the meat. Too stupid to figure out the molar ratio's and entropy of dissolved solids.
"livery flavor to it" ive done 3 roasts sous vide now. a chuck eye, a silver tip, then another chuck eye. the first one was fantastic; soft, tender, delicious - tasted like a nice prime rib. the other two werent as good, though. they were also soft, but they had what could be described as a livery flavor to them, especially the silver tip. i did all three using the same basic method - sprinkle with salt, sear in a pan til dark brown all around, sprinkle more salt, pepper, oregano, seal, and cook at 140 for ~48 hours. is it possible this is related? maybe the second two needed more salt? any other ideas what might have caused that 'off' flavor in the second two?
+returnformer When cooking sous vide, don't use olive oil and fresh garlic, you can use powdered one. Olive oil gives you an iron tasting flavour. I made 48h beef chuck roast at 53,5C and it was really tender. I season it after it's been cooked.
Good question and technically it is basically cured. This is why you need to add some fat to the process to help it get immersed in the fat during cooking vs water. Typically when I cure say a coppa, I will only do about a 3% salt content. At most. Some people like more but beyond 3% its insanely too salty for me. You can dry cure using the equilibrium method with vacuum seal. It tastes so much better and you can actually taste the meat and spices instead of just salt and fat. Artisinal quality by far.
Visually the non-brined one looked more pleasing like you would expect what meat should looked like when cooked. The brined one looks like like tofu or meat that has been sitting in defrosted water for a while. Maybe it's just personal bias when it comes to taste test but I always find that while brined meat are definitely more moist they lack a lot of the original flavors of the meat. Regardless-So interesting. ChefSteps put science into food. Love it.
Thinking about doing this to some moose tongue I have in the freezer. Normally we just boil them in salt water. Would you boil the meat in the brining solution afterwards?
Bat K Here is a bunch more information for you on the specifics of the brining process. We also have more specific questions answered on our forum! Thanks for watching. www.chefsteps.com/activities/equilibrium-brining
I know that I'm late but a little psychological science thrown in would be to have someone else taste it so you don't get sous vide/brine confirmation bias.
I've heard that brining can have the added benefit of reducing some of the "gamey" flavour in game meat. I have some emu meat and am thinking of brining it before cooking. Any advice? Also, you guys don't seem to do many vids on game. Would love to see some on game meat recipes. I recently found a game meat supplier in Australia and have gone a little nuts, ordering kangaroo tails, emu fillet, a camel roast, goat shoulder, a whole rabbit, and a venison loin... for starters! I'm cooking it all sous-vide. :D
I have a question concerning this method as you know porc has some worms and this is why nobody eat raw porc with this method you cook the porc with low temperature to prevent loss of proteins but do you still have those worm alive or do they die even with low temperature?
+Ghostring Your information is grossly inaccurate.....Commercially available pork does not have worms in it or anything else for that matter. If theres a issue at all it would be with wild pork, and even then im not so worried. Since we know how to safely prepare those too. Cooking pork this way is a brilliant technique to keep it moist and delicious.
+Ghostring are you talking about Taenia solium? if so it is dealt with by freezing the meat for some time, still it doesn't mean you can eat it raw, and also sous vide cooks at low temps but for a very long time so theres little to no risk, and as lesley said taenia is usually found on wild pork grown on open fields mostly
Would this work if you cooked it on a pan afterwords? I mean is it possible to get a good sear on the meat when you have brined it? I thought the brine would prevent the Maillard effect from happening... Am I wrong?
+Justin Brown The oil helps to add flavor and more importantly gives you a buffer inside the bag to hold the shape of what you're cooking more effectively and helps you remove the item from the bag with added ease after cooking.
I really love this technique. It works perfectly with white meats. But I am curious how it works with fish? Generally I find if I brine fish for more than 6 hours it takes on sort of a mealy texture. So my question, would you still brine for 24 hours with fish using his technique? I'm assuming so. But I let it go for 6 hours using the equilibrium technique. Though my gut is telling me I should of let it go. Oh well... Bluefish is in the smoker now. We'll see how it comes out!
when I have brined for example cod in restaurant kitchens i've used a 10% brine and let it sit for only 15 minutes, but those were quite large and fat pieces.
When I buy a pork tenderloin or whole* chicken in a bag, it's often got that watery solution in the bag with it. I think the primary purpose of this is to add weight to the meat so they can charge more, and I prefer getting meat that hasn't been treated this way, just psychologically. But at the same time, I wonder... what's in this solution? Is it mostly just a brine? Am I looking at pre-brined meat and paying a small premium for the inflated weight while also making up for the time that would be spent brining it myself? Or is it some bagged science experiment that I shouldn't want to eat? *minus the feathers, head, feet and internal organs
Chef, what kind of salt? since salt have different salinity. also if i may, what are your take on Kenji's of seriouseats opinion that "brining" leave meat "watery or diluted, a band aid that cause more problem than fix" and his method of just pre-salting meat for at least 45 min?
I assume they're using kosher salt. However, the difference between different salts is not really different salinity, but rather the density. Food Wishes has a great video explaining the difference.
Wesam Abdallah yes, it is. All mammals are red meat. lowfatcooking.about.com/od/porkdishes/a/Pork-For-A-Change.htm articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/13/health/he-nutrition13 www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/red-meat.aspx
***** OJFC, this is the culinary world, dude, not a biology or nutritionist class. It is white meat...had you EVER worked in a kitchen OR been serious about cooking, you would know that.
+Neil Richey If i understood your comment correctly you left something in a 10% brine for 24 hours? My first thought was that it would be incredibly salty, probably way overboard to eat. How did it turn out?
blind taste tests in the future? and meat weights that are closer to equal to start to standardize necessary and actual cook time? an why not salt the non brined meat because you would never serve meat unsalted to begin with? (maybe that last one did happen, not sure)
because you don't have to cook red meat all the way through. it's better if it's medium or med rare. no chef would recommend well done so no need to brine. brining is to keep white meats juicy.
Bro. I think i get what you meant, it made me think. Well as far as i know, the heavier the meat, the longer it will take to cook and shrinkage on meat happens when it longer to cook. So about the test they made, i think we can assume that the heavier meat should be cook a little longer compared to the lighter meat and yet it seems the heavier meat still lost a lot of its weight (shrinkage) than the lighter meat.
it looks pink because it's sous vide. Sous vide is a pretty safe way to cook things to a certain temp. Red meat usually is gray because they're overcooked or dry.
I like your videos, but I throw up a little in my mouth when you test smack the food. So gross. How can you work with food and no one has said anything to you?
Cooking use to be an experience of feelings and senses, now it's like : put the meat in the condom, put it in the waterbath, wait for 30 minutes, get the bag, open it, done ! Yes I cooked a piece of meat perfectly ! .. so sad
What do you mean use to be? It still is, you can cook and get whatever enjoyment you want or think it derives. People that use sous vide usually work in eateries where the demand is to give nothing less than a perfectly cooked protein, which has the best chances in a sous vide. No one is forcing anyone to sous vide anything you moron stop trying to pull arguments out your ass.
@@Azza8808 i know how they eat there and for some reason thats okay for me, i mean its basically good etiquette there, just freaks me out how he always chews with his mouth open and very loudly so
![[SFM] Risky Recital](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RzNkY1_Nk3o/mqdefault.jpg)
The fine people of ChefSteps are trying to show you a thing or two about things that aren't up for debate. Critique them all you want but it's just an easier way for the general public to see and understand the benefits of HYGROSCOPIC SUBSTANCES. Something that chefs are always looking for... moisture, infusion of flavor, texture, seasoning and on and on
Generally beef has a firm enough texture that the added bite resulting from brining actually makes the meat seem a bit chewy.
You're correct!
Turkey breast is commonly brined, frequently using injection brining
Is there any way I can incorporate this process with curing as well. I'm struggling to find an equilibrium cure/brine for pastrami
Would love to see how the equilibrium brine results compares to a dry brine.
I think a dry brine is better when you are going to cook the meat in a fryer or oven, to crisp them up. Because dry brining draws the moisture from the skin. I've heard accounts that dry brining is altogether, a better way to inject salt or flavor into meat. Con is, if you're dry brining a lot of stuff, say, chicken wings, you would need a pretty big tray and fridge because you have to space them out and let them air d ry. In this case, wet brining is just appropriate.
Isn't this a shifting ratio? We have two exact pieces of meat at 300g, One is in a large flat, shallow container, number two fits in its container very snug. Add water to both until covered. No.1 has a net weight of 2600g and gets 39g of salt @ 1.5%, and No.2 has a net weight of 800g and gets 12g of salt @ 1.5%. If we look at the salt saturation in the water is where we get a huge disparity and what I think would equate to inconsistency in product. No.1 is in a brine of 1.6% salt and No.2 is in a brine of 2.4% salt. Wouldn't the one with water twice as salty end up making the meat much more salty?
I was thinking the same kind of thing. The surface area of the meat is what makes the difference in saltiness. I guess that is why they give you a range for the salt content for a brine---1%-2% the total weight. I find it to be a sloppy technique, but at the same time I also don't feel like calculating the surface area of a hunk of pork.
I'll admit I fudge my brine, I just make up 20L at a time with one handful of sugar and two of salt, add spices/citrus rind in when its appropriate for the meat. Too stupid to figure out the molar ratio's and entropy of dissolved solids.
Is it wrong to leave the protein in the brining liquid more than 24 hours?
"livery flavor to it"
ive done 3 roasts sous vide now. a chuck eye, a silver tip, then another chuck eye. the first one was fantastic; soft, tender, delicious - tasted like a nice prime rib. the other two werent as good, though. they were also soft, but they had what could be described as a livery flavor to them, especially the silver tip. i did all three using the same basic method - sprinkle with salt, sear in a pan til dark brown all around, sprinkle more salt, pepper, oregano, seal, and cook at 140 for ~48 hours. is it possible this is related? maybe the second two needed more salt? any other ideas what might have caused that 'off' flavor in the second two?
+returnformer
When cooking sous vide, don't use olive oil and fresh garlic, you can use powdered one. Olive oil gives you an iron tasting flavour. I made 48h beef chuck roast at 53,5C and it was really tender. I season it after it's been cooked.
Is there a risk of getting a Cured texture or does that mainly have to do with the amount of salt used?
Good question and technically it is basically cured. This is why you need to add some fat to the process to help it get immersed in the fat during cooking vs water. Typically when I cure say a coppa, I will only do about a 3% salt content. At most. Some people like more but beyond 3% its insanely too salty for me. You can dry cure using the equilibrium method with vacuum seal. It tastes so much better and you can actually taste the meat and spices instead of just salt and fat. Artisinal quality by far.
Wonderful demo
Visually the non-brined one looked more pleasing like you would expect what meat should looked like when cooked. The brined one looks like like tofu or meat that has been sitting in defrosted water for a while. Maybe it's just personal bias when it comes to taste test but I always find that while brined meat are definitely more moist they lack a lot of the original flavors of the meat.
Regardless-So interesting. ChefSteps put science into food. Love it.
Thinking about doing this to some moose tongue I have in the freezer. Normally we just boil them in salt water. Would you boil the meat in the brining solution afterwards?
Whats the ratio of time to meat size for the brining?
Bat K Here is a bunch more information for you on the specifics of the brining process. We also have more specific questions answered on our forum! Thanks for watching. www.chefsteps.com/activities/equilibrium-brining
I know that I'm late but a little psychological science thrown in would be to have someone else taste it so you don't get sous vide/brine confirmation bias.
I've heard that brining can have the added benefit of reducing some of the "gamey" flavour in game meat. I have some emu meat and am thinking of brining it before cooking. Any advice?
Also, you guys don't seem to do many vids on game. Would love to see some on game meat recipes. I recently found a game meat supplier in Australia and have gone a little nuts, ordering kangaroo tails, emu fillet, a camel roast, goat shoulder, a whole rabbit, and a venison loin... for starters! I'm cooking it all sous-vide. :D
+1 for Game meats, Rabbit, quail, venison and kangaroo :D
Robert Breen how the hell did they get some emu meat? Australian went to war against them and lost..
Can we add some herbs in that brine?
You didn't season the control piece at all?
I have a question concerning this method as you know porc has some worms and this is why nobody eat raw porc with this method you cook the porc with low temperature to prevent loss of proteins but do you still have those worm alive or do they die even with low temperature?
+Ghostring Your information is grossly inaccurate.....Commercially available pork does not have worms in it
or anything else for that matter. If theres a issue at all it would be with wild pork, and even then im not so worried. Since we know how to safely prepare those too. Cooking pork this way is a brilliant technique to keep it moist and delicious.
+Ghostring are you talking about Taenia solium? if so it is dealt with by freezing the meat for some time, still it doesn't mean you can eat it raw, and also sous vide cooks at low temps but for a very long time so theres little to no risk, and as lesley said taenia is usually found on wild pork grown on open fields mostly
Would this work if you cooked it on a pan afterwords? I mean is it possible to get a good sear on the meat when you have brined it? I thought the brine would prevent the Maillard effect from happening... Am I wrong?
Just dry off the surface with a paper towel, then you'll have no problem browning it.
Thanks :)
Not a problem, I recommend trying it, brining makes a huge difference. Hope it works out for you!
how much time did it spent cooking sous vide?
Do you still need torinse the meat after brining
Very scientific. The guy conducting the experiment also designed, executed and made the verdict...
nope, should be ready to go straight out of the brine
do you wash off the brine before cooking?
Whats the point of adding oil to the bags before sealing? It doesn't seem like it would serve much of a purpose when cooking sous vide.
+Justin Brown The oil helps to add flavor and more importantly gives you a buffer inside the bag to hold the shape of what you're cooking more effectively and helps you remove the item from the bag with added ease after cooking.
+ChefSteps exactly
+chris ganoglou precisely
+Joel Wallenius Immaculately
superbly
excelente !
Saludos Fede!! Soy Rodo de Mexico! Estaba comparando salmueras para hacer un filete de puerco y repente me tope con tu comentario jajaj Un abrazo !
Hello!! Should i weight in grams Or pounds?
I love your contents, Can you do the same with fish?
I really love this technique. It works perfectly with white meats. But I am curious how it works with fish? Generally I find if I brine fish for more than 6 hours it takes on sort of a mealy texture. So my question, would you still brine for 24 hours with fish using his technique? I'm assuming so. But I let it go for 6 hours using the equilibrium technique. Though my gut is telling me I should of let it go. Oh well... Bluefish is in the smoker now. We'll see how it comes out!
when I have brined for example cod in restaurant kitchens i've used a 10% brine and let it sit for only 15 minutes, but those were quite large and fat pieces.
How did it come out?
When I buy a pork tenderloin or whole* chicken in a bag, it's often got that watery solution in the bag with it. I think the primary purpose of this is to add weight to the meat so they can charge more, and I prefer getting meat that hasn't been treated this way, just psychologically. But at the same time, I wonder... what's in this solution? Is it mostly just a brine? Am I looking at pre-brined meat and paying a small premium for the inflated weight while also making up for the time that would be spent brining it myself? Or is it some bagged science experiment that I shouldn't want to eat?
*minus the feathers, head, feet and internal organs
so you dont have to season in the pan?
Chef, what kind of salt? since salt have different salinity.
also if i may, what are your take on Kenji's of seriouseats opinion that "brining" leave meat "watery or diluted, a band aid that cause more problem than fix" and his method of just pre-salting meat for at least 45 min?
I assume they're using kosher salt. However, the difference between different salts is not really different salinity, but rather the density. Food Wishes has a great video explaining the difference.
Salt has a difference in density, you have to weigh it for a brine, thus you can use whatever type of salt you want.
thanks :)
lol... i can hear Wiz Khalifa in the background
Should you brine turkey breast meat? Or will it make it too tough?
You guys say that you 'prefer to brine most white meats'. So what do you not brine? Red meat? Beef,lamb?
Well, pork is a red meat and they brined it here... so yeah
***** Pork is NOT a red meat.
Wesam Abdallah yes, it is. All mammals are red meat.
lowfatcooking.about.com/od/porkdishes/a/Pork-For-A-Change.htm
articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/13/health/he-nutrition13
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/red-meat.aspx
***** OJFC, this is the culinary world, dude, not a biology or nutritionist class. It is white meat...had you EVER worked in a kitchen OR been serious about cooking, you would know that.
You can't just redefine it because of stupidity. It's still red meat by definition.
before joule??
Name of song?
Did u taste it raw ?
Dang these hipsters can cook!
I just finished a 24 brine, and just realized I did a 10% brine instead of a 1% brine. Did I just destroy my NYE appetizer?
+Neil Richey If i understood your comment correctly you left something in a 10% brine for 24 hours? My first thought was that it would be incredibly salty, probably way overboard to eat. How did it turn out?
+Neil Richey haha i just pooped myself
+Isak Stolz it actually turned out perfect, haha. I'm super sensitive to salt and it was delicious
2:13 Officer Duffus XD
blind taste tests in the future? and meat weights that are closer to equal to start to standardize necessary and actual cook time? an why not salt the non brined meat because you would never serve meat unsalted to begin with? (maybe that last one did happen, not sure)
Is it only for white meat? What about brining beef, say a brisket?
try dry curing those
January 31; My birthday! #SuperBlueBloodMoon
Chewing with mouth open :(
Taste buds work better with air than without. Grant is just doing his job :)
Mmm! *finger snap*
Brining adds juiciness to the finished product but all that juice is just salty water (bland) it is better to dry brine in my opinion.
Why isn't brining very popular with red meat. It seams like beef tenderloin could benefit from this technique.
because you don't have to cook red meat all the way through. it's better if it's medium or med rare. no chef would recommend well done so no need to brine. brining is to keep white meats juicy.
100g difference between and cooked in same temperature and same time? Hmm🤔
Bro. I think i get what you meant, it made me think. Well as far as i know, the heavier the meat, the longer it will take to cook and shrinkage on meat happens when it longer to cook.
So about the test they made, i think we can assume that the heavier meat should be cook a little longer compared to the lighter meat and yet it seems the heavier meat still lost a lot of its weight (shrinkage) than the lighter meat.
Should try closing your mouth while eating... its is also very helpful.
As long as food doesn't spit out from every word he creates, I'm perfectly fine with that. Pretty sure a lot of people follow this "rule".
Says the guy running a scam site. LOL
klefdnb Lol. Aren't you a little new to the internet, m'am?
klefdnb Bte, I like that grammatical error of yours.
BTE? Grammatical error? HAHAHA... go to sleep.
Wait so nobody notices that he tried the meats RAAAAWW??? 😨
Or is it just me...😓
It's just you. The meat was fully cooked.
it looks pink because it's sous vide. Sous vide is a pretty safe way to cook things to a certain temp. Red meat usually is gray because they're overcooked or dry.
the way he's molesting the meat made me uncomfortable
Back when ChefSteps taught us home cooks some useful information. Now it's all sous vide this and sous vide that....
dude you realize BOTH chicken breasts in this video were sous-vide'd? LOL
Donvale dude... You realize both CHICKEN BREASTS were pork tenderloins in this video? LOL
Sous vide is not some of the moment fad. It is new culinary tool like "grilling" or "frying," and it is here to stay.
I like your videos, but I throw up a little in my mouth when you test smack the food. So gross. How can you work with food and no one has said anything to you?
The magic word is OSMOSIS~ ah~
Charles Osmosis would actually draw the moisture _out_ as the water potential is lower outside the meat
The other magic word being DIFFUSION
Meat looks disgustinf
Cooking use to be an experience of feelings and senses, now it's like : put the meat in the condom, put it in the waterbath, wait for 30 minutes, get the bag, open it, done ! Yes I cooked a piece of meat perfectly ! .. so sad
What do you mean use to be? It still is, you can cook and get whatever enjoyment you want or think it derives. People that use sous vide usually work in eateries where the demand is to give nothing less than a perfectly cooked protein, which has the best chances in a sous vide. No one is forcing anyone to sous vide anything you moron stop trying to pull arguments out your ass.
I bet you can t even use the sous vide technique , not alone the classic ways of cooking
This is genius but watching grant eat usually makes me a bit sick. If you prepare food like this you should have at least a little table manners
Going to a ramen shop in Japan would make you throw up then, I'd love to see it :P
@@Azza8808 i know how they eat there and for some reason thats okay for me, i mean its basically good etiquette there, just freaks me out how he always chews with his mouth open and very loudly so