The science of brining

(PHOTO: DONALD COOK)

So this year my dad and I are in charge of turkey duties. And we’ve decided to follow the recipe for cajun turkey from Hill Country Texas Guru Rebecca Rather’s new Pastry Queen Christmas book (all recipes so far excellent. Anna and I made the red velvet cupcakes with mascarpone cream cheese icing and nearly passed out after eating one).

I am dutifully following her recipe. So when she asked me to brine the bird in a brown sugar and salt solution, I followed her instructions. But then I started to wonder exactly what the brining was doing. I was reminded of all that cell osmosis stuff we were peppered with in cell biology classes and started wondering: is the brine isotonic, hypotonic or hypertonic? I would guess what with 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of brown sugar it’s hypertonic. But this got me confused because then osmosis should draw water out of the turkey into the brine solution and wasn’t the whole point of brining your bird to make it more moist?

After a quick google search it appears I’m not the only one thus confused. Enter many helpful websites, my favorite of which is ”Cooking For Engineers.” The Exploratorium has a good page on it too.

Initially when meat is placed int he brine, the cells int eh meat are less concentrated than the brine solution. So water flows out of the meat and salt flows in. But here comes the rub (or in our case Cajun spice rub). The recently migrated salt then denatures some of the proteins in the meat, and so the meat’s cell fluids become more concentrated. This way the levels of solute in the meat rise, and water is drawn back into the meat. Hence the end product of a more tender, salty, and moist meat.

I’m off to baste the sucker. Will update you on taste later.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy feasting to you.