Big fan of brining - have made many a pork chop and roast in a brine. I lean toward brown sugar and kosher salt [iodized salt will taste metallic]mix and I love using fresh herbs and fruit and fruit juices including apple juice. Rushing never makes for a better result.

Maybe do a little more targeted research, if I were doing a porkloin I would like kosher salt, brown sugar, apple juice, granny smiths, vidalias, fresh rosemary, and cracked pepper as my brine.

I just did a bourbon and maple brine on chops the other day that was phenom!

As I so often say..."just do it"...start out with a small amount of salt and only a 4 or 5 hour brine time....and when you see what happens you will know how much of what to add.
Unless you add way too much salt or sugar....it will only make the meat better....
And remember the thicker the piece is the longer it needs to stay in the brine to "get brined".
Linda c

jeri, there isn't that much lemon juice in TJ's spiced cider. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a small roast overnight.

Talking about cooking with my son yesterday, he mentioned brining pork chops as well as chicken. He said it keeps them from drying out in the cooking, whatever method you use. He said he never had a pork chop dry out in grilling if it had been brined. He uses salt and sugar. This has gotten my interest.

Jim

Thus far I have only brined whole turkeys. On the plus side it makes it difficult to end up with a dry turkey. On the negative side, they can end up a little saltier tasting than some prefer. I am sure there is a tweak that could be made to reduce the saltiness (yes, I do rinse the bird after brining).

jeri, I don't brine turkeys or chickens that already have that "flavor enhancer", it's just salt and water and that makes it too salty for me.

I do brine my own chickens, the local turkeys that I occasionally buy, and I brine pork roast in apple cider, it's my favorite way. I got this recipe from Cooking Light and I seldom cook a pork roast any other way. I do use whatever salt I have on hand, usually kosher salt, but sometimes canning salt or plain old table salt.

APPLE CIDER BRINED PORK ROAST

3 cups apple cider
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ cup salt
1 tbls black peppercorns
1 tbls coriander seeds
1 2 lb. Pork loin, trimmed
2 cups cider
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh sage
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a Ziploc bag or container big enough to hold the pork loin. Add pork, seal and let marinate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350, bring 2 cups cider to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until cider is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside. Remove pork from bag or container and discard brine. Place pork on broiler pan or baking dish and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and bake about 1 hour, until pork is done, basting twice with the reduced cider in the last 20 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8

This brine is also really good for chicken.

Annie

Thanks for the input everyone  itÂs still such a mystery. I hate to experiment because I have one shoot only with the kids.

Sands99 Â Will you share your Bourbon and Maple brine? Sounds awesome.

BeanThere  I think I will try the TJÂs Spiced Cider  how easy can it get?

Jimster  You will be amazed out the difference brining makes.

So  Last night I did 2 quarts Apple juice (no sugar added), 1/2 cup Diamond Kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar  let the pork tenderloins soak in that for about 12 hours. IÂll be baking them tonight by spreading a little Dijon mustard on, a sprinkle of fresh sage, and wrapped in Prosciutto. :-)

Let us know how it turns out!

Yes, Sands99, I would love to see the bourbon and maple brine too. Thanks!

The maple bourbon brine was an experiment based on -don't laugh - a passing reference in Gilmore Girls! So I only did two chops in a quart of brine. I do Emerils prefered ratio which is 1/2c salt and 1/2c sugar per gallon so I did 2 Tbsps of each for the quart, probably a good 2 Tbsps of Jim Bean, around 1/4 cup of maple syrup [wish I had had Grade B] and at least a 1/2 tsp or more of dried Rosemary. Let them plump overnite and then just a turn of cracked pepper and a visit under the broiler. It was subtle but definitely discernable. And very tender, not something I was achieving with center cut boneless chops and conventional methods. I was seriously going to bail on buying them anymore.

$10 says the whole process was accidentally discovered by a broad with raging PMS, a bag of Lay's, swollen ankles, and no Midol.

Oh, oh oh! Which episode was that? I'm a huge groopy :-).

Sounds delicious!

LOL I'm a big fan too I watch every night at 5 while making dinner, I call it the estrogen hour since I have 2 boys a DH and a tom cat. And being originally from NYC and rather manic I often make the girls look like they're on 'ludes. Love the rampant pop culture references too :)

Episode 5.09 - Emily Says Hello ...
Original airdate: November 16, 2004
Rory decides that she and Lorelai should split up at the next Friday night dinner and confront Richard and Emily separately about ending their separation. Meanwhile, Lorelai invites Christopher for lunch at the inn (** this is where Lorelei mentions that Sookie does this "brining thing" to pork chops with bourbon and they're amazing** It stuck in my head :). Feeling guilty that she hadn't told Luke about seeing Christopher, Lorelai confesses that they had lunch, and Luke "convinces" himself that he isn't jealous.

I remember that one!! I really miss that show! I haven't watched reruns in a while. Maybe it's been long enough to enjoy them again. That was just the best show! Especially in the beginning with all the quirky characters and pretty people, ugly people, in between people, quirky people, artistic people, musical people, etc. Gaawd, I wish I could live there!

Well, that brine sounds good. It will go into my ' to try' file. I brine chickens all the time with salt and brown sugar. And, yes, I agree, the amounts vary a lot. I just keep trying different things to see how I like them. Also, chickens here all come with 3 % sodium. I assume that means they have injected them with something.

Haven't tried pork yet, but it's been on my list.

Thanks, sands. :-)

I love Gilmore Girls too. :-)

Sands99 Â 1/2 c salt to a gallon of liquid is not very much. This is why I started this thread. IÂm guessing the meat would have to soak for quite a while for the osmosis to do its thing in that solution.

Contrast that to Cooks Illustrated PDF titled "The Basics of Brining" which has a formula using 1 quart water + 1/2 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (or 1/4 cup + 2 tbl Morton or 1/4 cup table salt) + 1/2 cup sugar. Use 1 quart per pound of food and brine for 1 hour per pound.

Quite a difference! Maybe understanding the difference would be beneficial? For instance, if I want to fix dinner in a few hours, I use Cooks Illustrated method, but if I need the meat to brine all day while at work, I use a less concentrated method?

See why IÂm confused? And, IÂm just too new at cooking to experiment. Like I said  I get one shot with the family. I don't want the meat too salty which I know can happen if this is not done correctly.

Trsinc  Once you brine your pork  youÂll never go back. Everyone comments on how moist the meat is.

Jeri, that's why I said to just do it and see what happens. Err on the under salted short time side and go from there.
Linda C....who once made salty pork....but never again!

This is a very current topic for me, since this weekend friends and I will butcher 9 pigs and I'll take one, cut up, home for packaging and freezing. So looking forward to pork raised on local grains, no hormones, no prison pens, etc. Claudia and I brine pork, salmon, chicken. I use the salt + sugar mixture to avoid too-salty taste, and I substitute molassas for some of the sugar. For pork I add some squirts of chipotle sauce [Tabasco] for added flavor.
I believe for free-range chicken and such brining is especially important.
Have any of you brined beef? We get pasture finished beef and I'm wondering how that would work out. I know, I know, "try it." Grin.

Yup, Bob, try it. I've never brined the grass fed beef because I like the way it tastes and it's always plenty tender and juicy enough. I don't see how it's much different than a marinade, though, which I do occasionally when I want a specific flavor in the beef, like teriyaki.

I know Ann T pre-salts beef and that's much like brining too, so I say, why not. Oh, and let me know how it is, LOL.

Annie