Making a Brine
- Yield: 4 Quarts 1x
Description
You can use this brine to preserve many of the meats you will use. Some recommend saltpeter instead of sea salt; I feels it’s too ferocious.
Ingredients
2 c. Superfine Caster Sugar
2 1/4 c. Coarse Sea Salt
12 Juniper Berries
12 Cloves
12 Black Peppercorns
3 Bay Leaves
4 quarts Water
Instructions
Bring all the brine ingredients together in a pot, bring to a boil so that the sugar and salt dissolve. Pour into a container and allow to cool.
Once cooled, add your meat and leave to brine for a number of days (whatever the recipe calls for).
Even though the brine is a preserving process, we are celebrating its flavor-enhancing properties, so just in case these somewhat bacterially anxious days it is probably no bad thing to keep your brine and it’s contents in the fridge.
Notes
Your brine bucket, made of a non-corrodible substance, kept in the fridge, will become a nurtured friend whose character should improve with time and provide delicious results.
This excerpt is taken from The Whole Beast by Fergus Henderson, purchase the book here.