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Brining in buttermilk or yogurt before grilling or roasting is delicious, too. Mix in salt and whatever spices strike your fancy. When using yogurt, just scrape

Brining in buttermilk or yogurt before grilling or roasting is delicious, too. Mix in salt and whatever spices strike your fancy. When using yogurt, just scrape some but not all of it off before grilling.

CoastalCoder 3y ago
I've been curious about the action of spices during brining / marinating. I.e.: Does the flavor really permeate the meat? Or could we just added the spices during / after cooking? And if the spices do permeate the meat, what's the mechanism? And how deeply do they penetrate?
- Swizec 3y ago
  > Does the flavor really permeate the meat? Or could we just added the spices during / after cooking? You can taste the difference. We’ve done blind tests in terms of rushing the process and people always notice the difference. “Did you do something different today? The meat tastes bland/different/funny”. But the difference is biggest between 0min and 20min. More than 20min doesn’t seem to make a big impact in flavor, it does make the meat juicier and softer tho.
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  > But if you flavor your brine with delicious things like fruit juices, stock, herbs, spices, sugar, and more, then surely your meat will be more delicious than if you just soaked it in a plain old salt-water solution. Sorry, but nope! Flavor molecules, unlike salt, are for the most part too big to penetrate the cell membranes of a piece of meat; your brine may taste flavorful, but your roast will not. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine I'd _highly_ recommend the book The Food Lab, and site Serious Eats. They both go into the science of cook and answer lots of questions like this.
  - lowdest 3y ago
    There's some nuance here. If you soak your meat in lime juice for several hours, the acid is going to penetrate deep into the meat. It doesn't do nothing.
- el_benhameen 3y ago
  I don’t think it penetrates, no. But the yogurt preparation leaves a very flavorful crust as you don’t completely remove it before grilling. You definitely get the full effect of the spices that way.
lp0_on_fire 3y ago
Ive never tried that but it sounds intriguing / tasty. Would you recommend this for just poultry or red meat, as well? Pork?
- el_benhameen 3y ago
  I’ve only tried it with chicken, but I think it’s a middle eastern or Greek technique so I can imagine it being good on lamb or a kebab type preparation.
snapplebobapple 3y ago
If you make your own yogurt just save the whey and use that with lots of salt to brine the chicken, it comes out awesome and it's basically free because the whey is a byproduct of making your own (much cheaper and much more delicious) yogurt from homo milk.

CoastalCoder 3y ago

I've been curious about the action of spices during brining / marinating. I.e.: Does the flavor really permeate the meat? Or could we just added the spices during / after cooking? And if the spices do permeate the meat, what's the mechanism? And how deeply do they penetrate?

Swizec 3y ago
> Does the flavor really permeate the meat? Or could we just added the spices during / after cooking? You can taste the difference. We’ve done blind tests in terms of rushing the process and people always notice the difference. “Did you do something different today? The meat tastes bland/different/funny”. But the difference is biggest between 0min and 20min. More than 20min doesn’t seem to make a big impact in flavor, it does make the meat juicier and softer tho.
shepherdjerred 3y ago
> But if you flavor your brine with delicious things like fruit juices, stock, herbs, spices, sugar, and more, then surely your meat will be more delicious than if you just soaked it in a plain old salt-water solution. Sorry, but nope! Flavor molecules, unlike salt, are for the most part too big to penetrate the cell membranes of a piece of meat; your brine may taste flavorful, but your roast will not. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine I'd _highly_ recommend the book The Food Lab, and site Serious Eats. They both go into the science of cook and answer lots of questions like this.
- lowdest 3y ago
  There's some nuance here. If you soak your meat in lime juice for several hours, the acid is going to penetrate deep into the meat. It doesn't do nothing.
el_benhameen 3y ago
I don’t think it penetrates, no. But the yogurt preparation leaves a very flavorful crust as you don’t completely remove it before grilling. You definitely get the full effect of the spices that way.

lp0_on_fire 3y ago

Ive never tried that but it sounds intriguing / tasty. Would you recommend this for just poultry or red meat, as well? Pork?

el_benhameen 3y ago
I’ve only tried it with chicken, but I think it’s a middle eastern or Greek technique so I can imagine it being good on lamb or a kebab type preparation.

snapplebobapple 3y ago

If you make your own yogurt just save the whey and use that with lots of salt to brine the chicken, it comes out awesome and it's basically free because the whey is a byproduct of making your own (much cheaper and much more delicious) yogurt from homo milk.