Brining

 

 

Enhancing taste and tenderness with brine

 

 

Whereas brine has traditionally been used for centuries for pickling foodstuffs and to preserve vegetables, fish, meat, corned beef and pastrami, and Haloumi and Feta cheeses, nowadays it has also become one of the most widely used taste enhancers and tenderisers.

Brining has become an invaluable process in modern food production. Such has been the success of brine’s taste enhancement and value adding properties in the poultry industry that nowadays many producers of other protein products use similar methods to guarantee the succulence and tastiness of their products.

Other present-day purposes of using brine are to increase shelf life and the volume and weight, or yield, of the product. The increase in yield varies widely according to type, price and quality of the finished product, but typically yield is from below 15% to more than 50%.

 

Lean cuts of meat with a mild flavour tend to benefit most from brining. These include chicken (whole, butterflied, or pieces) Cornish hens (whole or butterflied), turkey (whole, butterflied, or pieces), pork (chops, loin, tenderloin, fresh ham) and seafood (salmon, trout, shrimp).

 

The conventional brining process – soaking the meat for an extended period in a very strong saltwater solution with the addition of sugar and spices – was employed to bind the water in the meat or remove it altogether to prevent the growth of food-spoiling micro-organisms. Today’s brine solution has the same purpose, but other factors have come into play.

When an animal is slaughtered the pH level in the muscle tissue drops and production of natural ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is halted. The loss in water-binding capacity of the meat leads to the decrease of nutrients and flavour during cooking and, once cooked, the meat is stringy, dry, tough and bland.

The main ingredient of modern food processors’ meat brine solutions, phosphate, a natural mineral found in all muscle tissue, is used because it aids in restoring the muscle’s capacity to retain nutrients and moisture.

Poultry seasoning restores the natural tenderness of the meat by assisting in bringing the pH closer to natural levels by returning phosphates to the muscle tissue. The seasoning also helps to increase the capacity of the protein in the meat to retain nutrients and moisture, resulting in a softer, juicier and tastier product once cooked.

Poultry seasoning involves a simple process of injecting a brine solution into the muscle meat of the product in order to regain vital components lost during the slaughtering process. This technique is mainly used for frozen poultry and is practised by all main poultry producers in South Africa.

As is the case with all contemporary food products, convenience is key, and most of the manufacturers/suppliers of brine injector systems and food ingredients make available a variety of dry brine packs which are especially beneficial for the time-pressed customer, who simply has to add water to the dry brine.

 

Injectors were originally developed to enhance the curing process for cooked products such as ham, turkey, and bacon. Their versatility, however has led to their use in a variety of processing areas. The up-to-date brine injector’s function is to, regardless of the type of meat product and its muscle composition, inject and uniformly distribute the exact right quantity of brine or marinade into the selected product.

 

 

Butchers and retail food processors in the market for buying new or used brine injector systems or upgrading their existing ones should firstly look at their type of product and the required injection percentage thereof, as these aspects indicate the types and sizes of needles needed. Needle size and placement are very important, as the correct needle pattern results in a uniform brine distribution and better moisture retention.

Other imperative injector machine attributes to look out for include:
• minimal moving parts, which means less breakdowns and maintenance;
• light weight and mobile, reducing staff, as the machine is easily manoeuvred by one person;
• multi-functional properties, i.e. have bone in as well as bone out injection capability and be not just suitable for injecting brines for bacons and chicken pieces etc, but also for marinating whole turkeys and chickens, cut-up poultry parts, fresh steaks and pork, and seafood, as one machine with various purposes takes up less time and space;
• a stainless steel conveyor belt system for ideal transport of meat and guaranteed hygiene; low brine circulation, which relates to cost savings on brine;
• a large stainless steel brine pump to ensure that even the most viscous brines can be pumped continuously and accurately;
• excellent cleaning properties, i.e. the unit must dismantle easily and allow access to all areas of the machine which come into contact with meat. In today’s environment of omnipresent food safety measures and the new use of injectors for fresh meats it is a necessity to perform daily strip-downs of the injector to ensure complete sanitation and reduction of the chance of inoculating food products with pathogens.

Suppliers of brining equipment and ingredients include Exim International, BMPE, BT Enterprises and Columbit to name but a few.