"To Brine or Not to Brine?" Part II.

Hello, Class. I hope my last post didn't make you feel you were back in Chem 101. Today I promise to be a teeny bit less technical. But I am still going to rant, this time about marinades and frozen fowl.

If you read to the end (or, yes, just scroll there) you will be rewarded with a simple method for roasting turkey that produces meat so tender and moist you'll want to wear a lobster bib.

Okay, I exaggerate, but not by much. The secret?

Lowwww temperature, slowwww cooking.

In Part I, I quoted Harold McGee, the great American writer on food science, that brine makes meats appear to be more tender by dissolving proteins and preventing them from coagulating in dense clusters. Similarly, some marinades can have a tenderizing effect on proteins. The enzymatic substances known as papain, found in papaya, and bromelin, found in pineapple, are relatively powerful artificial tenderizers.

In addition, the tannic acids and organic acids found in red wine have a mild artificial tenderizing power. According to Hervé This, “It appears that proteins react with the polyphenols found in red wine in such a way as to seal the juices of the meat by hardening, or caking, its surface.” (ibid pages 54-55)

Unfortunately, artificial tenderizers and marinades have some undesirable consequences.  Tenderizers all penetrate the flesh very slowly at room temperature – as slow as a few millimeters a day – even slower in the refrigerator.  For this reason, their prolonged application tends to make the texture of the meat quite mealy.

Similarly, organic acids tend to make meats rather sour if left for any length of time.  And of course, red wine tends to discolor the flesh – which may or may not be desirable depending upon the dish. With tender cuts of meat, I generally recommend only the use of quick marinades for short-term exterior flavor. I reserve the use of “tenderizing” treatments for really tough, low-grade cuts of meat.

One unique advantage of brining, according to its advocates, is that it is claimed that their method works just as well on frozen birds as on fresh ones.

I suspect it may, in fact, provide more of a benefit to frozen birds than to fresh ones. I do not advocate using frozen birds. Freezing drastically damages cells due to ice crystals puncturing the soft cell membranes, resulting in dramatic fluid loss and dry meat. See On Food and Cooking, pages 146-147, if you have any doubts. 

The fact that brines partly dissolve proteins might make it possible for the proteins damaged by freezing to somewhat re-constitute themselves (though not in their natural form) and give them the ability to trap some water which the freezing process destroys. I am speaking hypothetically here. Reports across the internet seem to confirm this unscientifically.

It is important to note that turkeys need about three days rest at a temperature between 35°F to 38°F in order for the tensing of rigor mortis to relax and make them tender. “Most places that sell frozen turkeys freeze them right away [without that resting period]”. (Fred Jaindl, president of Jaindl Family Farms, Orefield, PA)

Studies conducted at INRA in Clermont-Ferrand, France, explain why the technique of immediate freezing without adequate rest is so detrimental to tenderness (but is less costly). I suspect that people who have had a bad experience with “fresh” turkeys were working with birds that had been blast-chilled too quickly, without allowing the flesh to relax properly.

With poultry, especially mass produced poultry, there is legitimate concern of bacterial risk.  This is why free-range, high quality husbandry is important. It is better to reduce that risk by using proper relaxation techniques. It is, of course, more expensive. Freezing is also undesirable because it causes fat oxidation and rancidity. And, if you’re not careful, you can get freezer burn. 

It seems counterintuitive that wet brining would actually improve the quality of the cooked bird. Only a few pages after McGee describes wet-brining, he deplores the effects of modern wet-curing on bacon and ham:

“Modern ham and bacon contain more moisture than the dry-cured versions – sometimes more than the original raw meat!... [Unfortunately] …where slices of traditional ham and bacon fry easily and retain 75% of their weight, the wetter modern versions spatter, shrink, and curl as they give up their water, and retain only a third of their initial weight.” (page 175)

Perhaps, as the study cited above (Li and Wick) indicates, there is something unique about turkey protein that makes brining less destructive?

My own feeling is that brining, while achieving something by way of tenderness and water absorption, carries the several disadvantages of diluting the concentration of the natural flavor of the meat, creating unnatural texture and resulting in unnatural flavor. 

Even McGee notes, “The obvious disadvantage of brining is that it makes both the meat and its drippings quite salty.”(page 56)

If I had to use a frozen bird I would probably brine it to take advantage of the tprotein reconstitution described above.  Brining can help kill off bacteria and it will likely make the frozen bird quite a bit juicier.

If you are going to use a fresh bird (a truly fresh and rested one, not a partially-frozen so-called “fresh” bird stored at 26°F) then it’s a matter of personal preference.

If you brine, remember to rinse the turkey before you stuff and roast it following the recipe’s directions.  Or, if you are a purist and want to preserve in your bird a more natural texture and flavor that can be every bit as tender and juicy - don’t brine but use the low-roasting temperature technique.

 
Wash and dry the bird before stuffing. Roast at 400°F for half an hour, to get the color started.

Then reduce to 275°F or even 250°F and cook slowly – it could take up to twice as long as conventional roasting temperatures - (until a thermometer reads 168° inserted in the thickest part of the thigh) if you really want something spectacular.

Low-temperature cooking techniques take much longer but the complexity of surface flavor is so much greater. Wait till you taste the skin. You will also have a gravy - and isn’t that the best part of the meal!

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