Brine?

[Lancaster]

We wont agree on this but better mouth feel in food comes from fats, not water, like I said about the slow cooker.

No, we won't agree because you don't understand the science around cooking lean proteins.

 

[Lancaster]

We wont agree on this but better mouth feel in food comes from fats, not water, like I said about the slow cooker.

Have a read....

A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

 

[Morkai]

Have a read....

A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

I'm well aware of sous vide.

 

[Lancaster]

I'm well aware of sous vide.

So you will have noted this?

"Brining has become increasingly popular in modern cooking, especially when cooking pork and poultry. Typically the meat is placed in a 3 to 10% (30 to 100 grams per liter) salt solution for a couple of hours, then rinsed and cooked as usual. Brining has two effects: it dissolves some of the support structure of the muscle fibers so they cannot coagulate into dense aggregates and it allows the meat to absorb between 10–25% of its weight in water (which may include aromatics from herbs and spices) (Graiver et al., 2006; McGee, 2004). While the meat will still lose around 20% of its weight when cooked, the net effect will be a loss of only about 0–12% of its original weight."

Cooking​

 

[Freeforester]

In an effort to make some of the marsh ducks more palatable I tried bringing them in some lemon, sugar and salt mixed with a bit of water.

Tasted bloody awful obviously way too much salt and was as tough as boots.

Does anyone else brine or have some good tips or am I just wasting my time.

They were traditionally saved by my dad, and given to the bank manager.

 

[Morkai]

So you will have noted this?

"Brining has become increasingly popular in modern cooking, especially when cooking pork and poultry. Typically the meat is placed in a 3 to 10% (30 to 100 grams per liter) salt solution for a couple of hours, then rinsed and cooked as usual. Brining has two effects: it dissolves some of the support structure of the muscle fibers so they cannot coagulate into dense aggregates and it allows the meat to absorb between 10–25% of its weight in water (which may include aromatics from herbs and spices) (Graiver et al., 2006; McGee, 2004). While the meat will still lose around 20% of its weight when cooked, the net effect will be a loss of only about 0–12% of its original weight."

Cooking​

Yeah, I read it in the link.

Sous vide is a good method for the right cuts.

I will conceed that, yes, in lean meats there isn't a huge amount of fat and the moisture already in the meat plays it's part. If lean pork, chicken/turkey breast is cooked properly then it wont be dry, still has good mouthfeel, additional water from a brine is not required nor desirable.

An additional 10-25% of its weight in water doesn't mean better, it can just mean watery.