A little brine can cure dull meats in no time

Just call me Ishmael and throw me in the briny sea.

Oops, wait – wrong kind of brine. I’m here to discuss the merits of salt water, and while Moby, Ahab, Starbuck and Stubb are fine company, their salty sea is a bit vast for my current needs. How about just a gallon of water and a cup of salt, or some variation thereof? Now we’re cooking.

If you regularly eat turkey, chicken, or pork (especially lean cuts like the tenderloin) then you’ve no doubt encountered at least the occasional dried-out, under-seasoned preparation. Today’s lean pork is particularly problematic, going from just right to overdone in no time. It’s often rather dry even when properly cooked.

Saltwater is the cure, often along with sugar and various aromatics such as garlic, allspice, pickling spices, peppercorns and various fresh herbs. Giving your bird or pig a soak in this sea – called a brine – is the remedy for whatever ails your current cooking method.

Brining has been around just about forever, from those dark, pre-refrigerator days when food had to be preserved by other means, but it’s only relatively recently that it’s become popular with today’s home cooks. What it does, essentially, is season food from within, adding moisture and flavor through osmosis and diffusion, as the meat rests in the refrigerated saltwater. Theories differ as to how the process works; Weber has an absolutely great brining site, and I highly recommend it – http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html.

The range of approaches is so varied that I recommend trying a few, deciding from experience which work best for you. I’m going to give only some general tips and a recipe for a simple brine that should be a good introduction.

First, keep a notebook, jotting down ingredients, of course, but more importantly how long it was brined, how long it rested, and exactly what was brined. (For instance, a half-inch thick pork chop.) Take note of whether it tasted too salty and whether the aromatics used (if any) made a worthwhile difference. I’ve found that certain cooking methods – smoking, for instance – add so much of their own characteristics that the addition of herbs is pretty much wasted effort.

Next, err to the short side initially. You can’t take the salt out once the food is brined, and I recommend first trying a few things at half or two-thirds the suggested time and going from there. Finally, the resting period afterward is important to equalize the salt throughout the food, so try to leave at least a few hours for this step.

Here’s what I did for Easter turkey. (You don’t have to have ham, you know.) I soaked an 11-pound turkey in a brine of 2 gallons of water, 2 cups salt, 1 cup sugar, 1 head garlic, 1 lemon, a few bay leaves and a small handful of peppercorns. First, I boiled the brine until the ingredients dissolved and then cooled the brine completely. Then I put the turkey in the brine, weighted with a plate to keep it submerged, and hefted it into the fridge for 18 hours. It rested for only 4 hours after removing it from the brine – 12 would have been better – before roasting. It was moist, delicious, no additional salt was needed.

Here’s another simple brine, more manageable since you need only about a half-gallon of water, and it’s good for the smaller amount of meat. Pork tenderloin really benefits from brining and when it’s infused with a hint of thyme, it needs very little extra in the way of seasoning. Now that it’s firmly grilling season, it’s a great time to brine, since whatever you overcook will still at least be moist.

Basic Brine for Pork

2 pork tenderloins, about 1 pound each

8 cups water

1/3 cup kosher salt

2 bay leaves

18 crushed peppercorns (put them in a zip-top bag and hammer away)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 large clove garlic, mashed

6 large sprigs fresh thyme, crushed to release aromatics

Bring the water to a boil, along with all the brining ingredients, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure everything’s dissolved. Cool in a sink of ice water, then refrigerate until cold. Place tenderloins in a plastic container with a lid and fill with the brine. (It’s fine if you don’t use it all.) Seal and refrigerate for a day.

Remove from brine, pat dry, and let rest from 4 to 12 hours in the refrigerator and then cook. These are approximate times. If I started brining at 6 p.m. and wanted to cook at that time the following day, I’d just take them out around 2 p.m. and call it good.

Pork should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

Yield: 2 pork tenderloins

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.