Talk:Brining
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[edit] ?
Even cooks think that brining makes meat soak up water via osmosis. This is patently false. Osmosis works in the exact opposite way.
[edit] This entry is wrong
The claim that brining does not add water to the cell via osmosis goes against every single food science text book I have. The consensus in these texts is that the following happens:
- While there is a high salt concentration in the brine outside the cell, the concentration of other solutes inside the cell is higher. This leads water to enter the cell via osmosis.
[ "Meat cells contain a lot of water, but it is water that is bound and held by the proteins. Actually, the free liquid in meat cells is very concentrated with dissolved substances. This means that even concentrated solutions of salt water or salt and sugar water will be concerated than the liquid inside the meat cells. So, when meat is soaked in a salt or sugar solution, some of the liquied will go through the cell walls into the cells. Brining is a way to increase the amount of liquid inside the meat cells.", CookWise, Shirley O. Corriher, p. 338 ]
[
- At the same time, the concentration of sodium and chloride ions is higher in the brine than in the cell fluid. This lead sodium and chloride ions to enter the cell via diffusion.
[ "There is very little dissolved salt inside the cell, but there are tons of salt in the brine, usually from one to six cups per gallon. Again, Nature tries to even things up, this time by the process of diffusion: Some of the plentiful salt ions outside the cell diffuse or migrate through the membrane into the cell.", What Einstein Told His Cook, Robert L. Wolke, p.144 ]
[ "However, if there's salt in the water (even as little as a few hundred parts per million), the border guards - ever desirous of equilibrium - will throw open the borders and allow both salt and water to move across the membranes.", I'm Just Here For The Food, Alton Brown, p.183 ]
- Next, the higher salt concentration inside the cell causes even more water to make it into the cell via osmosis.
[ "Now this is where things get really interesting: after 8 to 24 hours there's more salt in the meat, and more water has to be ratained to balance it - that's just the osmotic way.", I'm Just Here For the Food, Alton Brown, p.183 ]
- The higher salt concentration inside the cell causes proteins to denature, increasing the cells water retention capability.
[ "the interections of salt and proteins result in a greater water-holding capacity in muscle cells, which absorb water from the brine.", On Food and Cooking, 2nd Edition, Harold McGee, p.156 ]
[ "When salt gets into meat cells it runs into certain water-soluble proteins. [...] This is what denatured proteins look like. Notice that they've gone from tight little separate springy things to big loose coils that have managed to get all tangled up with each other. During the cooking process, this tangled-up structure traps water almost like a gel.", I'm Just Here For The Food, Alton Brown, p.184 ]
While the previously linked web page, http://www.cbbqa.com/articles/Salt/SaltBrining.html, claims to reference On Food and Cooking, he actually references the first edition, which does not discuss brining. The second edition does have a section devoted to brining, which contradicts his conclusions.
I've also come across a somewhat different explanation that also makes sense. In this explanation, the cell's initial concentration of solutes is lower than that of the brine. This lead water to exit the cell via osmosis, while salt is absorved into the cell. The salt inside the cell disolves from the proteins, which now results in a higher concentration of solutes inside the cell, which leads water to rush in via osmosis.
[ "Brining meat adds moisture to the meat through osmosis. [...] When meat is placed in a brine, the meat's cell fluids are less concentrated than the salt water in the brining solution. Water flows out of the cells in the meat and salt flows in. The salt then dissolves some of the fiber proteins, and the meat's cell fluids become more concentrated, thus drawing water back in.", Exploratorium, http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/meat/INT-what-makes-flavor.html ]
[edit] This entry is awful - the discussion of brining do to osmosis is weak.
From [The Best New Recipe, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0936184744/ref=pd_sxp_f/102-9940503-6870515?v=glance&s=books] from the publishers of America's Test Kitchen [Cook's Illustrated, http://www.cooksillustrated.com/], p312: ""SCIENCE: WHY BRINING WORKS - Many have attributed the added juiciness of brined chicken to osmosis - the flow of water a cross a barrier from a place with a higher water concentration (the brine) to a place with a lower one (the chicken). We decided to test this explanation. If osmoisis is, in fact, the source of the added juiciness of brined meat, we reasoned, then a bucket of pure usalted water should add moiseture at least as well as a brine, because water alone has the highest water concentration possible: 100 percent. After soaking one chicken in brine and another in water for the same amount of time, we found that both had gained moister, about 6 percent by weight. Satisfied that osmosis was indeed the force driving the addition of moisture to meat during brining, we roasted the two birds, along with a third straight out of the package. We would soon discover that osmosis was not the only reason why brined meat cooked up juicy. ... During roasting, the chicken taken straight from the package lost 18 percent of its original weight, and the chicken soaked in water lost 12 percent of its preasoak weight. Remarkably, the brined bird shed a mere 7 percent of its starting weight. Looking at the test results, we realized that the benefit of brining could not be explained by osmosis alone. Salt, too was playaing a crucial role by aiding in the retention of water. ... Table salt is made up of two ions, sodium and chloride, that are oppositely charged. Proteins, such as those in meat, are large molecules that contain a mosaic of chargers, negative and positive. When proteins are placed in a solution containing salt, they readjust their shape to accommodate the opposing charges. This rearrangement of the protein molecules compromises the structureal integrity of the meat, reducing its overall toughness. It aslo creates gaps that fill up with water. The added salt makes the water less likely to evaporate during cooking, and the result is meat that is both juicy and tender."
- What do you find awful? The article you quote is perfectly in harmony with the entry. Water enters the cell via osmosis. The salt in the brine causes the proteins in the cells to denature and hold on to the water.
