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Basic Brine Recipe

Simple Basic Brown Sugar Brine Recipe

This is the basic brine recipe that every cook should learn by heart.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Calories 10 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 gallon water
  • 1 cup kosher salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar

Instructions
 

  • Mix all of the ingredients together in whatever container is needed for the amount of meat you have.
  • Add your meat and don’t forget it MUST be refrigerated. Small cuts should be brined for four hours while larger cuts can be brined overnight.
  • When you remove your meat from the brine, thoroughly rinse with cool water. Pat dry and your meat is ready for spices/rubs and off you go!

Notes

There are many brine recipes that include a kitchen sink full of aromatics but in reality all you need is this simple recipe.
You need the salt to dissolve into the meat. The salt relaxes the protein making it more tender. The salt also increases the amount of water in the meat making it more juicy.
The sugar in the brine is important to help balance out the harshness of the salt.
Keyword Simple Basic Brine