Adding a sumptuous sauce or a zesty marinade have been popular ways to turn ordinary dishes into gourmet masterpieces for a number of years. And 2009 seemed like the year of brines for Thanksgiving turkeys. Enhancements with marinades, sauce and brines not only lend a culinary touch, but have functional benefits, as well.
Osmotically balanced
Brine is a salt-and-water solution in which fish, meat or poultry soaks in prior to cooking. The main purpose of brining is to add enough salt and water to the protein so that during cooking it remains moist, even if slightly overcooked or held before serving. In other words, brining provides a cushion for cooking times and temperatures.
Center-of-the-plate proteins inherently contain salt. By immersing them into a highly concentrated salt solution, the protein absorbs the liquid, a process called osmosis. Further, flavoring added to the brine is carried into the protein with the salt-water mixture.
Salt denatures protein molecules, causing them to unwind and form a matrix to trap water. Protein molecules also break down in brines, allowing salt and flavoring agents to readily permeate the flesh.
Most brines are applied by the food preparer—the home cook, restaurant chef or prepared-food manufacturer. Industrial marinades, on the other hand, can be applied by the packer to the raw protein, either for the sole purpose of improving yield through increased water retention, or adding some flavor, too. Commercial marinades can be offered as a flavoring perk by a retail butcher. Home cooks and chefs also often purchase commercial liquid or dry marinades and personally apply them for a homemade touch.
Industrial marinades
It is important to distinguish between the two types of marinades. Packers apply marinades often referred to as “enhancement solutions.” They are very different from those applied by home cooks and chefs.
“For a meat packer, marinades not only help to deliver flavor to the consumer, but also function, in most cases, to increase the product yield through use of starch-based ingredients and phosphates as moisture-retention aids,” says Shana Brewer, senior marketing analyst, savory products, National Starch Food Innovation, Bridgewater, NJ. It’s more cost-effective to boost the weight of the protein with a water-based system compared to the cost of the protein, she notes.
