To brine or not to brine

You can brine if you would like , It helps the moisture and to me improves the taste

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

I wouldn't bother --I rarely brine. If you're worried about them drying out, wrap them in bacon and smoke with a water pan. Nothing against brining, mind you; brings some different results (and good ones!).

I never brine, except Salmon, but if Eman & Al, and others (Eric) say it adds flavor, you can bank on it.

Bear

I always brine my chops, I have actually done a side by side, from the same package comparison and there is a big difference. I like to use the really thick, like 3" thick chops. I brine in a salt/sugar brine overnight, then in buttermilk for atleast 4 hours, sometimes overnight for that too. Never mushy from the extra brine. I also like to stuff them with an apple/cranberry stuffing. Yum. Gotta get on that, thanks for the reminder.

I jumped into this one a little late, but, I've been going a bit on the wild side lately with brines. If it's fresh/un-enhanced pork, you will notice a big difference in the finished product. The flavors you can impart into the meat makes for some great experimenting, and, if you happen to have a piece come out a bit overdone, the brine can help it to hold onto more moisture and be somewhat more forgiving. I have a second round of brined pork butts finishing up right now (these are truely awesome). Last days off work was loin back ribs...will do these again, too. I've brined bone-in and boneless chops...EXCELLENT! Well, if it's brined pork, I can pretty much be assured that it will be an even better dining experience than I/we expect, and the family raves about it. Brining is pretty simple and easy to do, and doesn't take much extra prep time. I have actually mixed up brines to help speed up thawing, and that was where I really began to see the resulting benefits. I brine my fresh pork every chance I get nowdays.

It wasn't that long ago when I was skepticle about brining...I came, I saw, I'm a convert. Like Squrrel says...good stuff. Hmm...never thought about buttermilk after the salt brine...I bet that draws a bit of the brining salt back out, plus the enzymes and elevated acidity would create a marinade...very interesting. I bet that's some wicked good eats, Squirrel!

Brines can be a simple or as complex as you like, and I've played with several different bases for savories...it all depends on what I'm really looking for in the flavor profile, but the list of possibilities is limited only by your imagination.

Eric

EDIT: just found my latest brined chops thread...HERE

If all these different opinions didn't confuse you here's some more from our handy dandy search tool.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/search.php?search=To+brine+or+not+to+brine+  

Myself,,,I brine sometimes. Poultry most of the time. Pork half the time. Beef never.

  Craig

I overnight brine my chops as well..they turn out great...I use a mix of pineapple juice, soy sauce, and some other nice spices and seasonings...and let the chops brine overnight....they are SOOOOOO good.

Dan