Ingredients:
- 3 quarts of water (approx.)
- 1 to 1.5 quarts of ice
- A couple of 4-inch sprigs of thyme
- A couple of 4-inch sprigs of rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of course ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
- 8-10 garlic cloves smashed with the side of a knife to release lots of flavor.
- 1 cup of kosher salt
Directions:
Add 1 quart of the water, the rosemary and thyme, black pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic into a medium sized pot. Cover the pot and bring it just to boiling and then turn off the heat. Let the ingredients steep in the water for 20-30 minutes before removing the cover. Put the “tea” in the fridge to cool down. I recommend giving it several hours at least but overnight is best.
If you procrastinated, don’t worry.. I have your back. Simply pour the hot brine through a sieve into a gallon sized pitcher. Add about a quart of ice and stir the ice and brine mixture to cool it down.
Add more ice if you need to to cool it on down.
Finally, to the pre-cooled brine mixture, add enough cold water to bring it up to a gallon.. you should have a total of 1 gallon of liquid in the pitcher.
Add 1 cup of kosher salt to this liquid and stir gently for a minute or two until the salt is completely dissolved.
This, my friends, is your brine.
