Injection v Brining

[kruizer]

Being a relative newbie to cooking meats, my question is, is brining the same as injecting the meat with flavored solutions?

 

[pops6927]

There is "flavor" brining - adding a flavorful solution to enhance the meat's flavor, either by soaking and/or injecting. Then there is "Curing" brining; adding a curing solution that will physically change the composition of the meat with the addition of sodium nitrite, either by soaking and/or injecting. The purpose of injecting is to get the ingredients into thicker parts of the meat, so it is working from the outside-in as well as the inside-out, in both cases.

 

[kruizer]

So, what you are saying is that there is no real difference when it comes to flavoring the meat except for time?

 

[ravenclan]

IMO , I brine all my poultry before a smoke. i have found out doing the brine helps to keep the meat moist ............but also i do inject when i do chicken wings or legs to get the flavor and the heat "inside" , like for hot wings.

Injecting meat to me is more of a , adding more flavor to the meat.

just my two cents .

 

[bregent]

So, what you are saying is that there is no real difference when it comes to flavoring the meat except for time?

No.
Injecting gets flavor compounds into the meat. If you just soak the meat in a solution, many flavors will not get into it because the molecules are too large to penetrate. Salt moves easily, other compounds not so much.

 

[daveomak]

IMO, Injecting is a much better alternative over brining for larger hunks of meat... If you know how much of what you want, in the meat, weigh out all the ingredients... dissolve in the carrier liquid and inject every 1 1/2 inches in a checkerboard pattern... I do that using 10% liquid based on the weight of the meat... usually I use no salt vegetable stock... I weigh out the appropriate amount of cure#1 also.... In 6 days, under refrigeration, the meat is fully cured and ready for the smoker...
If your meat has bone in, inject well around the bone...
An acceptable amount of salt is 2%.... sugar 1%.... cure 0.25%.... STPP 0.4-0.5%.... STPP is awesome for keeping meat moist... Vegetable stock adds a great flavor that disguises itself into.... "That's so good, what is it"...
Many on here have used the above recipe and say it's pretty good... I use it for pork and poultry... Turns out better than anything else I've tried...