Saturday, September 28, 2013

To brine or not to brine...

One thing I have noticed about barbecue is that there is about 100 ways to get the same result. Everyone thinks their way works the best. The thing is, whatever works for you, works the best. By the way, I am referring to wet brining for the purpose of this blog.

To brine or not to brine has been as old an argument as whether or not to soak wood chips for smoking or cooking the brisket fat cap up or down.

Here is the answer to whether or not you should brine your meat: if you like how it comes out, then do it. It's as simple as that. Everyone has their own way of doing things.

We are getting to that time of year where the media and retailers make us start to think about the holidays coming up.

A very popular meat to smoke during the fall and holiday season is turkey. The brining question doesn't hold more true for this bird.

You see, brining is simply soaking in a salt water solution. As many know, salt is made up of sodium chloride. When meat is subjected to heat the moisture in it starts to evaporate. Sodium chloride binds with the meat proteins and keeps moisture from evaporating so quickly. Hence, salt can help keep meats juicier when barbequing. The problem is, salt draws moisture out of the meat so the natural meat juices are replaced by salt water which is not a good thing. The most simple brine solution is to take a 2 cup measuring cup and pour 1 cup of hot water into it. Then add enough salt to bring it to 1 1/2 cups. Then pour that salt water solution into one gallon of water. You need enough gallons of water to completely submerge whatever you are brining.

Salt not only helps tenderize the meat but adds to the flavor. Salt takes away any bitterness from a food that our taste buds pick up.

Many people like to add to their brining solution. Sugar, spices and using other liquids than water are wildly popular. Poultry does very well with sweet; so sugar and the use of orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc work great. We carry a prebrine solution by Urban Accents at the store. No hassle, no fuss, just follow the instructions to use the preblended brine. 

This takes all the guess work out of the process and make brining so simple. 

All this being said and done, people ask me what I prefer to do. Well, I actually prefer dry brining. Rubbing salt and spices on the meat without liquid. We carry so many rubs to choose from that there are just about endless possibilities. 

Stop in the store sometime and let us know which you prefer: to brine or not to brine. 

Dan
















Friday, September 6, 2013

New class added!!!

I was informed by a customer today that my blog was very outdated so here I am putting one up. :)

For this blog, I am really just informing everyone that Daren and I have added a new class to our repertoire at CBO.

This one is called the BRP class which stands for Brisket, Ribs and Pork Shoulder.

We will go over how to smoke the best brisket, ribs and pulled pork.

The class not only walks you through each of those items step by step but also will go over food safety, some handy accessories that will make your bbq life easier, and how to set up your grill/smoker to make these.

Our first one will be September 14th, Saturday, starting at 6:30 pm. I am hoping to keep these to about 1 1/2 hours.

If you are interested, call us at 719-465-1041 to get a seat before it fills up.

Dan
Colorado BBQ Outfitters
6850 N. Academy Blvd
CSC 80918