Roasted turkey breast, sautéed pork chops, and stir-fried shrimp all tend to suffer a common fate when they’re cooked even a few minutes longer than necessary: they get dry and tough. Actually, any kind of meat or fish will taste like shoe leather if it’s severely overcooked, but turkey, pork, and shrimp are particularly vulnerable because they’re so lean. Luckily, there’s a simple solution (literally) for this problem. Soaking these types of leaner meats in a brine—a solution of salt and water—will help ensure moister, juicier results.

For more turkey know-how, see our21 Tips for Better Turkeyand visit感恩节晚餐指南to watch videos demonstrating how to brine a turkey using a湿溴法和dry-brine method.

How a brine works

当您烹饪任何类型的肌肉纤维时，不可避免地会损失水分。热使纤维中的原始单个盘绕蛋白（技术术语是具有角化的），然后相互结合，导致一些收缩和水分损失。（顺便说一句，酸，盐甚至空气对蛋白质的变性作用与热量相同。）通常，肉在烹饪过程中损失其体重的30％。但是，佐治亚大学酿酒专家Estes Reynolds博士说，如果您首先将肉浸入盐水中，则可以将这种水分损失降低到15％。

布林以多种方式增强了多汁。首先，肌肉纤维在启动期间只是吸收液体。在烹饪过程中，其中一些液体会丢失，但是由于肉在烹饪开始时更加多汁，因此最终变得更加多汁。我们可以通过在奶油前后称重液体来验证液体肉和鱼类吸收液体。盐肉通常比奶油之前重6至8％ - 摄取水的证明。

奶油增加多汁的另一种方法是溶解一些蛋白质。温和的盐溶液实际上可以溶解肌肉纤维中的某些蛋白质，从而将其从固体转变为液体。

在启动过程中的所有工作过程中，最重要的是盐的结实蛋白质的能力。溶解的盐会导致肌肉纤维中的一些蛋白质放松和膨胀。当他们放松时，将蛋白质单位捆绑在一起的债券是束中断的。盐水中的水直接与这些蛋白质结合，但更重要的是，当肉煮熟和蛋白质结合在一起时，水会被困在这些蛋白质之间。无论如何，其中一些都会在烹饪过程中发生，但是盐水会放松更多的蛋白质并暴露更多的粘结部位。只要您不煮肉，就会导致蛋白质粘结收紧并挤出很多被困的液体，这些天然汁就会保留。

Brining basics

How long to brine depends on the size and type of meat you’ve got. Larger meats like a whole turkey require much more time for the brine to do its thing. Small pieces of seafood like shrimp shouldn’t sit in a brine for more than half an hour. In fact, any meat that’s brined for too long will dry out and start to taste salty as the salt ends up pulling liquid out of the muscle fibers. (Be sure not to brine meats that have already been brined before you buy them, such as “extra-tender” pork, which has been treated with sodium phosphate and water to make it juicier.)

Brining guidelines

任何瘦的干肉都是燃烧的理想候选者。我最喜欢的一些是虾，鱼片，鸡肉，整只鸡和猪排。在燃烧过程中将所有的肉和鱼冷藏，然后将其煮好，不要煮熟。如果您需要更多的液体来完全淹没肉，请进行更多测量并添加，以及比例的盐。

您可以在盐水中添加干草药，例如百里香，牛至或鼠尾草，或直接在肉上擦拭以获得更多的味道。您还可以用另一种液体（例如土耳其或猪盐水）补充或代替水。许多盐水包括糖，可以作为味道增强剂。但是根据雷诺兹博士的说法，糖在多汁方面没有技术功能。盐是关键成分。

The chart below gives salt concentration and brining time for various foods. Concentrations listed are for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. For table salt, cut salt amounts by 1/2; for Mortons kosher salt, cut amounts by 1/4.

拥有正确的盐浓度的盐水至关重要，特别是对于漫长的启动时间。小巧的肉类（如鱼片或虾）可以承受浓缩的盐水，因为它们只会浸入半小时或更短的时间。但是对于更长的盐水，雷诺兹博士建议每加仑的水使用9.6盎司的盐。每加仑的水一杯盐含量很少会使您在范围内。

如果您使用的是犹太盐，则需要按数量使用更多。This is because kosher salt has larger crystals and is bulkier than table salt. I actually prefer using kosher salt in brines because it dissolves much faster, and it comes in nice big cartons. Using Diamond Crystal kosher salt, you’ll need 2 cups per gallon of liquid. Morton’s kosher salt is denser, and you only need 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups per gallon of liquid to get the brine concentration that Dr. Reynolds recommends.

Any food-safe nonreactive container is fine for brining. For brining turkeys, I use a plastic turkey cooking bag that will completely enclose the turkey; the meat needs to be completely submerged. I put the turkey in the bag and then set the whole thing in a large bowl. I add water to the bag with a measuring cup, keeping track of how much I’ve added. Then I add the correct amount of salt. If I’m brining a familiar turkey size and I know the approximate amount of salt, I just rub the salt directly on the turkey, inside and out, before adding the water. I put the bowl in the refrigerator (all meats should be refrigerated during brining) and let the meat soak for 12 to 24 hours. Discard the brine after use; for safety reasons, it should never be reused.

How to brine your Thanksgiving turkey

詹妮弗·阿门特劳（Jennifer Armentrout）

奶油是保持像火鸡这样的瘦肉的好方法。以下是这样做的方法：

Remove the neck, giblets, and tail (save these for stock) and any plastic bits like leg connectors or pop-up timers from the turkey. Rinse the turkey well and put it in two doubled-up turkey-size oven bags. Rub 1 cup of kosher salt on the turkey inside and out. Pour in 1 gallon of cool water and close up the inner bag as tightly as possible with a twist tie. Secure the outer bag with another tie, and gently shake the whole thing around a bit to wet all the salt. Put the bagged turkey in a roasting pan (to catch any leaks) and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, flipping the turkey once or twice. Rinse the turkey well and pat dry with paper towels. (To roast the turkey, try这个简单的方法).

还有一个注意：如果您购买了犹太洁食火鸡，则无需自己盐水，因为它在加工过程中已经泡了。

无论您要燃烧什么，请记住将肉或鱼塞满，以去除任何表面盐。适当的泡肉不应该味道咸，只是非常多汁，风味很好。但请减少食谱中要求的盐量；也就是说，在您可以品尝并判断的时候，不要添加盐。