Kitchen Essential

Strong and weak brines

My own preference is for a fairly strong brine (80 - 90%) in which the fish, fowl or flesh is left for a matter of hours rather than days, but there is an alternative method, involving the use of weaker brines, plus sugar and in some cases other ingredients. The material is left in these weaker brines often for a period of several days, and though it is not usual to brine fish in this manner, the method has a definite place in the curing of certain meats and fowl which, owing to their age or species, are likely to be very tough.

Salt has a hardening effect upon the muscular tissue of mammalian and avian flesh, but sugar tenderizes, so a tough bird such an aged goose, pheasant or turkey could benefit from treatment in sugar-added brine. Continue Reading »

Red and roe venison can, for all practical purposes, be dealt with together. The treatment is identical, the only differenc_es being in brining and cooking times on account of the differences in size and weight. Only the haunches and saddles are suitable for smoking as the more frontal areas have n_ot sufficient depth of flesh; in fact the saddle of a roe has only just enough depth of flesh to render smoking a viable proposition.

Venison should have hung a minimum of 1 week before brining, but on no account should it be allowed to go ‘high’. A haunch of roe will require brining for 3 hours in 80% brine, a saddle of roe 2 hours, whereas a haunch of red deer will require 6 hours in the brine and a saddle from the same animal will need 31/2 hours in the pickle. I am assuming that the red deer venison will come from ordinary hill beasts, and it is surely a matter of commonsense that a haunch from one of those monsters from Thetford Chase would require considerably longer in the brine. Continue Reading »

Hamburgers

Equal quantities of good quality beef and pork should be minced and bound with egg yolk and basic seasoning to form cakes. These should be placed on a wire rack, with a dripping tin underneath, in a smoke oven pre-heated to 200 - 225^° F. There should be plenty of dense smoke as the hamburgers will only be in the oven for about 30 minutes. They can either be left in the same position for the whole process, or can be turned halfway through. Continue Reading »