Time To Cook

Let’s Create a Brine

First, we’ll discuss the steps. Then, later in the article, we’ll discuss the fine points of brining. I have two methods of brining. This one does not use heat. My other recipe does use heat to create the brine. I use the heat method when I am adding herbs, spices, or other ingredients I really want the brine to be saturated with. This is the easy, no-heat method of creating a brine.

Start with a bowl large enough for the piece of meat you are planning to brine. I use zipper bags to hold my brine for two reasons: 1) It keeps the brine from sloshing and spilling and 2) I don’t need as much brine to keep the meat submerged. Less brine means I used less beer. In this case, less beer will not make a difference other than the cost to make the brine (a factor that outweighs the cost of the zipper bags). And yes, I will reuse my bags if I am brining back-to-back.

Step 1: Zipper bags leak. Use a large container like a pot or bowl to let the zipper bag rest in.

Step 2: Add your beer to the bag. How much beer? 3-4 12oz beers will take care of a whole chicken. Just let the beer head up as you pour; we ain’t drinking it and it’ll flatten out anyway after we add that salt.

Use enough beer that will allow for the meat to be fully submerged when we wrap up this bag.

Step 3: Add your salt. Keep in mind that if you are using a smaller container, the beer will head up like a volcano and it may just erupt over.

Here’s your mixture: 1 tablespoon of salt (15-grams) to 12-ounces of beer. Keep in mind that not all salt weighs the same. And “heavier” salt does not mean saltier. If you stick with the same measurement each and every time you create a brine, you will fine-tune your unique ratio of beer to YOUR particular brand and grind of salt.

Step 4: Pick up the bag and mix things up a bit. Dissolve as much salt as possible. It’s okay if some is left at the bottom.

Step 5: Place the meat into the bag. It may not look submerged in that zipper bag, but that is okay. We’re going to wrap it up a bit.

Step 6: After the foam has subsided, get the air out of the bag and zip up the bag. The meat may not appear submerged right now, but it will after we wrap it up.

Step 7: Don’t roll the top of the bag down. We want the air out of the bag and the top of the zipper bag to remain standing up so the bag does not leak from the top.

Step 8: Loop the bag edges together. This will keep the pointed ends from drooping and leaking.

Step 9: Use the chip clip or something similar to keep the edges looped.

Step 10: Let the meat rest in the brine for as long as it takes (the rest of this article will attempt to clarify that). You can leave it at room temperature for a very short period of time, or in the refrigerator for 1-5 days; it depends on your end goals and the time you plan to cook.

Let’s talk a little more about the process. The rest of this article will explain some of the factors that you should consider when creating a brine and brining meat.

We are going to set the text of the steps in bold text to indicate the steps to follow with the specifics below each step. I want to keep it easy but also answer most every question that you may have about this recipe. There’s really only 10 steps with 1000 possible questions. If you have a question, feel free to contact me.

Step 1: Start a few days before you plan to cook the roast and brine Your Roast first. 

Here’s the link for Beer and Iron’s beer brine: https://beerandiron.com/2021/05/basic-beer-brine-recipe Here’s a link to Beer and Iron’s How to Brine Meat:  https://beerandiron.com/2022/12/how-to-beer-brine-meat.

This is a process I seldom skip. We pick up our roast for a particular day in the week and we brine that roast all the way up to the morning of the day we plan to cook the roast. You don’t have to brine the roast; it will be wonderful with a few added spices and herbs to the outside of the roast before searing. 

Step 2: Remove the roast from the refrigerator and out of the brine about 1-2 hours (or more) before you plan to start searing the roast. 

Some say that “warming up” a roast…or any meat…before cooking is pointless. Your goal is not to reach room temperature. Even if you keep your home at 68°F (20°C), a roast will likely only get to the 50°F (10°C) range (likely MUCH less). There seems to be little difference between a roast coming from 37°F (3°C) (refrigerator) to reach an internal temperature of around 50°F (10°C). But there is a notable difference in the cooking time. How long will it take for the internal temperature of a roast to rise from the 37°F (3°C) range to the 50°F (10°C) range in a 200°F (95°C) to 225°F (105°C) oven? We pull the roast out to “warm up” from the refrigerator temperature to whatever temperature it reaches by the time we are ready to cook; we really don’t care nor do we check the internal temperature of the roast before searing it. As they say, “It is what it is.” Basically, what ever temperature the roast has warmed up to is what it is. Needless to say, this is an optional step.

Step 3: After the roast has been out for a bit and you are ready to cook, place the cast iron Dutch oven in the oven at 450°F (235°C) to preheat the cast iron.

You can wipe a bit of oil onto the inside surface of the Dutch oven beforehand. If I am adding more oil to the Dutch oven for searing, I add the oil on the stove top. Let the Dutch oven preheat in the oven. This is an optional step but will have that cast iron sear-ready when you are ready to start cooking.

Step 4: Add oil to the outside of the roast. 

I usually add a bit of oil to the roast directly instead of the Dutch oven. This way the oil is at a minimum. Not for the calorie’s sake…no sir! I am liberal with my oil on the outside of the roast. Too much oil causes some issues. I want a good sear on the roast and I don’t want to fry the roast. Too much oil will take the roast longer to get that good sear and likely will start the roast to actually cook deeper into the meat. This is also considering how much fat you have on the particular roast you are cooking; that roast may produce its own cooking oil. This is especially true for pork roasts.

If you wish to add oil to the cast iron instead of the or in addition to the oil you added to the roast, it’s all good. Add away. But not too much. Also, if you plan to add oil to the Dutch oven when you sear the roast, add the oil on the stove top to the preheated Dutch oven. 

On the flip side, too little oil will not work either and likely cause the sear to look more like the meat has been burned. If you found you did not add enough oil, it’s okay to add more during the sear.

How much oil depends on the size of the roast and the size of the Dutch oven. There should be oil surrounding the roast that is touching the hot cast iron and you should see that “sizzling” effect all around the roast’s searing surface.

Depending on your stove’s burner top, you may find that parts of the Dutch oven are not as hot as other parts. Gas stoves with round burners may create a ring of hotter cast iron with a less-than-desirable sear to the outer sides and the center of the roast. Just move the roast around as you sear the sides. AND, it is okay to return a side that is not seared per your liking a second time.

Chef Tip:

You may find that the first side of the roast that you seared just didn’t look as good as the last side you are searing. That’s common because the first side is usually seared at the point where there is more standing oil in the Dutch oven than when you finally reach the last side. If after searing all the “sides” of the roast, there is an area you’d like to sear a second time, that is perfectly okay. The video shows the meat after that first turn. Notice subsequent turns and how the sear meat looks “more seared.”

Step 5: When the Dutch oven is very hot (at or around 450°F (235°C)), place the preheated Dutch oven over a medium-high heat and let the pot start to show wisps of smoke. 

The Dutch oven will likely have wisps of smoke right out of the oven and be ready to sear. Keep the heat going by placing that preheated and very hot cast iron over the heat of the stovetop. 

Remember, hot cast iron looks just like cold cast iron!

If you wish to add more oil to the pot, this is the time to add that oil. Let that new oil start to show wisps of smoke before adding the roast. The oil will cool the pot just a bit and you need some time…just a bit… to get the oil up to temperature. This will not take long in a preheated Dutch oven.

Step 6: Set the roast into the hot Dutch oven. Let the roast sear on each of its (imaginary) 6 sides for about 2-4 minutes (or a bit longer even) on each side. 

Use your vent hood on high during this process. There will be smoke…and likely your home’s fire alarms will go off. You’ve been informed. 

This process will take about 8 to 24 minutes. Roasts are irregular in shape. But, it’s easy to imagine the roast like a cube with 6 sides. Some roast (like tri tip) may look like a “tube” with only 4 sides. Sear each side in that wicked hot cast iron for 2-4 minutes per side to form that seared crust-like surface on the outside. Patience is the key. It’s like watching water boil; 2-4 minutes seems like a long time. Searing times are only a suggestion; sear by how the roast looks and not how long it’s been searing.

We use wooden utensils during the searing process and use them to aid in positioning the roast in the pot. Especially when the roast is on its thinner sides; it tends to fall over. I use my wooden utensils as a sort of wedge. I can leave them in the pot with the roast without the handles getting too hot…but don’t underestimate that wooden handle…check it before grabbing it. They will get hot when over the edge of that Dutch oven. 

Pre-searing is a debated process. It’s how we prepare our roasts. We have tried both ways to create a roast…pre searing as well as straight-in-the-pot-then-into-the-oven. We prefer the seared method. I know others who prefer otherwise. There’s no debate here from me; to each his or her own. To sear or not to sear is like debating favorite colors…it’s subjective through and through. I like to sear the roast for the flavor my pallet prefers. I know some pretty awesome folks that create some pretty awesome roasts without pre searing. It’s your roast and your call. 

Step 7: Once all the sides of the roast are nice and seared, turn off the heat. Lift the roast out and place a trivet in the bottom of the Dutch oven and place the roast on that trivet.

This too is an optional step. I use a trivet with the expectation that the roast will produce broth and fat to the bottom of the Dutch oven during cooking. If you add vegetables to the pot, you will likely create even more broth with the vegetables contributing to the liquid-deliciousness. I have had roast that produced no broth and other roasts that were swimming in broth when we pulled it from the oven. 

That broth is special stuff so don’t toss it out. But I don’t want my roast to be too deep in the broth while it is cooking. I like my roast to be moist but not dripping. The “moisture” associated with a “moist roast” will also come with the broken-down collagen and other connective tissues as well as the broth that remains in the roast itself. The broth that has collected in the pot is my future soup base or a base for my gravy.

Some folks will use the vegetables as a “trivet.” And that’s okay; we’ve done this many times and it works well.

By the way, we seldom add vegetables with our roast; there are some logistics to adding vegetables. The long cook time may result in either dry, rubber-like or overly soft textures of the vegetables. When we do add vegetables, it’s usually for flavor such as onions and garlic. You could add the vegetables during the middle of the cooking process. Plan on being at the ready with those vegetables and don’t leave the lid off for too long when you are adding the vegetables during the middle or some time during the cook. To add or not to add, It’s totally up to you.

When we do add onions and garlic, here’s how we do it: 

1) After the roast has seared, remove the roast from the Dutch oven and set to the side (use the upside-down lid to hold on to it for a bit). Toss in a whole onion that has been chopped. And, if you’d like, add a bunch of garlic. Don’t peel the garlic cloves; just smash them and toss them in. 

2) The oil that is left over from searing the roast is already in the pot, but if you are lacking oil, add a tablespoon or two and let it heat back up a bit.

3) In the pot along are the bits and pieces from the roast that seared off. These bits and pieces of seared meat are called the Fond. And the act of sautéing the onions and garlic will break these pieces off and likely bring that Dutch oven’s bottom down to a smooth surface (in a nicely pre seasoned Dutch oven). That is called Deglazing. Did you learn a new word or two?

Deglazing also refers to cleaning, “to add liquid to a hot pot that makes scraping the fond off easier.” Unless you really burned your bits and pieces to a crisp (black and no longer considered food), then we will not waste that fond; it’s FULL of flavor. If you burned the fond, wipe the burned pieces out and toss it.

Once the onions and garlic are sautéed (just leave all that garlic skin in there), place the trivet (or not) right on top of those sautéed onions and garlic. Return the roast to the pot and onto that trivet.

Step 8: Cover the seared and trivet-ed roast with the cast iron Dutch oven’s lid. 

We are not roasting the roast; we are essentially brazing the roast. Open roasting this roast at that low temperature for this long will produce a large jerky-like ball of meat. We need that moisture to stay in that pot. And a Dutch oven lid has the weight to hold in that moisture and almost (almost) work in a way similar to a pressure cooker (really, nowhere near a pressure cooker but the concept is there, right?).

Some of the cast iron Dutch oven lids have what’s called wings to the lids. And the Dutch oven pot itself has a pour, spout-like area between the two handles. Make sure the wings cover the little spout-like area, so the moisture does not steam-out and dry your roast. You may end up with less than a half-pint of broth or you may end up with more than a quart. That broth is what really helps the roast braise and not roast…almost like BROASTING! My wife came up with that word, “Broasting.” It’s really not braising and really not roasting. We put our roast in dry and it produces its own liquid. Broasting! I love it!!

Step 9: Place the covered pot into the preheated 200°F (95°C) to 225°F (105°C) oven. 

250°F (120°C) is pushing it. I’ve even cooked at 175°F (80°C) (yes, I have!). Beef, pork, and lamb are considered done at 145° F (62.8° C) (being more exact here with my Celsius). But we are NOT going to check the temperature of that roast. We don’t care when it gets to 145° F (62.8° C). We’ll push forward for about 3-6 hours (I’ve gone for as long as 12 hours on a rare occasion). 

Step 10: After 3-6 hours or longer, pull the pot from the oven and have a fork at the ready. Insert the fork into the roast. If the fork enters the roast with little effort, the roast is ready.

It should be “fork tender.” Take the fork and pull at the meat a bit. Does it flake away with the grain? It’s done.

Roast cooked to a fork tender state will not slice like a roasted roast. If you use even a very sharp knife, the roast will fold like a deck of cards being pushed around by the palm of your hand.

The meat can be pulled apart using two forks (pulled beef or pulled pork) or can be chopped up a bit into finer pieces against the grain.

The roast is ready!

Step 11: The broth. Remove the trivet from the pot (if you used one). Place a colander over a heat-safe bowl sitting on a heat-safe surface. Strain the broth into that bowl. Then, pour the strained broth from the bowl into a heat-safe container like canning jars (always a great storage container). Refrigerate if you are planning to use at a later date.

If you’ve added onions and garlic to the recipe, they will look very over-done. And that’s okay. They have rendered their flavors and done their jobs; leave them in the colander and toss them (this is why we don’t worry about removing the garlic skin). After removing the roast and the trivet, pour over the remaining contents through the strainer over the bowl. The pot and the liquid will be hot.

Strain out the liquid and then pour over into a heat-safe storage container. We use wide-mouth canning jars and a canning funnel. I like the wide-mouth variety because it’s easier to get that fat out later (for another recipe and not for the trash). FYI: Using a canning jar is not considered canning. Store this broth in the refrigerator. Use your good judgment as to how long to store the broth before using it or tossing it.

Don’t pour the broth down the drain of your sink. That fat will solidify at room temperature and WILL eventually clog your plumbing over time. Even the containers we use to store the broth and fat are wiped out with a paper towel before washing those containers. Hey! Did you know that oil-covered paper towels make for GREAT fire starters?

The broth will have a layer of fat that will separate to the top. PERFECT! Let the jars of broth cool a bit and then place them into the refrigerator on a heat-safe surface to protect your glass refrigerator shelves from that hot jar’s bottom.

Later, the fat will (more likely than not) separate to a solid. The broth underneath will likely jell-up like Jell-O. Sometimes (depending on the roast’s collagen), the broth will remain liquid. Later we will use this fat and broth to create other recipes. For example, we may use the fat to create a roux and the broth as the soup or stew base. Maybe we’ll create a gravy.

That broth is liquid gold! Don’t toss it.

Don’t leave the broth in the pot to strain later. The fat will cool and start to coagulate and will not “flow” like liquid. The fat will stick to anything left in the bottom of that Dutch oven. Strain while hot and put into heat-safe containers while still warm. If you wish to remove and throw away the fat; no worries. After the fat has solidified in the container in the refrigerator (I call this the “fat cap”), you can just break it off later and toss the chunks. But not me! I use that fat for things like sautéing and creating roux for other recipes.

Ready to Cook

Step 1: Place the cutting board out on the counter top.

Step 2: Start with the chicken breast’s tapered end (the thinner end) to your dominant side. I am right-handed; I “point” the chicken breast to my right side. 

Step 3: Using the tenderizing needle, start on the thin end and “drive” the spikes into the meat and through to the cutting board. Work in a side to side motion and overlap the areas you’ve started to tenderize by ½ the width of the needle tenderizer.

Step 4: When you have reached the thicker areas of the chicken breast meat, your needle tenderizer may “stick” and “pull” the meat upward. If this happens, back up a bit and re-tenderize a thinner area as you move back forward.

A few considerations before step five:

As we thin the chicken breast, the meat will “spread” out and become wider. We need to “coach” this by first using the needle tenderizer and then the tenderizing mallet. The “holes” the needle tenderizer creates will help the tenderizing mallet from “tearing” the meat up too much. 

Some tearing is inevitable and should be expected. The meat has been hit with metal tools and the tenderized meat will not “look” as pretty raw as it does before the tenderizing process. After it cooks, it’ll look as “pretty” as tenderized meat and taste MUCH better.

The little holes in the meat from the needle tenderizer will move and even “clip” some of the meat fibers; it will start to thin down with the needle tenderizer. Then, the tenderizing hammer can “spread the meat out even more.

Step 5: When you have gotten to the thickest part of the chicken breast, start moving the needle tenderizer in a circular motion to “press” the meat out (it’s got to go somewhere, right?).

Step 6: Eventually the needle tenderizer will enter and exit the meat without much resistance. That’s the indication that it’s time to get the tenderizing mallet out.

Step 7: Using the smaller, finer spike-side of the mallet, start from the thinner area of the meat and work up toward the thicker area. Overlap the hammer strikes by ½ of the width of the hammer.

Step 8: Once you reach the thicker parts of the chicken, start the circular pattern of tenderizing to finish spreading the chicken out.