Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with…
How I create the perfect roasted chicken each and every time. It’s going to be crispy, it’s going to be juicy, and it’s going to be evenly roasted.
The essence of this recipe is very simple: One 12-ounce beer and 1-Tablespoon of salt. However, I will not leave you with that. There’s a few questions you have; I am sure. But, for now, the simple recipe is: Take a 12-ounce beer, heat it up, add 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) of salt, let it cool, and brine your meat with the cooled beer brine.
Above is a quick video to show you an example of a 32-ounce batch of brine with herbs and garlic. The available ingredients in your kitchen is the limit of your brine varieties. Think about what flavor goes well with the meat you are brining and get a little crazy with it.
However, my suggestion is to get the brining down first. Make sure your SALT is perfect as you subjectively feel it’s been “Salted to Taste.”
Here’s a link to my salt suggestions: https://beerandiron.com/2022/11/salt-to-taste
Take good notes as you try this process. You’ll end up modifying your own brining process. This article is ONLY A STARTING POINT.
There are four factors that will affect the saltiness of your final, cooked meat:
I am going to tell you this: if you’ve never brined, you will end up with an over-salted piece of meat as you go through the trial-and-error process.
You will learn how much is too much and how much is just right…for your taste preference. How much salt and how much time are your factors that will make it or break it. If you break it, no worries. Make a soup with it and let the salt in the meat infuse into the broth. Definitely don’t throw it out. I’ve even taken over-salted roasts and made a delicious chili out of it by adding less or no additional salt to the recipe. Just keep on keeping on and you’ll find the right mixture of salt and time.
You will need 3-5 items. I’ve placed links at the bottom of this article if you need to find these items:
When I create a brine, I don’t create the volume of brine that most water brine recipes calls for. I have a small sauce pot I use to create my brine and it works great.
However (and wash my mouth out with soap), but creating your brine in a stainless steel pot is okay. Your cast iron pot’s seasoning will thank you for that.
We do use our cast iron to create the brine. Expect a film of very little oil to form on the top of the beer brine. It’s A-OK.
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 uses heat. My other recipe does not 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. The cold method is the easy, no-heat method of creating a brine…easier, yes. Better? Not really; they both have their place.
First, let’s get the how-to covered and then we’ll discuss the why-to. If you need to know more about brine and the brining process, I’ll offer that information later. I kinda figured you are here for the how-to more so than the why-to.
This brine recipe is a template only. Once you get the basic brining method down, then you can use this template recipe to create 1000s of different brine “flavors” or varieties.
This recipe will create a 36-ounce batch of brine. It will be very simple and will include garlic and a few herbs. This is not a recipe; it’s a TEMPLATE. The “flavor” of your brine depends on what you are cooking.
If you are only creating a beer brine without adding anything else, I suggest you create your brine using my “cold” method. Here’s the link: https://beerandiron.com/2023/01/how-to-beer-brine-whole-chicken.
The video presents this recipe with 36-ounces of brine created WITH herbs and garlic. All in all, 36-ounce brines are relatively small amounts compared to most brine recipes. We’re using beer to create these brines and using a zipper bag to reduce the needed volume of brine to keep the meat submerged.
Before you get started, you will need to prepare for these things:
Step 1: Pour two 12-ounce beers (24-ounces) into a sauce pot or other container large enough to hold the brine you are going to create. We will be heating only a portion of the brine. The rest of the beer will be added to the brine later and will work to cool the brine. We’ll add all the salt initially to the pot of hot beer on the stove. The cold beer we’ll add later will balance the brine to the 12 ounce to 1 tablespoon ratio.
Step 2: Slowly add your salt to the warm beer. WATCH THE FOAM! We will add 3 tablespoons to this simmering beer. Later, we will add the third 12-ounce beer to cool the brine down a bit.
Step 3: Heat the beer over a medium low heat and until just a bit of steam is rising from the beer.
Step 4 : When the brine is hot and simmering is the point where you will add the herbs and spices if you were planning to do so. The simmering liquid will “draw” the flavors from the herbs, spices, fruit, or other ingredients you want to add to your brine.
Step 5: Let the brine simmer until the salt has dissolved completely. If you have added herbs and spices, you can let the brine simmer a bit longer. You’ll lose some of the volume to steam and alcohol gas-off. Remember, alcohol has a lower boiling point than water. Consider a beer with a 6% ABV also known as alcohol by volume 6% of the volume will be gone pretty quickly. We’ll top this off to 36-ounces later.
Step 6: Once your brine has been simmering for a bit and you are pleased with the way it is turning out, remove the brine from the heat. We transfer the brine to another container to cool the brine. Cast iron takes a bit of time to cool down and transferring the brine helps it cool quicker.
We are going to add the third 12 ounce beer to another container. We are going to add that 12 ounce beer to a larger Pyrex container. That Pyrex can handle that hot brine. Take that third 12 ounce beer and add it to the Pyrex first and before adding the hot brine to that Pyrex.
Step 7: Add the hot brine with the herbs to the container with the cold beer. You can just leave it out to cool or speed up the cooling by placing the brine in the refrigerator. It will still be HOT even after adding the hot brine to the cold beer in the Pyrex.
Check the volume. Do you still have 36-ounces? Do you need to add any beer or water to bring the volume up to 36-ounces?
Step 8: Let the brine cool completely. Do not add the meat to the still-warm brine. You can refrigerate the brine a bit to cool it more. Even with the addition of the third cold beer, the brine will still be very warm.
NOTE: Some folks add ice to cool the brine more rapidly. And, that is A-OK. However, note the amount of ice you’ve added. You will need to make sure that your overall ratio is 1 tablespoon of salt to 12 ounces of liquid.
Step 9: Once the brine is cool, place the meat in a zipper bag large enough to accommodate both the volume of brine and the size of the meat you’re going to brine. Then, pour the cool brine over the meat.
Let the meat brine for as long you feel it needs to brine.
Step 10: Wrap up that meat-in-the-brine and let the meat brine in the refrigerator for as long as you feel it needs to brine. And, after those hours or days…it’s time to cook. It’s that easy.
I have a few how-to cook the brined meat “suggestions.” You can find those links on the website. There’s a recipe for how to cook a whole chicken, a coffee-crusted pork roast, and one to describe how to low-and-slow a beef roast. There’s also a link on how to salt a dish or a recipe. Don’t you struggle with those recipes that say, “salt to taste?”
Let’s talk a little more about the process. The rest of this podcast will explain some of the factors that you should consider when creating a brine and brining meat.
https://beerandiron.com/2023/01/how-to-beer-brine-whole-chicken
https://beerandiron.com/2023/02/beef-brined-coffee-crusted-pork-roast
https://beerandiron.com/2023/01/low-and-slow-roast
https://beerandiron.com/2022/11/salt-to-taste
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.
Keep the beer mild and keep it flavorful. And, consider the meat that you are brining. A whole chicken may not turn out well if brined in a deep, dark peanut butter stout. But, pork ribs ROCK a peanut butter stout brine. Look for beer “flavors” that go well with the meat you are preparing. I love a good citrus taste with my chicken and fish. Consider a nice citrusy IPA or a lager for these meats. A good stout or porter will work well with beef and pork.
Keep this in mind: A beer that pairs well with a meal may not work well when cooking with. Let me say that again but in a different way. You’ve heard about wine paring and even beer pairing. Beer that pairs well with a particular dish may NOT be the right beer to brine or cook that same dish with.
I love craft beer but keep mainstream, large brewery brews in my beer fridge at all times. Nope. I am not a beer snob; not at all. I learned this a long time ago: keep familiar brews in my beer fridge like Rainier, Corona, and even DosXX (to name a few). You’ll be surprised how your guest will pass on your $4, $6, and even your $10 cans or bottles of craft beer for a $1 tried-and-true, big-brewery brew. Craft beer is sometimes a gamble; dedicated Coors Lite drinkers know this and stick with what they know and enjoy; nothing wrong with that at all!
These beers may be less expensive, and some may consider these beers to have less flavor than a craft beer, but they have a perfect flavor for our brining needs. A great craft beer for drinking may not be a great beer for brining.
Your first few brining attempts should start with a simple lager or something mild. And, once you get the saltiness / time-in-the-brine down to meet your palate’s preferences, then experiment with the beer.
Not to beat the “dead horse” but I have been known to ruin a nice pot of gumbo after brining the chicken in a pumpkin beer that I was trying to “use up.” There’s something that just didn’t quite set right with a gumbo and that mild but distinct pumpkin aftertaste. On the flip side, I created a pumpkin chili with those beers and…WOW!
For this recipe, we will refer to 12-ounces as our liquid-to-salt ratio. Beer is commonly sold in 12-ounce cans or bottles. And YES! There are many other sizes. How about those nice 16-ounce cans and bottles? Yes, there are other sizes. As a reminder, here are the measurement conversions.
1 Cup = 8 Ounces
12-Ounce Beer = 1.5 Cups
16-Ounce Beer = 2 Cups
24-Ounce Beer = 3 Cups
3 Teaspoons = Tablespoon
Most brine recipes call for 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup of liquid. My recipe is different:
1 tablespoon of salt (15-grams) to 12-ounces of beer.
You can get more marbles in the same jar you’d stuff golf balls in; it’s true! Likewise, a pinch of fine-grind salt like table salt may taste more salty than an equal pinch of coarse grind kosher salt (usually and maybe with a few caveats). With a fine grind of salt, there’s more salt in that pinch than coarse grind salt. Less is better to start with. Weight is a good way to measure the salt. Do you have a scale? They are pretty cheap. Here’s one (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3iUDTxf
1 tablespoon of salt (15-grams) to 12-ounces of beer.
I prefer a nice course-ground salt. It’s what I am used to and can “eye-ball it” better when I am just adding to my palm to toss into dishes. Give me that white table salt and I will use it at the table if I need to, but I always cook with a coarse-ground salt. You’ll often see it labeled as Kosher Salt which really has nothing to do with a Jewish Diet but was used to “Kosher meat” “meaning to remove the blood from meat, so it’s really koshering salt. Certain salt companies labeled the boxes of this coarse salt kosher salt rather than koshering salt, and the name stuck.”
If you are using a fine-grind salt and you don’t have a scale, no worries! Just cut back a bit on the salt and see how the final flavor comes out. If it’s just right then you’ve found YOUR recipe. If it’s not salty enough, then next time you can add more.
Do you remember that word, “osmosis?” Sure, you do; you were an awesome middle school student! Nonetheless, let’s review.
If you take a salty solution and put something with less salt in the solution, the two will begin the process of equalizing.
If you take a salty beer brine and add a piece of meat like chicken with less salt into the higher-salt beer brine, the differing salt-containing sources (the high-salt beer brine vs the low salt chicken meat) begin the process of equalizing with the brine being “pulled” into the lower-salt chicken meat. This will, in turn, will draw the beer and herb flavor into the meat and infuse flavor and moisture into your meat. The flavor of the beer and any added spices or herbs will “follow” the salt into the depths of the meat along with additional moisture.
Brilliant!
When the brine is “pulled” into the meat (especially a tight, lean cut), it causes the meat to swell and begin the process of “denaturing” the proteins. Don’t let that word, “denature” set you off. That is the essence of what cooking does to meat. An example of denaturing is when the white of an egg that starts off clear and then turns white during cooking. That’s denaturing. That’s cooking.
When we cook meats, a lot of moisture is lost while cooking and some ends up out of the meat and into the bottom of the pan (we love the broth it produces but would prefer that broth to stay in the meat and keep it juicy). Cooking often results in less moisture and therefore less juicy meat…and we all like juicy, right? The essence of brining is to add additional moisture to the meat to offset the moisture lost during cooking.
Salt is not the only thing that “goes into” the brining meat. There’s some serious math to prove this but we’re going to keep it simple.
The molecule of salt is made of sodium chloride or “NaCl.” If I remember my days when I was in Nursing School, I know that Na+ is a positively charged ion of sodium and Cl- is a negatively charged ion of chloride. That “+” and “-“ are what “glues” the atoms together to make the molecule. A molecule is an electrically neutral group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds and in this case, the salt we are using, is made of an atom of sodium and chloride.
Whew. This is about to make sense. When you mix water and salt, it will take nine water molecules (H2O) to dissolve one Na+ ion and one Cl− ion. To put it simply, one salt will have nine water piggy-backers.
When the less-salty meat is soaking in the salty brine, the salt will “move into the meat” as it tries to balance the salt between the meat and the brine. When the salt “moves into the meat” it takes with it the piggybacking moisture (the beer) along with the other flavors (any added spices or herbs).
Really and truly, when you are cooking, you are performing chemistry magic. Cooking is when you change the molecular properties of raw foods. Cooking changes these molecules into something else and that’s what causes foods to taste good. And, when we combine different foods together and we eat those foods, we are triggering and teasing biological processes to tell our brains…this is yummy. Not only yummy but comfortable. Cooking also changes the texture of foods. Taste and feel are what makes or breaks a meal.
For the most part, the sky’s the limit. You can add sugar, herbs, and even fruit like lemons. During the warming process, a lot of the essence of the additions will infuse in the beer brine and therefore “find” their way into the meat adding a whole layer of additional flavor!
Many of the recipes on Beer and Iron will have a specific brine recipe that will be referred to. However, for the most part: ONE 12-ounce beer to ONE (1) tablespoon of salt.
Beer is fizzy due to the carbon dioxide that is “trapped” or dissolved in the beverage. When that trapped gas finds a place to attach (also known as a ‘nucleation’ site), it forms a bubble. It’s kinda like when you put your finger in a soda from a soda fountain that fizzed up too much and you’re trying to get every drop you can into that cup you are paying for (yeah…I was that kid).
Salt has many, many edges; it’s a crystal shard. And there are countless numbers of these little crystal shards in that tablespoon of salt. With all those little crystals with all their little nucleation sites, the carbon dioxide (gas) will attach to these sites and a HUGE HEAD WILL FORM almost instantly. Yes! Almost like that barkeep who needs to tilt the glass more when he’s pouring your brew.
A 12-ounce beer is only a cup and a half of liquid. But, it may expand (only for a short moment) up to 3-times or even 4-times that volume. Make sure you have a container that is able to hold that much liquid.
Or, you could add your salt little-by-little. But I like to make that huge head; it’s pretty fun to watch!
Method 1) Just let it sit and cool to room temperature or put it in the refrigerator to cool.
Method 2) Some folks add ice cubes to their hot brine. That’s A-OK. But, the liquid-to-salt needs to be adjusted depending on the amount of ice you are adding.
Note: A cup of ice cubes is not equal to a cup of water.
We are looking for juicy, flavorful meals here, right? Sure, we are! And brining will add a level of awesomeness to your meat that’s for sure. It does take some prep. But that’s okay; you’ve got the next two weeks’ meals planned out already (tongue-in-cheek).
A beer brine recipe can be altered in all kinds of ways. The kind of beer you use to a specific meat you are brining can create all kinds of different flavor experiences! Water is not the only thing the salt “pulls” into the meat. It pulls all kinds of different flavors that are soaking in the brine as well such as rosemary, sage, thyme, peppercorns, lemon, sugar, and the list goes on and on and on.
If you’ve ever suffered a culinary disaster that is dry, tasteless chicken breast, spent most of the meal trying to cut into a tough pork chop that resulted in a trip to the chiropractor for a shoulder adjustment, or ended up with a tired jaw after trying to swallow a piece of turkey with the consistency of a paper spitball (yeah, I was that kid), then you are in for a real treat now that you have discovered Sulae’s Beer Brine Recipe.
Conversion Cheats (US Measurements)
1 Tablespoon = 3 Teaspoons
1 Cup = 16 Tablespoons
1 12-Ounce Beer = 1 ½ Cups
1 16-Ounce Beer = 2 Cups
“The myriad of flavors explode on my tongue, shimmy through my mouth, slap my taste buds and call them filthy bastards, and I love it.”
Zipper Bags: https://amzn.to/3FzmDX1
Salt: https://amzn.to/3Y4eIIw
Scale: https://amzn.to/3BrLzNH
Roasted, Beer-Brined Whole Chicken Cooked in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven on Grass, Straw, or Hay. Nutty, earthy aroma and flavors.
I’m talking about coffee. There are so many things to create with coffee as an ingredient.
Here’s the universal simple brine recipe: 1 cup of liquid to 1 tablespoon of salt. Submerge the meat in the brine for 3 hours per 1 inch thickness of the meat.
The problem with this “simple” is that not all beers are created equal, and neither is all salt. And, neither are our meal preparation schedules or our palate’s saltiness preferences. I will still try to keep it short and as simple as possible.
In this article, I’ll show you how I brine a whole chicken (and I brine nearly every piece of meat I cook from tougher cuts like chicken breast to low-and-slow cuts like beef and pork roasts). You will be the ultimate judge of the flavor. In trying these suggestions, if you find your meat to be too salty, then next time, cut back on the brine time and/or the amount of salt in the brine. This recipe is your starting place; I will leave it up to you to fine-tune the recipe to meet your and your family’s palate preferences.
Above is a quick video to show you the simple process.
Take good notes as you try this process. You’ll end up modifying your own brining process. This article is ONLY A STARTING POINT.
There are four factors that will affect the saltiness of your final, cooked meat:
I am going to tell you this: if you’ve never brined, you will end up with an over-salted piece of meat as you go through the trial-and-error process.
You will learn how much is too much and how much is just right…for your taste preference. How much salt and how much time are your factors that will make it or break it. If you break it, no worries. Make a soup with it and let the salt in the meat infuse into the broth. Definitely don’t throw it out. I’ve even taken over-salted roasts and made a delicious chili out of it by adding less or no additional salt to the recipe. Just keep on keeping on and you’ll find the right mixture of salt and time.
You will need 5-7 items. I’ve placed links at the bottom of this article if you need to find these items:
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.
Keep the beer mild and keep it flavorful. And, consider the meat that you are brining. A whole chicken may not turn out well if brined in a deep, dark peanut butter stout. But, pork ribs ROCK a peanut butter stout brine. Look for beer “flavors” that go well with the meat you are preparing. I love a good citrus taste with my chicken and fish. Consider a nice citrusy IPA or a lager for these meats. A good stout or porter will work well with beef and pork.
Keep this in mind: A beer that pairs well with a meal may not work well when cooking with. Let me say that again but in a different way. You’ve heard about wine paring and even beer pairing. Beer that pairs well with a particular dish may NOT be the right beer to brine or cook that same dish with.
I love craft beer but keep mainstream, large brewery brews in my beer fridge at all times. Nope. I am not a beer snob; not at all. I learned this a long time ago: keep familiar brews in my beer fridge like Rainier, Corona, and even DosXX (to name a few). You’ll be surprised how your guest will pass on your $4, $6, and even your $10 cans or bottles of craft beer for a $1 tried-and-true, big-brewery brew. Craft beer is sometimes a gamble; dedicated Coors Lite drinkers know this and stick with what they know and enjoy; nothing wrong with that at all!
These beers may be less expensive, and some may consider these beers to have less flavor than a craft beer, but they have a perfect flavor for our brining needs. A great craft beer for drinking may not be a great beer for brining.
Your first few brining attempts should start with a simple lager or something mild. And, once you get the saltiness / time-in-the-brine down to meet your palate’s preferences, then experiment with the beer.
Not to beat the “dead horse” but I have been known to ruin a nice pot of gumbo after brining the chicken in a pumpkin beer that I was trying to “use up.” There’s something that just didn’t quite set right with a gumbo and that mild but distinct pumpkin aftertaste. On the flip side, I created a pumpkin chili with those beers and…WOW!
For this recipe, we will refer to 12-ounces as our liquid-to-salt ratio. Beer is commonly sold in 12-ounce cans or bottles. And YES! There are many other sizes. How about those nice 16-ounce cans and bottles? Yes, there are other sizes. As a reminder, here are the measurement conversions.
1 Cup = 8 Ounces
12-Ounce Beer = 1.5 Cups
16-Ounce Beer = 2 Cups
24-Ounce Beer = 3 Cups
3 Teaspoons = Tablespoon
Most brine recipes call for 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup of liquid. My recipe is different:
1 tablespoon of salt (15-grams) to 12-ounces of beer.
You can get more marbles in the same jar you’d stuff golf balls in; it’s true! Likewise, a pinch of fine-grind salt like table salt may taste more salty than an equal pinch of coarse grind kosher salt (usually and maybe with a few caveats). With a fine grind of salt, there’s more salt in that pinch than coarse grind salt. Less is better to start with. Weight is a good way to measure the salt. Do you have a scale? They are pretty cheap. Here’s one (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3iUDTxf
1 tablespoon of salt (15-grams) to 12-ounces of beer.
I prefer a nice course-ground salt. It’s what I am used to and can “eye-ball it” better when I am just adding to my palm to toss into dishes. Give me that white table salt and I will use it at the table if I need to, but I always cook with a coarse-ground salt. You’ll often see it labeled as Kosher Salt which really has nothing to do with a Jewish Diet but was used to “Kosher meat” “meaning to remove the blood from meat, so it’s really koshering salt. Certain salt companies labeled the boxes of this coarse salt kosher salt rather than koshering salt, and the name stuck.”
If you are using a fine-grind salt and you don’t have a scale, no worries! Just cut back a bit on the salt and see how the final flavor comes out. If it’s just right then you’ve found YOUR recipe. If it’s not salty enough, then next time you can add more.
There are different rules of thumb that are used to brine meat. Some sources say 1 hour per pound and others say 2–3 hours per inch of thickness.
Whole chicken isn’t universally “thick” like a steak or roast (and roasts have “sections” which causes the “thickness” to be different). I’ve brined roasts for 3-4 days and they’ve turned out wonderfully. Same length of time for turkey and chicken and have done great.
I brine my tenderized chicken breast for an hour or so. Tenderized meat have more “surface area” and will “take the brine” quicker.
Considering tenderized, flattened chicken breast versus a whole chicken. The hour is plenty of time for a tenderized chicken breast brined at room temperature. But, a whole chicken brined for only one hour will turn out to be the same as a chicken not brined at all. Thickness and nature of the meat has a lot to do with how long you should brine the meat.
Why Brine?
First of all, let’s clear this question up. Why brine? Flavor? Juicier meat? Yes and yes! Then comes the question as to how brining creates more flavorful and juicier meats. I will mention osmosis only two times (and that was the first time). If you have a source (the meat or even vegetables) that is low in salt and a source (the brine or soup base) that is higher in salt, the salt will want to move into the area that has less salt. It’s through the magic of chemistry that this movement takes place. One salt molecule can hold on to 9 piggybacking water molecules (simply speaking here with a more in depth explanation here: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/134581/how-many-sodium-ions-is-each-oxygen-atom-attracted-to-in-aqueous-sodium-chloride).
A higher salt solution will cause the salt to “move” toward the area with less salt. With brining, the salt moves into the raw, lower-salt meat and tak es a few piggybacking water, beer, and seasoning molecules with it to create a juicier, deep-salted meat. And, in a brine made with beer and salt, a lot of that beer will be infused into that meat through this osmotic movement. Just the same, if you add spices and other ingredients to your beer brine, those flavors will follow the salt into the meat as well.
And that ’bout does it. This is my “cold” method of brining. If you want the method I use to infuse herbs and spices into that meat, then my “hot” method of brining is for you. Here’s the link to that article and recipe: https://beerandiron.com/2021/05/basic-beer-brine-recipe
Let it be known that I often will only use this cold method to brine meats. Either way is A-OK. You will need to practice this method to get it right FOR YOU. Just like I cannot tell you what your favorite color is, or your favorite song is, or your favorite beer is, I cannot tell you what your favorite “saltiness” is.
Lache pas la patate!
“Losh-pa-la-pa-tot” – don’t give up (a testament to the enduring spirit of the Cajun people).
Enjoy!
Zipper Bags: https://amzn.to/3FzmDX1
Salt: https://amzn.to/3Y4eIIw
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Beef BEERguignon is born. Though I do enjoy cooking with wine, we’re going to stir things up a bit (pun intended). We’re going to cook this recipe with BEER!
Recipe Low and Slow Cast Iron Dutch Oven Roast
Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with soup still in them or already licked squeaky clean?
This broth recipe is one of the base recipes that will be referred to over and over in recipe after recipe here on beerandiron.com.
The backbone of any soup, stew, and chili is the broth you use. If the broth is flavorful, the soup, stew, or chili will be flavorful. Let’s make this!
NOTE: You may have noticed the stainless steel pot used in the image above. Using stainless steel for this is A-OK. In the video, I used my 9-quart cast iron Dutch oven to make the broth. Use what you want.
I’m gonna tell you it’s the broth that will “make” that meal, and the only way to make a good broth is to make it yourself.
There is one reason I make my own broth: Flavor. And the flavor comes from two sources: The Beer and from the parts and pieces that are generated during meal preparation that are normally thrown away.
Will we end up throwing these parts and pieces away? Sure, but not until we’ve rendered their flavor. It’s almost like tea; we simmer the tea in the water until we have changed the water into tea. Then, we toss the tea.
A good broth jells (like Jell-O / Gelatin) when cooled. This is due to the structural protein found in the connective tissue: collagen. Collagen breaks down with prolonged simmering and cooking and dissolves in the liquid (the beer). A true bone broth…a good broth in general has some bouncy, wiggly, gelatin-like consistency when cool. Shelf-stable bone broths usually do not gel because the collagen has been removed or never was there in the first place. Not only are you missing the nutritional benefits of the broth, the way the final recipe will “feel” is not as pleasing…a different mouth-feel, if you will.
Think about it for a bit. Why does boneless chicken cost more per pound than whole chicken? There’s weight to the “trash” that the whole chicken has that boneless chicken does not. When preparing bell peppers or tomatoes, do you use the whole vegetable/fruit or do you throw away some parts as you prepare them? Potato peel, carrot tops, bell pepper placenta, and meat bone/fat/joints…this is usually tossed during the cooking process. Even that large base of celery; it usually hits the garbage can with a heavy “thud.” There’s flavor in that root end. Every bit of that has flavor…some of it has more flavor than the actual “good” parts themselves; it’s just trapped in an area of the food that is either not editable as is (bones and ligaments) or has a terrible mouth feel like chunks of fat, potato peels, and pepper placenta.
I am not making it to reduce the salt/sodium or any other reason that is found on every single make-your-own broth blog. My reasons are dual and simple: Flavor and FLAVOR!
This recipe is easy. It’s so very easy. We create our broths from four sources:
Ever heard of Corona or Modelo? Sure, you have. Start with this easy-drinking beer. If you are a craft beer purist, no worries. Find one of your craft beers that are easy to drink like a lager or an ale. Here at first, avoid IPAs, seasonals, porters, and the others that may add a level of flavor you will experiment with later. Right now, let’s just create something amazing. Experiment later.
Bones, parts, and pieces from one whole deboned chicken – More if you have them.
2-8 12oz Beers (Room Temperature)…or more.
All you need for this recipe are the bones from one chicken. If you have more, add more. If you have some vegetable scraps, add them too.
It’s okay if the ingredients are piled out and above the top of that Dutch oven. They will break down and render their flavor into that broth. The broth will simmer down a bit and become more concentrated. Just pile it in!
The amount of beer to add is up to you.
First and foremost…NO! You will not get drunk on this broth. Alcohol has a much lower gas point that water does. If you are adding a 6% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer to this pot, then long before that broth starts to steam, that alcohol will gas off.
You’ve heard the statement regarding alcohol in food, “It’ll cook out.” And it does. There is no “away” in the world; the alcohol does leave the meal just like water does: as a gas. A 6% ABV beer will lose about 6% of the volume pretty quickly.
Note: Alcohol “cooks out” at about 173.1°F (78.37°C). The liquid will not even be bubbling yet by the time the Ethanol (https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/types/) starts to steam out. When your liquid reaches 212°F (100°C), you’ll notice a nice boil start (the boiling point of water).
What I am looking for in my broth is some body. I want the broth to have a heavier and fuller flavor and mouthfeel than broth-in-a-box or water has. That beer will add that body and those real ingredients will add that flavor.
The broth will NOT taste like beer. But, use caution with a beer that has a distinctive flavor ingredient. You can bet your witches and warlocks that the fall pumpkin ale you add to this broth will give you a pumpkin-ey broth. And, you can bet Santa’s beer belly that if you use a winter spruce tip lager in that broth, you’ll have a bit of a spruce-ey broth. That may be okay. Maybe you are going to use the pumpkin broth for a pumpkin chili base. And spruce tip flavor sure does complement chicken, just like rosemary does.
For the most part, use an easy-drinking lager for this recipe. And, if you find that you have a lot of ingredient scraps and not quite enough beer to bring the liquid volume up to the point you need, you can add a bit of water or even one of those boxes of store-bought “broth.”
Add the beer to the pot and just up to where the ingredients move freely in the liquid. You do not need to cover the ingredients with the liquid. The ingredients will cook down and will be under that liquid soon.
Then turn everything about in that pot to get the ingredients to settle a bit.
Let things settle for a while and stir the pot about once every 20-30 minutes for the first hour. Put the lid on the pot but leave an edge open to allow the steam to escape. We want the pot to simmer and not become a rolling boil. The lid over the pot will help hold the heat to allow for simmering. The opened edge at the top will keep the pot from boiling too hard.
You’ve heard of bone broth, right? We are making a mini pot of bone broth right here. Most bone broths take hours and hours to create and are made in some considerable volumes.
I have a recipe for beef bone broth that takes an entire day. Here’s the link: https://beerandiron.com/beer-beef-bone-broth-recipe-in-a-cast-iron-dutch-oven
This is not really a recipe. It’s a process. We will often spend the week cutting and chopping and roasting and skillet-ing. And, as we create our dinners, there are things that are often tossed. We’ll hang onto those trimmings, peelings, parts, bones, and pieces until we are ready to make a broth.
A long simmering time will allow all these parts and pieces to break down…ESPECIALLY the chicken bones and connective tissues. Eventually you will notice as you are turning and rotating the pot of “stuff” that the bone ends are bare and without any cartilage. The joints that were connected even after roasting the chicken are now broken apart and separated.
This is EXACTLY what we are looking for. And, we’ll let it simmer even longer.
Most of the ingredients are below the liquid level now. They are soft and fragile and some are almost liquified. We’ll call it broth-ified. The collagen from the chicken bones and the broken-down parts and pieces of meat and vegetables are creating a nice and heavy broth full of nutrients.
As you cook, and if you notice the liquid level is getting too low, add more beer, water, or boxed broth.
I set things aside and let them cool down but don’t let things cool down to room temperature. I let the liquid cool to about the temperature of a cup of coffee.
We are going to put the broth in the canning jars for refrigerator storage. THIS IS NOT A CANNING RECIPE. The broth created by following this recipe will have to be refrigerated. It will spoil at room temperature. With that being said, you can pressure can this broth following a canning recipe.
You will see in the video that I make a huge freakin’ mess while I pour the broth over to the jars. Even with the canning funnel. It is what it is. It’s likely because I am a male and prone to making messes (my wife has me convinced that I am handicapped because of a genetic issue: my Y-Chromosome).
My suggestion is to use wide-mouth jars. This broth will jell-up and it’s easier to get out of the jars with the wide mouth.
Place a metal strainer in the bowl to catch the solids. Using a ladle, we scoop up the solids and pour them over to the strainer. Then we stir the mash around and try to get as much of the liquid from that mushy stuff as we can.
Like in my beef bone broth recipe, you can “wash” the used material by placing it back in the pot and adding some fresh beer over the mushy stuff and spent bones. There will be enough of the broth and collagen left to actually jellify the beer when cooled. Message me if you need more explanation.
You can then use the drained solids for compost (except the bones), feed them to a worm bin, or throw them away.
Scoop up the liquid and solids and ladle them over into the strainer over the bowl. We are actually focused on the solids here. We want to get as much of the solids out as we can, so we are able to pour the pot over the strainer and get all the broth out and free of the solids.
If you don’t have any quart-size canning jars, you should get a set. They are so very helpful and handy. They can handle the extreme temperature changes like Pyrex glass can. And they are not too spendy. If they break or crack, we just recycle them (they take our glass here!).
Place a canning funnel over the mouth of the canning jar and pour the broth into the jars. The sad thing is: you’ll get far less broth than you think you’ll be getting. It is what it is.
The jars of broth will not last indefinitely. My suggestion is to use the broth in a soup, stew, chili, or something else before you start wondering, “is this okay to eat?” How long will that take? I don’t know the answer to that question. But, when I have broth like this available, I plan on a meal that will allow me to use the broth within a week.
And there you go! You did it! How did it turn out?
When pouring in Step #10, you’ll note the chicken parts are “sunken” to the bottom of the pot and will remain at the bottom of the pot until the angle of the pot during the pouring has reached a certain point. THEN the parts and pieces will “fall” to the side of the pot you are pouring toward.
It’s hard to pour this “away” from you and you will likely be inclined to pour “towards” you. When these ingredients “fall,” that liquid will splash. There are hot oils in that broth and the hot broth itself that will burn you or, in the least, make a mess on your counter or floor.
When about half of the liquid has poured into the colander, stop and “help” the chicken parts to gather on the side of the pot that you are pouring from. Then slowly continue pouring and let the parts and pieces slide into the colander to continue draining.
We use a copper-bottomed stainless 6-quart pot for making broth from one or two chickens. We use stainless because the simmer time is so long. Beer and anything that contains alcohol is going to be acidic. And, truth be known, I’ll cook up a tomato dish in any of my non-enamled, well-seasoned cast iron pots and will not lose a wink of sleep over it…and…I create broth in my cast iron too…just like in the video.
Though the likelihood of metal molecules leaching into my food likely happens every single meal, we’re not cooking in lead or aluminum; we’re cooking in cast iron. Iron is both a material and a mineral. We need iron to have good health (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/). I don’t worry about my cast iron dissolving or becoming damaged by the acid foods and liquids I cook in them. I worry about the possibility of a metallic taste that may form with foods that need to simmer for longer periods of time like broths.
Some of my broths will cook for 24 hours (not this recipe). And, from what I understand, 2-8mg of iron will leach per cup of acid food/liquid per 30 minutes of cooking time. My 12-inch skillet is about 3,628,736mg of iron; 2-8mg is not a big deal even every 30 minutes for 24 hours…that broth would need to cook for something like 25 YEARS to melt my pan (LOL)! But, if off-flavors are a concern, then use a stainless pot…we have that one and only and use it for broth-making and noodle cooking.
With that being said, I use my 9-quart cast iron pot to create a beef broth (https://beerandiron.com/beer-beef-bone-broth-recipe-in-a-cast-iron-dutch-oven) that has a 24-hour cook time. It’s always been a great recipe and I have never had a metallic taste to my meals. So, if you are a purist cast-iron person, rock on with a cast iron Dutch oven to create your broth.
Storing in canning jars is not “canning” per se’. We are using the jars because of their convenience. Don’t store this broth in plastic. You can use something like Pyrex if you like. You will NEED to refrigerate this broth after you “jar” it and after it’s cooled a bit. You can “can” the broth but this canning process is beyond the scope of this recipe.
Note: canning jars are commonly made of annealed glass. Pyrex glass is made of borosilicate glass, which is more resistant to thermal shock than annealed glass. We let the broth cool a bit before pouring over into the container we are planning to store the broth in.
And, it’s okay if that “skin” forms on the broth’s surface before storing; it’ll “dissolve” into the broth once the broth is in the jar.
When you are done with your broth creation, you’ll have your broth and your meat parts separated. Depending on how long you simmered your broth will affect the present “durability” of the connective tissue. Many times I am surprised as to how much “meat” is left after I de-bone the chicken and create my broth.
We have pups in our home; two hair and poop factories on four legs. I will take some time and remove all the big, little, and even TINY bones from the “trash” that’s left in the colander and pull out some meat to use as “treats” for the dogs. My suggestion is to only give them a little at a time. You will likely get anywhere from ½ to a full cup (or more) of meat parts that are not bone.
I have a recipe on how to create dog cookies using scraps of meat. Check it out here:
Throw the bones away; don’t feed them to your dogs. Also, consider the other ingredients in your broth creation. Did you use any garlic, onions, or other ingredients that are not OK for dogs? Use your good judgment when feeding your dogs from this recipe.
Broth-making is more passive than active. Once you put those ingredients into that pot for simmering, you’re pretty well free to create another meal or prep for the meal you are going to use that broth with.
Sometimes I will save the parts and pieces from many different cooks. They may be frozen or refrigerated. A nice rainy or snowy day makes a good day to create broth for the future. Once you put it on the heat, there’s little to do but wait and stir things once in a while.
You better have something planned for dinner later that will taste as good as that simmering broth will smell. Once that aroma permeates the home, your family will definitely ask, “what’s for dinner?” That anticipation doesn’t need to be disappointed by, “What’s this? What was that you were cooking earlier?”
A good broth jells (like Jell-O / Gelatin) when cooled. But, if yours does not, it’s likely one of two reasons: 1) You didn’t simmer it long enough for the connective tissues to dissolve into the broth (this is a molecule-by-molecule process and takes time). 2) There just wasn’t enough connective tissues in the scraps themselves to dissolve (common with small broth batches).
If your broth does not gel; then no worries! Just cook with it; it’ll be A-OK!
If you’ve got minutes, then cook for minutes. But, if you have hours…simmer it for hours and add more beer as it reduces to keep the liquid level up.
Actually, I did not. Salting a dish is a tricky deal to say the least. I don’t know what your “salty” tastes like. So, I wrote an article on how to salt a soup, stew, chili, or bisque. It’s a how-to-salt-just-about-anything-perfectly article. READ IT HERE.
So, no. I don’t add salt to this broth recipe. I add salt to the recipe I am going to cook with this broth but not during the broth creating process.
One of the reasons I don’t add salt is that I am usually using a brined chicken…and the amount of saltiness depends on so many factors that occurred from when you first put that raw chicken in that beer brine. Read my article on “Salt” to learn how I perfectly salt a recipe.
You’ve had those thin, watery soups before. You’ve struggled to bring body to your stews. We’ve added this and that and still feel, “it’s missing something.” What your soup, stew, or chili is missing is body and the core flavor. It’s the broth that will make or break a pot of soup, stew, or chili.
Take the time and save the week’s trimmings, bones, and scraps. Keep them refrigerated until you have enough to make your broth. Give this a try and let me know what you think.
ENJOY!
Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you’ve ever wanted to taste.
Broth from a box will get you “this is good stew” complements but, this broth will make stew so good they’ll start trying to speak “this stew is amazing” before they even swallow (so keep a napkin ready).
This is not a typical bone broth recipe and is not for drinking like a “normal” bone broth recipe. We will not add any salt, apple cider vinegar, or vegetables.
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I am always sharing fresh, flavorful, recipes cooked up in well-seasoned cast iron awesomeness with a bit of my liquid, hop-based, happy-maker as an ingredient.
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