The best brine recipe

Folks have always wanted to know the best way to prepare meats like Turkey or Standing Rib Roast or Pork Chops or even the ever challenging Porkloin. Secret seasonings? they ask. What makes your dish stand out? Why is the turkey breast more moist than the others they've tried. What do you use for marinade? People have asked me these questions when I cook for them, after a class that I teach or immediately after a dinner I host for friends.

Brine versus marinade.

Brine can be a marinade but not necessarily is a marinade a brine. What's the diff? A brine is a saline solution - it permeates throughout the meat to impart flavor and its guaranteed to make whatever meat to be moist. On the other hand,a marinade is an acid based solution, its acidic solution can have a vinegar, citrus, oil solution. If you ask me, it tempers the meat, slightly cooks the fibers (breaks it down)because of the acid. The method I prefer most - BRINING, it almost always guarantees a successful dish.

One of the challenges a cook faces is presenting lean meats that are more difficult to flavor. Costco sells this elongated piece of porkloin at a reasonable price. It's packed in a solution that does little to the meat. But if the cook is not careful, could end up serving a tasteless,flavorless,dried piece of useless pork or worse. It could be a disaster! Dont be fooled by those meats that come marinated in plastic from your local grocery stores. Its that they're not good, its just because they use acid based marinade, the flavors stay on the surface and does not penetrate the meat. I also dont like the idea of marinating meat in plastic, I still dont know how safe marinating in plastic is. Remember, acid + meat+ plastic could be bad chemistry.You will notice that the external part of the meat is dry and the inside is flavorless.
What's the answer? Brine your meats! Simple, its a no brainer. Why? Over the brining period, the saline solution allows the flavor of the herbs and spices to penetrate the meat fibers.Brining will add moisture to the muscle fibers within the meat; the brine helps to dissolve the proteins in the fibers so they become liquid instead of solid mass. But a word of caution to the cook that wants to do it a second time after their initial attempt at brining. It will work the first time you try brining, but a word of caution. Some folks I know will try to prolong the brining period. It will have the opposite way, if the meat is brined too long - if the meat is allowed to soak in the solution. Remember - salt will extract moisture from the meat.
Here are the ingredients that I have used for years, which by the way San Francisco Chronicle rates as one of the best brine recipes for hard to flavor meats.
5 bays leaves
10-15 Juniper berries - crushed
5-6 garlic cloves - crushed
1 tsp Allspice berries - crushed
1 bunch of thyme leaves (if using dried thyme use about 1 tbsp or more)
juice of 1 lemon, plus the lemon fruit
1 cup sugar
1 cup kosher salt or sea salt (stay away from Iodized salt - it leaves a bitter after taste)

Place all ingredients in a stock pot with enough water to cover the meat. Store in the refrigerator overnight - no longer than 24 hours. I use this brine for roast chicken, my Thanksgiving turkey or those nice two inch thick pork chops. Sometimes I would use the lemon slices used for the brine in the cavity of the chicken while roasting, along with two sprigs of rosemary. But more often than not I never have to use other herbs when roasting the chicken or turkey, the brine takes care of it.