Basic Brine Recipe for Smokin'

[Heartsblood]

I tried out my Little Chief for the first time yesterday. Actually it was my first time smokin' at all. I used the basic brine mixture suggested in the booklet (1/2 salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Qt. water). Man! That stuff was waaay too salty! So I thought I'd hit y'all up for your favorite mix. I was smokin' up some little steak pieces just to experiment. But, I want to be doing everything from oysters to elk eventually. It was still fun even though I could barely eat two pieces in the end. 

So that said, what's your favorite starting place as far as a brine recipe is concerned? I'll take full on recipes too, but I really need a good starting place so I can move out and experiment from there.

Thx

[h20hunter]

For salmon I have always used one part kosher salt, three parts brown sugar. Mix and cover fish with it. I leave it overnight in the fridge. I take it out, rinse with cold water, rinse again, let air dry. After an hour or so it feels tacky...smoke and eat.

[quadrafire]

Don't brine small cuts.

I only brine chickens/ turkeys and the occasional piece of pork. rinse well after to get the surface brine off.
That is good basic starting recipe, then you can add all kinds of stuff and play around it.
For a turkey I will brine overnight, but a really thick pork chop maybe only 2 hrs or so.

Oh yea I brine trout/salmon to. Search through some previous posts there are alot of good recipes on here,some recent. I don't have time to search now, but will look back when I get some time.

[jackelope]

The brine I used for the pork butt  I did on the 4th was 2 quarts water, 1.5 cups pickling salt and 8oz of molasses. I substituted the molasses for maple syrup for 10 hours or so. Then I rinsed it off real good. Some people say to let it air dry or put in in front of a fan for a while to get it good and dry afterwards. I just patted it dry.

[NRA4LIFE]

Back off on the salt.  I use a 1/4 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar to a gallon of water for my basic brine.  Rinse well and soak in clean water for awhile if stuff is coming out too salty. 

[jackelope]

I was worried about 1.5 cups so I only put 1 cup in. I don't know if pickling salt is different than regular old table salt but the end result was not salty at all. I really was worried about it. I got that recipe off of the food network.com website. Actually someone here posted it and I used it from there. I was surprised at how non-salty it was.
 

[brianb231]

For Elk, try half Yoshidas gourmet sauce and half soy sauce. Then you can add anny additional dry spices that you like. Trust me.......It wont last long!

Brian

[Hyde]

For salmon, I have always used the Deluxe brine recipe that comes in the "Big Chief" recipe book.  Make sure to rinse well before proceeding with the smoking process. 

[buckhorn2]

There are a lot of receips on here in the receipe section. Did you remember to rinse the fish off in cold water after you took it out of the brine if not that could have caused the to salty taste.

[Heartsblood]

I was brining beef. But I did only give it a "light" rinse as per the booklets instructions. We'll try again tomorrow I cut the salt in half this time. We'll see.

[Heartsblood]

And success! I cut the salt in half:
1/4 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 quart water

brine overnight. rinse. put in smoker for 12 hrs. Only filled the pan twice with alder chips. I was only trying for a good base mixture to expand on but, this batch turned out pretty darned tasty!

Can't wait to see how this develops with experimentation.

[Camp David]

Hey...Mine is 1 cup water, 2 cups soy, 1 cup wine (your choice) and 2 cups brown sugar. brine over night and (the more you brine it the more the salmon absorbs the salt. rinse. let stand in the fridge for another 12 hours till the salmon gets a sheen. Cook on smoker no greater than 140 deg till almost done 6 - 12 hours. last 2 hoursbefore it is done... brush on honey.

[CP]

2 parts brown sugar to 1 part salt is my starting base, no water. Rub it on and leave it on for no more than 8 hours.

[Mossy]

You said beef?  Never heard of a wet brine for beef(maybe a marinade)  Might wanna try a dry rub overnight for a bigger side of red meat. Brine is for fish or poultry.

[Heartsblood]

You said beef?  Never heard of a wet brine for beef(maybe a marinade)  Might wanna try a dry rub overnight for a bigger side of red meat. Brine is for fish or poultry.

I do wanna try that!

But according to the Little Chief "Recipes & Operating Instructions", they refer to it as "marinade/brine". So mebbe it's just a terminology thang.  I do know that my last batch of beef jerky turned out awesome!

[Mossy]

I was worried about 1.5 cups so I only put 1 cup in. I don't know if pickling salt is different than regular old table salt but the end result was not salty at all. I really was worried about it. I got that recipe off of the food network.com website. Actually someone here posted it and I used it from there. I was surprised at how non-salty it was.
 

Pickling salt dissolves completely in cold water, table salt doesn't, I keep lots of different types of salts around for different projects.

[Mossy]

Oh, gotcha.  Didn't realize you were doing jerky.

[Heartsblood]

Oh, gotcha.  Didn't realize you were doing jerky.

I probably didn't specify...    Sorry.

I haven't gotten the cajones up yet to try smoking a roast or something big prior to cooking it. I forgot  about that aspect of smoking meat. I was just all excited to actually be using the smoker and to have something so tasty come out.

This weeks batch of jerky came out a bit chewy. Not sure why. 

[Heartsblood]

Hey...Mine is 1 cup water, 2 cups soy, 1 cup wine (your choice) and 2 cups brown sugar. brine over night and (the more you brine it the more the salmon absorbs the salt. rinse. let stand in the fridge for another 12 hours till the salmon gets a sheen. Cook on smoker no greater than 140 deg till almost done 6 - 12 hours. last 2 hoursbefore it is done... brush on honey.

I can't wait to try this one! But. When you say, "Your choice", I'm assuming you mean brand rather than red/white. Have you used both red and white? Seems like red wine and honey might clash a bit. Am I wrong?

Sounds tasty. 

[lokidog]

I use this for everything from venison jerky to marinating salmon or shrimp for grilling, or smoking salmon.

50% soy 50% water, about 1/3 c. brown sugar for every 2 cups liquid (more or less as I don't ever measure it), 1 T or so black pepper.

I use less water if I cannot marinate overnight as it gets the job done faster.

I sprinkle garlic and onion powder over the salmon/meat pieces before smoking.  I do not rinse it, just let it stop dripping and glaze a little before putting in the smoker.

I used to make tuna jerky when I worked on commercial tuna boats and would put a can of beer in a large batch of jerky that I simply sun-dried down in the tropics.

[quadrafire]

This weeks batch of jerky came out a bit chewy. Not sure why. 

I thought jerky was supposed to be chewy?