How to Brine Steak

Brine a steak to make a lean cut of beef juicy and more flavorful. This gourmet technique works best if you plan to grill your steak, since grilling will zap the juices right out of meat in a hurry. Brining is simply a method of soaking meat in a salt water solution. The brine dissolves the protein in the steak and reduces moisture loss during cooking. The result is a juicy, tender steak. Do not brine expensive steak because meat that has a lot of fat (marbling) does not benefit from brine.

Things You'll Need

• Lean steak
• Table salt
• Water
• Zippered plastic bag

Instructions

1. Figure the salt and water amounts needed. The ratio for brine is 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water. Cut this down for smaller portions of meat because you only need enough brine to cover your meat. For example, use 1/2 cup salt with 8 cups of water or 1/4 cup salt with 4 cups of water.

2. Mix salt and water in a large pot. Heat until all the salt is dissolved. Allow the brine to cool before using it with meat. You can also add seasoning, such as garlic, rosemary or pepper. Some recipes include sugar (see Resources).

3. Place the steak in a large zippered plastic bag. Pour in enough brine to cover it completely.

4. Place the bag with steak and brine in the refrigerator. Allow the meat to soak for one hour.

5. Remove the steak from brine, then rinse it with clean water and pat it dry. Grill as usual.

Tips & Warnings

• As an alternate method for steak, pour liberal amounts of salt directly on the meat. Allow it to sit for 15 minute to 1 hour. Wash the meat, pat it dry, then grill (see Resources).

• Do not reuse brine.

References

• Brine recipes
• Dry brine your steak