How to marinate brisket for smoking: hot, cold, recipes for marinades and brines

Content

1 Choosing the Main Ingredient
2 How to brine brisket for smoking
- 2.1 Simple recipe
- 2.2 With spices and garlic
3 How to marinate brisket for smoking
4 Syringing
5 Drying and tying
6 Conclusion

Many people smoke meat at home, preferring self-prepared delicacies to store-bought ones. In this case, you can be confident in the quality of the raw materials and the finished product. You can add original flavor notes to it if you marinate the brisket for smoking. There are many different recipes; it’s easy to choose the right combination of seasonings and spices yourself.

Choosing the Main Ingredient

The most suitable option for those who want to cook brisket for smoking is pork on the skin with a fat content of no more than 40%. It can be either boneless or with bone.

Low-quality pork, even if marinated well, will not make a delicacy

What else you need to pay attention to when choosing a piece of meat:

uniform pink-red color of the meat itself and white (in no case yellow) of the lard;
uniformity of fat layers (maximum permissible thickness - up to 3 cm);
the absence of any stains, stains, mucus, other traces on the surface and damage to the sections (blood clots), the smell of rotten meat;
elasticity and density (on fresh pork, when pressed, a small depression remains, which disappears after 3-5 seconds, without leaving a dent; the fat should not separate even with slight pressure);

A suitable brisket after smoking looks like this

Important! Without skin, the finished brisket will not be tender and juicy, but it should be thin enough. A hard shell that is difficult to cut through indicates that the pig was old.

How to brine brisket for smoking

Salting the brisket will completely replace any marinade, but will take more time. Like any other meat, poultry, or fish, brisket can be salted in two ways before smoking – dry and wet.

Simple recipe

Salting brisket for dry smoking is the classic and simplest method. You need to take coarse salt, optionally mix it with freshly ground black pepper (the proportion is determined by taste) and carefully, without missing even small areas, rub the brisket with the mixture.

It will be more convenient to do this if you first pour a layer of salt on the bottom of the container in which the pork will be salted, creating a “pillow”, put the pieces rubbed with it on it and again sprinkle salt on top. Then cover the container with a lid and put it in the refrigerator. Sometimes it is recommended to separate the brisket pieces into separate plastic bags or wrap them in cling film. Salting takes at least three days; you can keep the container in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days.

The longer you wait, the saltier the finished brisket will be after smoking.

With spices and garlic

Brining a brisket for smoking in brine takes less time. It will require:

drinking water – 1 l;
coarse salt - 2 tbsp. l.;
garlic – 3-4 cloves;
bay leaf – 3-4 pieces;
black peppercorns and allspice - to taste.

To prepare brine for brisket before smoking, water is boiled with salt and spices. You can either add garlic to the brine that has cooled to room temperature, grinding it into a paste, or stuff it into the pork, making shallow transverse cuts in it and stuffing them with pieces.

The brisket is poured with brine so that it is completely covered with liquid.

Salt it in the refrigerator, turning the pieces several times a day. You can start smoking after 2-3 days.

You can add any spices you want to the brine brine, but no more than 2-3 at a time

How to marinate brisket for smoking

If you marinate the brisket, after smoking it either hot or cold, it acquires original flavor notes. The marinating process takes less time, the pork turns out very juicy and tender. There are many marinade recipes; it is quite possible to “invent” your own, ideal for yourself.

Important! Gourmets and professional chefs do not advise getting carried away with “complicated” mixtures. Such combinations of spices and seasonings, especially if you overdo them, simply “clog” the natural taste of pork.

With coriander

The ingredients for the marinade for smoking pork belly with coriander are as follows:

water – 1 l;
salt – 5 tbsp. l.;
granulated sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
garlic – 6-8 large cloves;
black peppercorns (if desired, you can take a mixture of peppers - black, white, green, pink) - 1 tsp;
seeds and/or dried coriander greens – 1 tsp.

Heat water with sugar and salt until they are completely dissolved, add finely chopped garlic and spices, mix thoroughly.The marinade, cooled to room temperature, is poured over the pork.

It takes 18-20 hours to marinate the brisket with coriander.

Important! Coriander in the marinade gives the brisket a rather specific flavor that not everyone likes. Therefore, it is not recommended to cook a lot of pork at once using this recipe; it is better to do a tasting first.

With barbecue seasoning

Another simple marinade for brisket, suitable for both cold and hot smoking. For it you need:

water – 1 l;
salt – 7-8 tbsp. l.;
garlic – 3-5 cloves;
barbecue seasoning – 2 tbsp. l.;
bay leaf – 3-4 pieces;
black peppercorns - to taste.

All ingredients are added to the water, after finely chopping the garlic. The liquid is brought to a boil, after 3-4 minutes removed from the heat and cooled to room temperature. The brisket should lie in this marinade for 5-6 hours.

When buying kebab seasoning to marinate pork, you need to carefully study the composition

Important! Only spices made from natural ingredients can be added to the marinade for smoking brisket. The composition should not contain monosodium glutamate, flavors, dyes, or other chemicals.

With tomato paste

A marinade with tomato paste is more suitable if you need to marinate pork belly for hot smoking. Required ingredients (per 1 kg of meat):

tomato paste – 200 g;
granulated sugar – 1.5 tbsp. l.;
apple cider vinegar (can be replaced with dry white wine) – 25-30 ml;
garlic – 3-4 large cloves;
salt, ground black pepper, paprika, dry mustard - to taste and optional.

To prepare the marinade, simply place the ingredients in one container, after chopping the garlic. Mix everything thoroughly and coat the brisket pieces with the resulting marinade.It only takes 6-8 hours to marinate the meat.

The marinade recipe uses natural tomato paste, not ketchup.

Important! Before smoking, the remaining marinade from the brisket must be washed off with cool running water.

With citruses

Brisket, if marinated with citruses, acquires a very original sour-spicy taste and pleasant aroma. The marinade contains:

water – 1 l;
lemon, orange, grapefruit or lime - half each;
salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
granulated sugar – 1 tsp;
medium-sized onion - 1 piece;
bay leaf – 3-4 pieces;
freshly ground black and red pepper – 1/2 tsp each;
cinnamon - on the tip of a knife;
spicy herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme) - only 10 g of mixture.

To prepare the marinade, citrus fruits are peeled, white membranes removed, chopped, and the onion is cut into rings. All ingredients are mixed, poured with water, brought to a boil, and after 10 minutes remove from heat. The marinade is infused under a closed lid for 15 minutes, filtered, cooled to room temperature, and poured over the brisket. It needs to be marinated for hot or cold smoking for 16-24 hours.

You can take any citrus fruits for the marinade, the main thing is to approximately maintain the overall proportion

With soy sauce

Soy sauce is a rather specific product for Russia, so brisket, if marinated in this way, will acquire an unusual taste and aroma. Ingredients required for marinade (per 1 kg of meat):

soy sauce – 120 ml;
garlic - one medium head;
cane sugar – 2 tsp;
ground dry or grated fresh ginger – 1 tsp;
ground white pepper – 1 tsp;
salt to taste;
curry seasoning or dry mustard - optional.

All components are mixed with soy sauce, crushing the garlic into a paste.The resulting liquid is coated with the meat. In the marinade for smoking brisket in a smokehouse, hot or cold, it is kept for about two days.

Important! Soy sauce itself is quite salty, so you need to add minimal salt to the brisket marinade.

Those who do not like very salty meat can do without salt at all in this marinade.

With lemon juice

Brisket cooked with this marinade has an unusual sweetish taste and a very pleasant aroma. For 1 kg of meat you will need:

freshly squeezed lemon juice – 150 ml;
olive oil – 200 ml;
liquid honey – 100 ml;
fresh parsley – 80 g;
salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
dried coriander, basil, ginger - up to 1/2 tsp.

All ingredients must be thoroughly mixed, finely chopping the parsley. The brisket covered in marinade is kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Marinade with lemon, honey and olive oil is one of the most versatile

With nitrite salt and spices

Nitrite salt is often used not only in smoked products produced on an industrial scale, but also at home. For the brisket marinade with nitrite salt you will need:

nitrite salt – 100 g;
granulated sugar – 25 g;
juniper – 15-20 fresh berries;
dry red wine – 300 ml;
garlic and any spices - to taste and as desired.

To marinate the brisket, simply mix the ingredients, bring to a boil, and keep on the fire for another 10 minutes. Once the marinade has cooled to room temperature, pour the meat over it for 3-4 days.

Nitrite salt helps preserve the natural color of meat during heat treatment, provides a rich taste and aroma

Syringing

The “express method” for marinating brisket is injecting. It will also help to quickly salt the brisket for smoking.By resorting to it, you can begin processing meat with smoke almost immediately, 2-3 hours after the procedure, which is why it is mainly used in the production of brisket on an industrial scale.

The finished brine or marinade is “pumped” into the meat using a syringe. In principle, an ordinary medical one will do, although there are also special culinary ones. “Injections” are done frequently, at intervals of 2-3 cm, inserting the needle along its entire length. Then fill the brisket with the remaining marinade or brine and put it in the refrigerator.

Important! You need to stuff the brisket across the grain. Only in this case does the brine or marinade get into the “texture” of the meat.

If you inject along the fibers of the pork, the liquid will simply flow out

Drying and tying

You cannot immediately start smoking after salting or marinating the brisket. Remaining liquid and salt crystals are washed off the meat in cool running water. Next, the pieces are lightly blotted with a clean kitchen towel or paper napkins (the first option is preferable, since there are no pieces of stuck paper left on the meat) and hung to dry.

Dry the brisket in the open air or simply in a draft. Meat in brine or marinade attracts insects en masse, so it is better to wrap it in gauze first. The process takes 1-3 days, during which time a crust forms on the surface of the brisket.

Important! There is no way to do without drying. Otherwise, when smoking, the surface of the brisket will be covered with black soot, and the inside will remain raw.

They tie the meat to make it easier to hang it first in the smokehouse, and then for ventilation:

Place a piece of brisket on the table, tie a double knot with twine at one end so that one part remains short (they make a loop from it) and the other long.
Fold a long piece at a distance of 7-10 cm under the first knot into a loop from above, thread the free end into it, stretching the twine under the piece of meat from below, and tighten tightly. The knots are held with your fingers during the process to prevent them from unraveling.
Continue “braiding” to the bottom piece of lard. Then turn it over to the other side and pull the twine between the resulting loops, tightening the knots.
Tie both ends of the twine with a loop in the place where the binding began.

After the meat is tied, the “excess” twine is trimmed off.

Conclusion

You can marinate brisket for smoking in different ways. Most of the recipes are extremely simple; all the necessary ingredients can be found in your local store. But you shouldn’t be overly zealous with spices and seasonings - you can “interrupt” the natural taste of the meat.