We can confidently call salted brisket one of the oldest dishes of Slavic cuisine. A piece of salted fatty meat with spices wrapped in a rag accompanied a merchant on a distant journey, a pilgrim, and a simple soldier. This delicacy was also the basis of the diet of the Chumaks, who carried salt to the farthest corners of Rus'...

Brisket can be called one of the types of lard - a truly iconic dish. It is distinguished by the predominance of the meat part over the fat part, and often contains bone or cartilaginous parts of the ribs. Of course, the most delicious brisket is salted yourself. Fragrant, spicy or tender, depending on preferences, it can brighten up a modest weekday dinner or reign with dignity at festive table. How to brine brisket will be discussed in the article.

What is brisket? Selecting a piece for pickling

The meat from the breast part of the carcass is called brisket. Pork is used for salting - it is fatty, tender, with layers of juicy lard. Thin cartilaginous ribs are often not cut out, because they give the brisket a special charm. Before brining the brisket, it is better to go to the farmers market, where they bring the freshest and highest quality raw materials. Meat and lard domestic pig, raised in the fresh air and fed with natural food, is always more aromatic and tastier. Just before purchasing, you should make sure that everything is in order with the pig’s health. A conscientious seller will be happy to provide all the necessary documents.

Dry salting brisket

Often the original and ancient are in no way inferior to the latest innovations and the latest developments. How to brine brisket the classic way? To do this you will need the brisket itself, salt and black pepper.

The meat cut into bars should be rubbed with the mixture and left to salt for 2-3 days. This is how brisket was salted in ancient times. Salted in this way, it turns out tender and soft, easy to cut. When serving, you don’t even have to remove the skin from it. This universal method of salting is good because the meat turns out almost neutral, but at the same time not bland and expressive. Even those who don’t eat spicy food will enjoy it.

Salting juicy brisket with spices and garlic

But lovers of garlic and pepper will appreciate the following recipe. Fatty brisket pairs wonderfully with a variety of seasonings. Before properly salting the brisket with pepper and garlic, prepare all the necessary ingredients, crush them in a mortar and mix thoroughly. You can immediately add salt to the same mixture.

For this recipe, black, white and red ground pepper, marjoram, paprika, cumin, dried herbs, coriander and much more are suitable. This is everything you like to flavor your food with - feel free to add it to the mixture! Garlic passed through a crush will add aroma and spiciness. A piece of brisket rubbed with spices and salt can be wrapped in cheesecloth, foil or cling film to prevent the seasonings from falling off. After a couple of days, you can treat your family with a fragrant delicacy.

brine brine

Another fairly common method with no less ancient history teaches us how to brine a brisket. It differs in that the piece will not be salted directly with salt, but with salt water in which spices are also dissolved. To prepare the brine, take 50 grams of salt for each liter of water. But how much spices and seasonings to put in is a matter of taste. The brisket needs to be immersed in water and a weight placed on top.

Salting time depends on the size of the piece. Usually two or three days is enough. Before salting the brisket in this way, you can stuff the piece with garlic.

What to serve salted brisket with

This delicacy is ideal as a side dish of boiled or baked potatoes. Homemade fermentations and pickles are combined with salted brisket. You can set the table with wooden, ceramic or clay dishes, as well as choose linen textiles.

2016-01-12

Hello my dear readers! I hope you all had a great New Year and Christmas holiday without overdoing it with the amount of food. If overeating still cannot be avoided, then I advise you to drink instead of breakfast for several days. In a couple of days you will feel like a young green cucumber and you will be able to afford a little tasty and harmful! At the numerous requests of workers (as it was once customary to write in Soviet newspapers), today I present to you a home-made alternative to all sorts of Italian pancettas, which cost an enormous amount of money. So, right now we are going to master the recipe for salted pork belly.

Once upon a time, my uncle Kuzya and aunt Nina (a handsome Greek and a stately Georgian) were engaged in a rather prosaic business - raising pigs. They kept the pigs in “especially large sizes.” In the pig “mansions” there were 100-150 “piglets” living at a time. They were fed in a very unique way - they were released into the forest, where the sow animals and wild boars were treated to chestnuts, beech nuts, acorns, herbs, roots and even black summer truffles. In the evening, the animals, as a rule, returned to a cozy, clean stall, where a hearty dinner awaited them (fresh vegetables and fruits from the garden), which they, even having eaten to their fill on the walk, never refused. The meat of the “free-grazing people” was different amazing taste. It was used to make smoked loin of excellent quality, as well as other dizzying delicacies such as dried and boiled pre-salted pork belly.

Uncle and aunt worked tirelessly. In addition to the most aromatic pork belly, they cooked wonderful suluguni, baked for sale, made homemade churchkhela and magnificent kozinaki from walnuts. Aunt Nina often, at family celebrations, gradually laid her head on the table and fell soundly asleep. No, not from drinking too much, but from the fatigue accumulated over many years. And I, a young talent who can brilliantly perform the Liszt-Paganini Companella, but who is completely ignorant of life, sinfully thought: “Lord, why do they work so hard? Out of greed, or what? This is what you should do - sleep on an anniversary, wedding or christening!” Many years later, in the dashing nineties, ironically, my husband and I had to engage in meat processing. Those were, who remembers, “fun” times. In order to survive, earn money and escape from racketeering and the tax office, you had to do a fair amount of fiddling around. Often at family celebrations (and not only) I would quietly fall with my head on the table and fall asleep from hopeless, sticky, endless fatigue. To paraphrase the classic, one day I unsuccessfully talked about the labor efforts of my relatives, so I had to work a lot and hard, unexpectedly longer and more than I expected... Although, our conversation went somewhat sideways, we were going to cook salted pork belly according to a family recipe .

Salted Pork Belly Recipe

Pork belly in brine

• 1.5 kg-2 kg boneless pork belly.
• 2 liters of clean unboiled water
• 140 g of salt (for subsequent preparation of a cooked product) or 200 g of salt (for subsequent preparation of a dry-dried or raw smoked product).
• 20 g sugar.
• 20 ml of 2% sodium nitrite solution (optional).

I had these pieces of brisket, as in the photo:

Preparing the brisket

How to prepare brine

1. First, dissolve salt and sugar in water.
2. Pour in a 2% sodium nitrite solution (optional).
3. Stir.

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Aging in brine

1. Soaking in brine for 4-5 days for subsequent production of boiled brisket.
2. Aging for 7-8 days for subsequent production of dry-dried or raw smoked product.

Recipes for brined brisket

Boiled

Dry-cured

First way

Second way

1. Remove from brine and dry thoroughly with clean towels.
2. Place in a container, level, and place in the refrigerator.
3. Turn the piece over every day.
4. After about 4 days, remove from the refrigerator and add just a little salt on all sides.
5. Sprinkle with spices (chaman, Imeretian saffron, black and red pepper in my case).
6. Place in the refrigerator again for aging.
7. Dry in the refrigerator, turning regularly, until desired consistency and flavor are obtained.

Raw smoked

1. Until the moment of drying, the whole process is the same as in the previous recipe. Instead of drying, we dry it for about a day in a cool room under a fan.
2. We smoke in cold smoke for about a day.

My comments

• Before salting, the brisket should have a temperature of no more than 4°C.
• You can experiment with spices. Use dried rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, fennel seeds and flowers to suit your taste.
• In order not to be on duty at the stove when making boiled brisket, you can purchase multicooker with slow cooker function. The induction element of such a multicooker will maintain the set temperature throughout the entire cooking process.
• I dried it in the refrigerator (unfortunately, I don’t yet have the necessary room where dogs, cats and mice that periodically wander into the light would not have access) for two weeks, it turned out delicious, but if I dry it for another two weeks, it will turn out simply divine.
• The smoke should have a temperature of no more than 35°C.
• It is best to smoke with beech, ash sawdust, as well as sawdust from fruit trees (plum, apricot, cherry).
• After smoking, you can eat the brisket immediately, but it is better if it is dried for at least an additional week.

Dry salted pork belly

Ingredients

• 1 kg boneless pork belly.
• 20-25 g salt.
• 10 g sugar.
• Ground black pepper.
• Ground red hot peppers.
• Dry thyme or oregano.

How to cook

1. Grind the spices or grind them in a mortar and mix with salt and sugar.
2. Rub the resulting mixture on all sides of the brisket, prepared in the same way as for salting in brine.
3. Place in a container and refrigerate.
4. Turn over daily and massage with your hands.
5. After 7-8 days, rinse the brisket in cold water, pat dry with clean towels.
6. Dry or smoke in the same way as raw materials salted in brine.

My comments

• After salting, you don’t have to dry the brisket, but simply put it in the freezer. Remove from the freezer and cut into thin slices - also a very tasty product!

The spices I suggested are not strictly necessary. Moreover, you may simply not like the taste and aroma of fennel or rosemary, for example. Feel free to replace some spices with others, guided only by personal preferences. But still, try my combinations - perhaps you will unexpectedly like new, previously unfamiliar tastes and smells in combination with salted brisket. Experiment and you will be happy!

Let's agree right away we're talking about only about pork belly. Pork belly is the part of the carcass located on the sides of the abdominal region behind the shoulder blade. It consists of alternating layers of lard with thin layers of meat. Usually the brisket is smoked, marinated or salted.

We'll tell you how to quickly and deliciously pickle pork belly at home. You can salt it “dry” or in brine. At the market we choose a beautiful brisket. Meat for salting must undergo veterinary control (as evidenced by a seal from the slaughterhouse or a special certificate).

You can, of course, just salt the brisket with salt, it will turn out edible and probably even tasty, but it’s not too interesting, so it’s better to salt it with spices.

How to dry brine brisket?

• pork belly;
• ground black pepper;
• ground hot red pepper (can be halved with paprika);
• garlic;
• coarse table salt.

It is most convenient to salt in parchment paper, but you can also use it in a rectangular container.

Mix ground black pepper, ground red pepper and salt in equal parts (you can add just a little ground cloves). Cut the peeled garlic across the clove into thin pieces.

On a piece of brisket we make cuts deep to the skin so that we get rectangular pieces measuring approximately 5x6-8 cm, place pieces of garlic into the cuts and generously add a mixture of salt and pepper. Don’t be afraid to add more salt than necessary; the lard will take as much as it needs.

We wrap a piece of brisket sprinkled with salt and spices in paper or place it in a container (preferably an enamel tray, ceramic or glass container, but you can also salt it in a plastic container).

Place the package or container in the refrigerator on a shelf for 24 hours. Then for another 24 hours - into the freezer compartment. Cut the brisket into thin slices. You can simply serve this wonderful delicacy on a plate or make sandwiches with black bread and onion rings (with a glass of homemade red wine or a glass of vodka, or strong bitters... mmm... so as not to swallow your tongue!).

How to brine brisket?

• pork belly;
• water;
• table salt;
• peppercorns (allspice and black);
• coriander, mustard, fennel and cumin seeds;
• Bay leaf;
• carnation;
• hot red pepper;
• garlic.

Cut the brisket into rectangular pieces measuring approximately 5x6-8 cm.

We need just enough brine to fill the coated brisket pieces 1 finger higher in a tight container.

Approximate calculation per liter: 3-5 bay leaves, 8-12 peppercorns, 3-5 clove buds, 1-2 red peppers, 3-5 cloves of garlic, the rest is optional (coriander seeds, fennel and cumin). You need enough salt to float a raw egg or potato.

Dissolve salt in the required volume of water, place dry spices, garlic and hot pepper in a container along with pieces of brisket. Boil water with salt, boil for 3-5 minutes and cool to a temperature of 60-40 degrees C. Fill the pieces of brisket with spices completely with brine and close the container (in this case we use a non-plastic container) with a lid, cool, and then Place the container in a cool place for 36-48 hours.

If you add strong light wine (Madeira, for example, or sherry) and ground spices (red and black pepper, coriander, barberry berries) to the brine, it will turn out even tastier.

Interesting articles

Salted brisket needs no introduction or advertising. Men and women love it, serve it on holidays and take it with them on hikes. How to make your own brined brisket? Easily!

Salted brisket - general principles of preparation

Brined brisket can be prepared in three ways: dry, brined and hot.

To dry brisket, use salt, spices, herbs and garlic. Ideal salt ratio for salting: 4 tbsp. spoons of salt per kilogram of brisket. Pieces of garlic are stuffed into the brisket. The bottom of the bowl is sprinkled with a mixture of salt and spices and the brisket is placed on it, sprinkled with the same mixture. Leave it in this form for a day, after which it is put in the refrigerator.

The second method of salting brisket involves preparing brine. To do this, boil water with salt and then cool it. The brisket is cut into small pieces. Place them in a bowl, topped with herbs, spices and garlic. All this is poured with cooled brine, covered with a lid and left for several days. After this, the brisket is tasted, and if it is salted, it is put in the refrigerator.

The brisket is hot salted and pre-boiled for several minutes in water with the addition of salt and spices. Then leave in the same solution for at least 8 hours. Then the brisket is taken out, rubbed with garlic, covered with herbs, wrapped in film and put in the refrigerator.

Recipe 1. Salted brisket

Ingredients

A few cloves of garlic;

A tablespoon of ground pepper;

Two tbsp. spoons of salt.

Cooking method

1. Peel the garlic cloves and cut into slices of medium thickness. Wash the brisket, dry with a napkin and cut into 6 cm pieces right down to the skin. Mix salt and pepper.

2. Thoroughly rub the brisket with a mixture of salt and pepper, stuff the entire piece with garlic. Wrap the brisket in baking paper and leave for four hours.

3. Then put the brisket in the refrigerator for a day, then take it out, rub it a little with salt, wrap it in new paper and leave for another day. Remove the brisket again, place it in a bag and place it in the freezer for another 24 hours. The brisket is ready!

Recipe 2. Salted brisket under pressure

A kilogram of fresh brisket;

Salt – 4 tbsp. spoons;

5 g each of ground black pepper, dried and crushed dill umbrellas, coriander;

A pinch of allspice peas;

A few cloves of garlic and bay leaves;

2.5 g nutmeg.

Cooking method

1. Wash the brisket thoroughly, after which you need to blot it with a napkin. Cut into pieces five centimeters thick. Peel the garlic and cut into slices. Mix salt with spices.

2. Make small cuts in the brisket, where we insert the garlic slices. Thus, we stuff all the pieces. Rub each piece thoroughly with a mixture of spices and salt.

3. Cover the bottom of the dish with salt and seasonings, add a few bay leaves and allspice. Place the brisket on a layer of salt, skin side down. Cover with a plate and press down with a weight. Leave the dishes with the brisket for a day at room temperature, after which we put the brisket in the refrigerator and keep it there until ready. After about three days, the brisket is ready!

Recipe 3. Hot salted brisket

Ingredients

A kilogram of fresh brisket;

A glass of salt;

15 black peppercorns;

A teaspoon of adjika;

Several bay leaves;

A couple of cloves of garlic;

One and a half liters of water.

Cooking method

1. Wash the brisket, dry it with a napkin and cut it to the length of the dish in which it will be salted and three centimeters wide. Using a sharp knife, scrape the skin until white. We peel the garlic and pass it through a garlic press.

2. Pour water into an enamel pan, bring it to a boil, add salt and add spices. Grind allspice in a mortar in advance.

3. Place the brisket pieces into boiling brine and cook for about five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave for 10 hours. After this time, take out the brisket, wait for the moisture to drain, rub it with chopped garlic, wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator. After three hours, the brisket is ready.

Recipe 4. Salted brisket “Juicy”

Ingredients

A kilogram of pork belly;

Half a glass of salt;

5 cloves of garlic;

Two teaspoons of pepper mixture;

10 coriander peas;

A couple of bay leaves;

Fresh dill.

Cooking method

1. Wash the brisket well and dry it with a napkin. Pour salt into a bowl and roll the brisket in it on all sides. Remove excess salt.

2. Peel the garlic, squeeze half of it through a garlic press, and cut the remaining cloves into slices. We make small cuts in the brisket, where we insert the garlic slices. Sprinkle the top of the brisket with a mixture of peppers and cover with sprigs of fresh dill.

3. Place the brisket tightly in a bowl, add pre-crushed coriander and bay leaf. Leave for a day, after which we put it in the refrigerator for another 24 hours. The brisket is ready!

Recipe 5. Salted brisket boiled in onion skins

Ingredients

A kilogram of pork belly;

Peel from five onions;

Half a glass of salt;

10 black peppercorns;

Two carnation flowers;

A few cloves of garlic;

Half a teaspoon of mustard seeds.

Cooking method

1. Take a brisket with a good layer of meat, wash, dry and cut into strips five centimeters wide, and the length of the pieces should correspond to the container in which you will salt.

2. Place the brisket in a saucepan, cover with water, then take out the pieces, add salt, onion peels, spices to the water and put on fire. Place the brisket in the boiling brine, reduce the heat and cook for half an hour. Before turning off, add chopped garlic.

3. Leave the brisket in the brine until it cools. Remove the pieces and place them on a wire rack to drain off excess moisture. Rub the brisket with garlic passed through a press. Mix red and black pepper, mustard seeds and sprinkle this mixture over the pieces.

4. Wrap the brisket in film or foil and refrigerate for a day.

Recipe 6. Flavorful salted brisket

Ingredients

800 g pork belly;

4 tbsp. spoons of coarse salt;

2 teaspoons paprika;

Half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, sugar, coriander, ground red and black pepper, dried dill.

Cooking method

1. Wash and dry the brisket. Cut in half. Make cuts on top down to the skin. Peel the garlic, cut into slices or pieces, and distribute it into the slits.

2. Rub the brisket well with salt and place in a deep bowl. Cover with a plate on top and place a weight. Leave it under pressure for a day.

3. Mix dill, paprika, red and black peppers, nutmeg, sugar and coriander. Clean the brisket from salt, pat dry with a napkin, and rub well with spices, not forgetting the cuts.

4. Wrap the brisket in baking paper, put it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Then place it in the freezer for an hour.

Recipe 7. Salted brisket with ascorbic acid

Ingredients

Half a kilogram of pork belly;

Six tablets of ascorbic acid;

5 buds of cloves;

8 peas of allspice;

12 black peppercorns;

Half a glass of coarse salt;

5 cloves of garlic;

2 bay leaves;

A tablespoon each of cayenne and ground black pepper;

Liter of water.

Cooking method

1. Add salt and spices to the water, boil and cool. Rinse the brisket well and dip in napkins. Peel the garlic and chop it using a garlic press. Ascorbic acid grind into powder and mix with garlic. Rub this mixture over the brisket on all sides.

2. Pour the cooled brine over the brisket and place in the refrigerator for a week. The brine should completely cover the brisket; if necessary, use pressure.

3. Mix cayenne and black peppers. Drain the brine from the brisket and place it on a wire rack to drain. excess liquid. Sprinkle the piece with the pepper mixture and place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Recipe 8. Salted brisket with basil and sweet pepper

Ingredients

One and a half kilograms of brisket;

A glass of coarse salt;

Half a glass of sugar;

Sweet red pepper;

Bulb;

Chopped basil - tablespoon;

3 cloves of garlic;

0.5 teaspoon allspice;

6 bay leaves;

A couple of sprigs of thyme;

A tablespoon of black peppercorns.

Cooking method

1. Bell pepper wash, dry, cut out the tail, clean out the seeds and finely chop. Peel the onion and garlic and chop using a blender. Pour salt, sugar into a plate, add allspice, chopped basil, chopped pepper, garlic and onion. Mix everything thoroughly.

2. Sprinkle half of the spice-vegetable mixture on the bottom of the enamel bowl. Lay out the brisket, sprinkle the remaining spices on top, lay out the bay leaf, thyme sprigs and sprinkle with black peppercorns.

3. Cover the brisket cling film, then with foil and press down with a weight. Place the dish in the refrigerator for 10 days, periodically turning the brisket and stirring the mixture of vegetables and spices.

Recipe 9. Salted brisket with hot pepper

Ingredients

A kilogram of pork belly;

Half a glass of table salt;

5 bay leaves and clove buds each;

12 black peppercorns;

To taste mustard seeds, coriander, fennel and cumin;

Two red hot peppers;

Head of garlic.

Cooking method

1. Wash the brisket, dip it in napkins and cut into small pieces. Cut off the tail of the hot pepper and chop it into rings. Peel the garlic and use thin slices.

2. Dissolve salt in water, wait until it boils, and cook for five minutes. Sprinkle the bottom of an enamel bowl with spices, lay out pieces of hot pepper and garlic. Lay out the pieces of brisket, pour in the cooled brine, cover with a lid and leave in a cool place for two days.

• You can add sherry or Madeira to the brine, as well as barberries. This will make the brisket even more flavorful and delicious.
• For salting, take a whole piece of brisket with thin skin without damage, and layers of meat and lard of equal thickness. The knife should enter the brisket easily.
• Salted brisket is served with a side dish of vegetables, or as an independent appetizer. Before serving, remove excess salt from the brisket or rinse under running water. It can be used in cold cuts, garnished with finely chopped herbs or green onions.
• Place the finished brisket in the freezer for a couple of hours. This is done so that it can be beautifully cut into thin slices.
• Salted brisket can be baked in the oven, or added as an addition to your favorite dishes.
• Store brisket in the refrigerator or in a dry, cool basement.
• If you add onion peels to the brine, the brisket will acquire a beautiful golden color.

“Cold” or “dry” salting of pork belly usually takes a long time – at least several days. But you can cook tender meat with lard and the “hot” method. In just 15 hours you will be able to enjoy tender brisket homemade. This method is very simple, and, at the same time, the result is always excellent. Even a beginner can brine a brisket this way. You can't buy this kind of meat in a store. Let's find out how brisket is prepared in brine, the most delicious recipe in front of you.

Ingredients:

- pork belly – 500 g;
- table salt – 1/2 cup;
- bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
- allspice – 7-8 pcs.;
- dry adjika – 1.5 tbsp. l.;
- garlic – 1-2 cloves (in brine) + 1 clove for grating.



1. Choose a piece of pork belly according to your taste - with a predominance of meat or lard. I chose a moderately fatty piece with a lot of meat and small layers of fat. You can use pork with or without skin. Wash it in plenty of cold water and dry it with a towel or paper napkins.




2. Prepare hot pickle. It will require about a liter clean water. Pour it into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add salt. Don't let it scare you a large number of this ingredient, as the brisket ends up being moderately salty and spicy. Salt will prevent the brisket from spoiling during brining because it acts as a natural preservative.




3. Prepare a bouquet of spices. Crush the allspice peas using a tablespoon or the flat side of a knife. Add salt after.




4. This recipe also uses dry adjika. If you don’t have a ready-made mixture, you can prepare it yourself by mixing suneli hops (basil, celery, dill, hot pepper, parsley, cilantro, mint, marjoram, savory, fenugreek, hyssop and other Caucasian herbs) with dried garlic and other spices to taste. Add adjika to the brine.




5. Also put a couple of bay leaves in the saucepan.




6. Peel 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic and, without chopping, throw into boiling water.




7. When the brine returns to a boil, add the brisket to the brine and bring the brine back to a boil. From this point on, cook the pork for 5-7 minutes (depending on the size of the piece). Then remove the pan from the heat and leave at room temperature for 12-16 hours. While the brisket is in the brine, it will be saturated with the aroma and taste of the seasonings, salted well, and become very tender and tasty. Don't worry, it won't spoil.
By the way, to give the brisket an interesting golden hue, you can add a few handfuls onion peel. You can see the recipe for brisket prepared in this way.
Just don’t forget to rinse it thoroughly, or better yet, soak it in cold water for several hours.
And to add a smoked taste, you can add 2-3 tablespoons of liquid smoke to the brine or smoke the finished brisket for 1.5-3 hours (depending on the type of smokehouse).
But the brisket prepared according to this recipe turns out tasty and appetizing, so I consider experiments unnecessary.




8. Then remove and dry the brisket.




9. Peel the remaining garlic and pass through a press or finely chop with a knife. Rub the garlic into the meat.




10. Then wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. To make the brisket more dense and not crumble when slicing, you can place a weight of about 3 kg on top (a jar or bowl of water, etc.).




11. And then you can cut the pork and taste it. This is how soft pink and juicy the brisket in brine turned out to be, this is the most delicious recipe in my humble opinion and according to the unofficial rating of my household. Therefore, I recommend that you try it too.

We also invite you to prepare