Can Splenda be used for brining meats?

[acey]

I have loved to brine whole chickens, turkeys, pork roasts, etc., in the past. Brined meats are more tender, succulent and flavorful. Brining involves dissolving kosher salt, and some sort of sugar or maple syrup, in water, maybe some herbs or peppercorns, and letting the meat sit under refrigeration for several hours or even 2 days for large cuts of meat, before baking.

I have called the Splenda people and the girl will try to find the answer for me, but in the meantime, I wonder if any fellow Atkineers use Splenda in brining solutions?

TIA
Acey :wave

[NulloModo]

I have never tried brining with Splenda, but really, you don't need any kind of sweetish thing in your brine at all. The point of a brine (as opposed to a marinade) is to change the protein structure of the meat to add more moisture. Just salt and water should do just fine.

[not2late]

Yes, it can. I've added half a packet to the basic brine and it works well. But I agree with Nullo you really don't need to add sugar/sweetener to a meat brine.

I LOVE brining, by the way, especially lean meats like chicken breast, turkey breast and loin pork chops.

Oh yeah, if you're going to brine a large piece of meat, use a metal skewer and poke holes into the meat so the brine can fully penetrate it.

[2big4mysize]

actually you do need the sweet if you are going for a sweet taste in your final product. the water moves out of the cells of the meat in responce to the pressure gradient of the sodium and the sugars outside the cells. this causes the concentration of the salt and the sugar to go up inside the meat cells and the herb flavors travel in with them.

Now the question is do cell memebranes recognize Splenda as sugar for transportation purposes while not being able to break them down as a carbohydrate. if you use the powdered Splenda the dextrose in it will act as a sugar but you wil not have the same pressure gradient asthe same amount of sugar.

[NulloModo]

Well, I suppose it would help if you wanted the final meats to be sweet... but sweet turkey ? Hehe, maybe I am just out in left field on that one then.

[Kent]

sweet turkey ?

Try telling that to Hickory Farms with their nasty honey turkey summer sausage - ugh. I firmly believing in brining and just got done with my preChristmas brined turkey. (I used to hate the dryness of turkey until I started brining them) Right now, I am only doing 2 cups of kosher salt to 2 gallons of water and some peppercorns. Any other suggestions to add to the brine?

[not2late]

Agree with Nullo about a sweet turkey---gives a whole new meaning to "turkey pie"

Kent, you can add whatever herbs and spices you want to the brine: citrus peel (okay maybe not for turkey), coriander seeds (crush them), rosemary, etc.

Oh yeah, if you want flavor to penetrate AND have a pink color (like ham and other cured meat), you can use curing salt.

Looking back at acey's original post, maybe the purpose is to get a flavor, like maple, in the end result. Brown sugar will get the meat a hint of molasses. Honey will give it a hint of honey. Maple syrup will give it a maple flavor.

So if the aim is to get this secondary flavor, what would be a good low carb substitute? Could you get away with basting the meat with a flavored Splenda syrup or injecting it with a flavored Splenda syrup?

[2big4mysize]

it might have been to cut down on the amount of sodium too a sugar/salt cure uses much less sodium then just a salt cure.

[acey]

Thanks for all the responses. I was actually asking for more of a scientific response than a taste response, as was suggested by the cellular post.

And yes, brining is THE way to go! The meat does not taste salty, it just makes it more juicy. And the flavors (like maple or some lemon juice) are only intended to provide a nuance or slight suggestion of that flavor. Don't want a turkey tasting like a pancake with syrup, after all!!!

I may try using a small amount of a daVinci syrup to the brine....it is fun to experiment with brines, because the resultant flavor is so subtle. Again, I brine more to ensure a juicy, tender product than to provide a certain taste or aroma.

I am getting a crown roast of pork for Christmas, and am going to brine it for a day before I roast it.

Oh man, the coolest thing just happened as I was typing this at my computer in my back bedroom office.....a faint rumbling arose which I thought was a passing plane, then I realized WAIT!!!!... that is the sound of a rocket.....So I ran out the front door in time to see this huge beautiful white trail and the speck of Delta 4 rocket screaming forward just to the left of the early moon....shining like a star!!!! My front door trembled as the sound was carrying very well and for a long time.

I did not know there was to be a launch today...it was spectacular...too bad I wasn't outside waiting for it (like I always do when I know about them) but happy to share the event live time with you all!!!

Happy Brining!!!!

[acey]

Just an update on brining with Splenda.....
I called the 800 number for Splenda and posed my question to their research dept.
Just yesterday, they called me back and left a message saying that Splenda was not desiigned for that purpose.

Not the scientific answer that I was looking for, but that is what they said.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Just an update on brining with Splenda.....
I called the 800 number for Splenda and posed my question to their research dept.
Just yesterday, they called me back and left a message saying that Splenda was not desiigned for that purpose.

Not the scientific answer that I was looking for, but that is what they said.

Maybe they tried it and thought it was BLEK?

[2big4mysize]

no it doesn't creat the pressure gradient you want because there isn't a concentration of Splenda inside the meat for the water to seek to equal. When the concentration of one compound that can set up a force on the membranes is greater on one side then the other the water moves from the low side to the high side euqalling the concentrations but it has to be something that sets up a forece and splenda doesn't do that just as things like fat or herbs don't what happens is as this water is flowing in and out some of the herbs are attaching themselves to this water and getting transported inside the food where they latchonto another molecule of the food and the water can move again After a period of time depending on how high the difference was the brine concentration and the meat concentrations are equal and no more stuff will move. SOme marinades speed this up by having a acid in them to drive the water too and the acid damages the membranes and then stiff can go both ways and this damage tenderizes protein foods.

[MotherOfGizmo]

no it doesn't creat the pressure gradient you want because there isn't a concentration of Splenda inside the meat for the water to seek to equal. When the concentration of one compound that can set up a force on the membranes is greater on one side then the other the water moves from the low side to the high side euqalling the concentrations but it has to be something that sets up a forece and splenda doesn't do that just as things like fat or herbs don't what happens is as this water is flowing in and out some of the herbs are attaching themselves to this water and getting transported inside the food where they latchonto another molecule of the food and the water can move again After a period of time depending on how high the difference was the brine concentration and the meat concentrations are equal and no more stuff will move. SOme marinades speed this up by having a acid in them to drive the water too and the acid damages the membranes and then stiff can go both ways and this damage tenderizes protein foods.

Oh, oh! 2big's speaking Greek again! LOL Now I'm afraid to marinate anything anymore, I'm afraid I might create an atom bomb or something! :yikes

[NulloModo]

Hmmm, so I wonder if PolyDextrose has enough of the properties of sugar that it would work in a brine... it has the added bonus of being not very sweet at all.

[2big4mysize]

it is really simple if you have every been in the ocean too long and your fingers and toes got wrinkled they you have seem what is going on. The conscetration of salts in your skin cells was lower then that of the sea water so the water in your cells moved out and the resulting losing of this water caused the cells to become smaller ( don't you wish losing fat was this easy) and the skin puckered as a result. WHen you got out and washed off you stayed wrinkled until you drank enough water to rehydrate yourself.

Animal cell memebranes are partially permeable and only respond to certain things salts and sugar are two of those things. The cell membranes have very small holes in them and some things can diffuse in there as the water is flowing out. giving the meat the flavor of the brine all the way through.

You want the marinade to react and "work" on the meat as it is being used to tenderize your meat by breaking down connectice tissues and stuff.