The Brine Tub

Many of the recipes in this section, and here and there throughout other chapters, call for pickled or brined meats, usually pork or beef. Submerging meats in a spiced brine is a hand-me-down from the days before fridges and freezers. The salt in the brine preserved the meat until it was to be used.

These days the need for preservation is largely obsolete, and the once secondary effects of brining are of much greater interest to the cook. The process emphasises and develops the flavour, giving meat a mildly spiced savouriness.