D. Brines

The primary role of brining is to add moisture to food. The intense heat needed for direct grilling tends to dehydrate foods like pork chops and chicken breasts that have delicate fibers and little interior fat. That makes pork chops and chicken breasts prime candidates for brining. Soaking in a brine that is around 5 percent salt by weight for as little as 1 hour before grilling can make meat noticeably juicier and preserve its tenderness.

Brine works in two ways. Salt dissolves the protein in contracting muscle filaments, making them looser and therefore more tender. It also increases the capacity of muscle cells to bond with water, causing them to absorb water from the brine, which increases their weight by as much as 10 percent. As the water infuses into the meat, any flavor components from herbs, spices, or flavorful liquids are also absorbed, making brines an effective way to season meats beneath the surface. When meat cooks, it naturally loses moisture (about 20 percent), but by bulking up the moisture in meat through brining before it goes on the grill, you can effectively cut the net loss of juices by half.