Marinade for smoking meat: brine recipe for hot and cold smoking

What components are used

How to make brine for smoking meat and lard? Try using only salt or adding some iodine to it!

You can use store-bought pickling mixtures or prepare them yourself. Hot and cold marinades include:

turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cumin, cloves;
marjoram, basil, oregano, lemon balm, thyme, celery;
bay leaf, allspice, chili, mustard, coriander;
hawthorn, juniper berries;
onion, dill, garlic;
white, red wine, apple cider vinegar, honey.

Fresh and dried herbs are used for brine; whole spices are preferable.

Vegetable oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, ketchup, and tomato paste are added to the marinade.

Dry salting of meat for smoking

The longest method of preparing food for smoking, allowing it to be thoroughly soaked in salt and spices. Such meat or lard will acquire tenderness and taste, get rid of parasites, and will be protected from spoilage during storage.

Salt and spices are poured into an enamel or wooden container. Rub each piece with the same mixture, sandwich the meat (fat), and pour it on top.

When the dishes are filled, the contents are pressed down with pressure and placed in a cold place. The salting time depends on the smoking method: for hot smoking, 12 hours is enough, for cold, from 2 days to 2 weeks. Periodically turn the pieces over to ensure even soaking.

Before smoking, the released brine is drained and the meat is dried.

After dry salting, use any brine recipe for smoking meat in a cold smokehouse. Guaranteed salting of meat, replacing high temperature processing, combining the dry method and marinade. This is also effective for lard.

Features of cold smoking

There are two smoking methods, naturally, in the simplest classification. One of them is smoke treatment, the temperature of which often does not exceed the ambient temperature. Under such conditions, there are no fundamental changes in the structure of the fibers, so they retain their physical properties.

Cold smoked meat is easy to distinguish by its consistency. It is quite elastic, exactly the same as in its raw form. A yellowish tint is barely noticeable, especially in areas with streaks of lard or fat.

The temperature of cold smoking of meat is 25-27°C degrees. Compared to the hot method, there are not only low values, but also a small range. All this suggests that the smoking process must be taken with full responsibility. The meat is tougher, which is not such a positive property, but in the absence of exposure to high temperature, all vitamins and beneficial elements are retained in the fibers.

Another feature that you should pay attention to is shelf life. A product spoils only when pockets of microbes develop inside it. If hot smoking saves meat only during the cooking period, then cold smoking, which occurs after preliminary salting, loses its suitability for microbial life for a long time. Cold smoked products can be stored for several weeks.

Recipes for marinades for smoking

Most marinade recipes for smoking deli meats at home are used for beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, lard, and poultry. Brine saturates the food with moisture, making it juicy and soft.

Hot smoking allows products to be kept only in brine. The cold method assumes that meat or lard can be smoked immediately after dry salting, or additionally immersed in marinade.

The duration of marinating ranges from 4 hours to 14 days, depending on the recipe, processing method (cold longer), type of meat and size of the piece. Pork salts faster than beef, but slower than poultry. A whole rabbit or broiler carcass is kept in brine longer than portioned pieces.

Most pickle recipes are universal. Cold smoking requires patience and special equipment. Therefore, hot technology is more often used at home. If speed plays a decisive role, prepare a boiled-smoked delicacy:

the prepared pieces are salted for 4-5 hours in cold brine;
the marinade is filtered, brought to a boil, the meat and lard are boiled for 20-40 minutes;
the boiled pieces are cooled, dried, sent to the smokehouse, where they are cooked at a temperature of 90-95 ° C until a golden brown crust appears (30-60 minutes).

This delicacy cannot be stored for longer than 5 days, but it is ideal as a quick snack on a picnic.

The cold method better saturates the food with smoke, and the preliminary preparation is more thorough. Therefore, cold smoked products are stored (in vacuum packaging) for up to 3 months.

Methods for salting meat

Today there are several different ways to salt hot smoked meat. Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, and also requires a different amount of time. It’s worth choosing a salting option taking into account what kind of meat will be cooked, as well as how quickly you want to get delicious homemade smoked meats.

Dry method

This salting option is considered the simplest and requires a minimum amount of ingredients.
Meat for future smoked meats is salted exclusively in enamel or wooden dishes. The salting process takes on average 2-3 weeks. Each piece of meat is thoroughly rubbed on all sides with a large amount of salt and placed in a prepared container. It is worth noting that at the very bottom of the container there should be a layer of salt with the addition of spices and ground black pepper. The meat is placed in layers and each layer is additionally sprinkled with a separately prepared curing mixture. When a couple of weeks have passed, the brine that has formed in the container with the meat must be drained and the semi-finished products must be left to infuse for several more days. Experts recommend additional pressure on the meat and turning the pieces over from time to time so that they are evenly saturated with salt on all sides.

When the salting process is completely completed, the meat is thoroughly washed several times under running warm water. If the semi-finished products are too salty, they should be soaked in cool water and left in this form for a day. Before starting the smoking process, the meat is air dried for some time. Only after this can it be cooked in a hot smoked smokehouse.

Wet salting

Meat that is salted wet marinates much faster, because additional liquid is used.
In this case, you need to rub each piece with salt and place it in a container. The layers of meat are additionally sprinkled with a curing mixture. Then the semi-finished products are filled with strong brine. It is very important that the brine completely covers the meat. In order to shorten the marinating process several times, you can pre-inject it. For this, the most ordinary medical syringe is suitable, the needle of which must be inserted an average of 4-6 centimeters into the prepared semi-finished products. The brine is calculated in such a way that no more than 1/5 of the volume of liquid is used for each piece of meat.

Wet pickling can take about a month. But if you make the brine more concentrated and add more salt, then after 10-14 days you can start smoking the product. When the salting is completed, the products are thoroughly washed under running water and then hung in the fresh air for a day. This time will be enough for the excess liquid to drain and the meat to dry enough for hot smoking.

With turmeric

To prepare the marinade for this recipe, you should first prepare the following ingredients:

Liter of water;
30 grams of turmeric;
20 grams of allspice;
10 grams of black pepper;
20 grams of dried garlic and dill;
10-15 grams of sugar.

All components are mixed together and brought to a boil. When the marinade has cooled to room temperature, they need to pour the meat cut into portions. Semi-finished products must be marinated for at least two weeks.

With ascorbic acid

To prepare this brine, you should take 50 grams of salt, 20 grams of sugar and 5 grams of ascorbic acid per liter of water. Water is mixed with salt and sugar, then brought to a boil. After the marinade has cooled to room temperature, ascorbic acid must be added to it. This brine option is ideal for mixed salting of meat. Ready-made smoked meats prepared according to this recipe are very tasty, tender, juicy and have a very original taste.

With laurel

To prepare this very original and rich marinade, you need to take 5 liters of water, 150 grams of salt, 10-12 bay leaves, your favorite spices and herbs to taste, a large head of garlic. All components are mixed together and brought to a boil. When the brine has cooled to room temperature, pour it over the meat and leave to marinate in a cool place for 12 hours. This option is perfect for preparing cold smoked meat.

Mixed method

In this case, the name speaks for itself. The mixed salting method involves both dry and wet salting.

This method is in most cases used for meat when the finished smoked meats need to be stored for quite a long time.

Portioned pieces of meat must be rubbed on all sides with salt and your favorite spices and placed in a container that will not oxidize. Next, the semi-finished products are pressed under pressure and left to marinate for five days. After this, a cold brine is made, in which the meat should be kept for 1-2 weeks. The peculiarity of the method is that after marinating the meat does not need to be washed additionally. It is worth hanging it in the fresh air for a while so that the glass will remove excess moisture and dry it for further smoking.

Brine for cold smoked chicken

The permissibility of long-term storage is not the only advantage of the cold method. Cold smoke gives the product a particularly delicate taste. Spices are used carefully - too much will easily ruin everything. This rule applies to poultry, meat, and lard.

For one chicken the recipe provides:

salt - 0.5 tbsp. ;
bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
garlic – 2-3 cloves;
black pepper - a few peas;
juniper berries – 5-6 pcs.;
cinnamon stick.

Adding 0.5 tsp to the recipe. ascorbic acid, you will enhance the shade of the finished cold processed product.

Prepare the brine by mixing everything in water at room temperature. We lay the chicken for 12-48 hours so that the liquid completely covers the carcass.

Before placing the bird in the smokehouse, hang it to dry in a cool room with good circulation for 2-3 hours.

An effective marinade for preparing chicken for cold smoking

Compound:

bay leaf – 4 pcs.;
ground black pepper – 5 g;
paprika – 5 g;
dried garlic – 5 g;
salt - to taste;
refined vegetable oil – 40 ml;
water – 4 l;
sugar – 40 g;
ascorbic acid – 20 g.

Cooking method:

Wash the chicken and dry with a towel.
Crush the bay leaf or grind it using a coffee grinder. Mix with spices and vegetable oil.
Add salt, mix well and rub the chicken inside and out.
Place the chicken carcass in a bag and refrigerate for 2 days.
After the specified time has passed, boil water, dissolve a spoonful of salt and sugar in it. You should not put a lot of salt, since it was already contained in the dry marinade that was used to rub the chicken at the first stage.
Crush ascorbic acid tablets into powder. You can use dragees or ascorbic acid with sugar or glucose. If your vitamins are sweet, the amount of sugar added to the marinade can be slightly reduced.
Pour ascorbic acid into the boiling marinade. Cook it for 5 minutes and remove from the stove. Cool to room temperature.
Remove the chicken from the bag and place it in the pan with the marinade. Leave it in it for 2 days.

The two-stage marinating technology allows you to perfectly prepare the chicken for cold smoking. If you plan to hot smoke the bird, you can halve the marinating time in the dry mixture and in brine.

Marinade for hot smoking lard

For a festive appetizer, choose a tender neck, permeated with the finest specks of lard. As an everyday option, loin is optimal - lard with layers of meat.

Initially, prepare the brine in the proportion of 1 liter of water:

salt - 160 gr.;
bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.;
black peppercorns – 7-10 pcs.;
cloves - 3-4 buds;
garlic – 2-4 cloves.

Bring the marinade to a boil, cool, and pour in the lard placed in an enamel pan. Press down with a weight and keep in a cold place for 10-12 days, turning over once a day.

We take out the salted pieces, tie them with twine and hang them for 1-2 days to dry in a cool, well-ventilated place.

Hot smoke at a temperature of 100-150°C for 1-2 hours. As soon as the lard acquires an attractive golden hue, the product is ready.

The cooled pieces can be served immediately. For storage, coat the lard with a mixture of salt, herbs and ground black pepper, and wrap in cling film.

How to salt meat at home - simple corned beef, “Country style”

• pork pulp (back) – 2 kg;

• 2 heaped spoons of refined sugar;

• salt, non-iodized, coarse – 8 full tablespoons;

• black pepper – 2 spoons of small peas, or 1 spoon of large ones;

• coriander and white pepper (not ground) – 1 dessert spoon each;

• nutmeg powder – two pinches of freshly ground, or three pinches “from a bag”;

• hot pepper – 3–4 large pods;

• 50 ml cognac;

• 2 medium heads of garlic;

• a spoonful of paprika powder;

• 1/4 spoon of cinnamon.

1. A container for pickling - enamel or porcelain, of a suitable size, rinse with hot water and soda, wipe and dry. You will also need linen or cotton fabric 30 cm wide and about a meter long; it is better to stock up on two such fabrics.

2. Without cutting the pulp into separate pieces, cut it so that individual slices weigh about 300–400 grams. Rinse and wipe away moisture.

3. Mix salt and sugar thoroughly, crush coriander and both types of pot pepper in a mortar, not too finely. The grains should break up into 5–7 crumbs.

4. Combine spices with salt and sugar in a bowl. Dip the meat slices one by one in the spices, lightly rubbing them in the process. Some of the spices will remain in the bowl; they need to be scattered over the canvas, leaving 2/3 for further sprinkling.

5. Place the meat slices on top of the salt and spices, leaving 2-centimeter gaps. Place garlic cloves in them. To do this, they need to be separated and the top, rough layer of husk removed; this will take 1 head. Sprinkle the remaining salt and pepper over the top and in between.

6. Tuck the wide edges of the fabric over the top of the flesh, trying to pull them as tight as possible. Next, fold the resulting “stocking” in half, lengthwise. We place the resulting workpiece in a container for pickling and press it on top with a load of about 2-3 kilograms (a two-liter jar of cold water is just right).

7. The future corned beef must be placed in the refrigerator for 5–8 hours. After the allotted time has passed, we take out the meat and unwrap it. There will be quite a lot of moisture in the bowl - do not pour it out!

8. Shake and scrape off all the spices and salt from the fabric with a spoon; we don’t throw them away, but pour them into a bowl. In their place, rub the pieces of meat with a mixture of paprika, cinnamon and nutmeg. Again, as tightly as possible, wrap the pulp with cloth in one layer. Rub crushed garlic on top, directly over the fabric, and distribute hot pepper pods. They must be whole, uncut, and free from rot and damage. Once again we wrap the entire workpiece in cloth, put it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator, under a load. Pour cognac into the brine.

9. Let sit for a day, turning the workpiece over every 6 hours and watering it once every 2 hours with the brine that is released. After 24 hours, remove all the spices from the corned beef slices with a knife; there should be no salt crystals left. We also remove all crumbs from the fabric. Wring out the cloth and wrap it around pieces of corned beef, two per serving. You can leave cloves of garlic and pepper between the pulp. They provide mainly aroma and have almost no effect on taste.

10. Place the pieces of corned beef in a sieve or plastic colander; they must be turned over once a day. It is recommended to pour the brine into a jar with a lid and leave it in the refrigerator for now. After 3 days, cut and try a piece of corned beef. The maximum aging period is 10 days; further aging in fabric can be accompanied by the addition of brine if you want to add saltiness. You can add another 75–100 ml of cognac - this will add color to the corned beef.

Brine for hot smoking pork

This marinade for home-smoked meat is suitable for any type of meat, but pork is tender, aromatic, and turns out best. This recipe is ideal for preparing a snack outdoors while relaxing by the fire.

For 1 kg of pork you will need:

water – 1 l.;
allspice - 3-5 peas;
cloves - 2-3 buds;
salt - 3 tbsp. with a slide;
black pepper – 2 dozen peas;
bay leaf - 2-3 pcs.;
granulated sugar - 2 tsp;
vegetable oil – 0.5 cups;
lemon – 1 pc. (juice).

Add spices to boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Cool to room temperature, add oil and lemon juice. You can add garlic, herbs, and mustard (beans or ready-made) to the marinade for hot smoking meat. Any additive will complement the recipe with its piquant notes.

The meat, cleared of films and excess fat, is immersed in cold brine, pressing down with pressure. Let it stand, turning several times, in the refrigerator for 2 days.

After removing the salted pork and straining the marinade from the spices, mix it with cold water (one glass at a time). Bring to a boil, lower the meat. Cook over low heat for about half an hour.

Take the boiled pieces out onto a flat plate and dry. Pork is ready to smoke! For complete readiness in hot smoke, it is enough for it to acquire a golden brown crust.

Universal marinade for smoking chicken with vinegar

Compound:

water – 3 l;
sugar – 60 g;
salt – 60 g;
table vinegar (9 percent) – 40 ml;
juniper - 1 sprig.

Cooking method:

Boil water, dissolve sugar and salt in it.
Place a sprig of juniper into the boiling brine and pour in vinegar. Boil for a couple of minutes and leave to cool.
Rinse the gutted and plucked chicken carcass thoroughly and dry with napkins.
Once the marinade has cooled to room temperature, immerse the chicken in it.

For hot smoking, marinate the bird for 24 to 48 hours, for cold smoking - twice as long.

Wine marinade

An excellent marinade of meat for smoking in a hot smoked smokehouse is prepared using wine:

Cahors or other wine (red, white) – 0.5 l;
vegetable oil – 0.4 l;
mustard powder – 1 tsp;
salt - 50 g;
pepper, herbs to taste.

All components are thoroughly mixed, the meat is kept cold for 8-12 hours. Hot smoke completely evaporates the alcohol. If you are determined to give up alcohol, replace the wine in the recipe with fruit vinegar.

Hot pickle

This brine for smoking meat at home allows you to soften even beef. A 1 kg piece prepared in this way will be smoked with hot smoke in 2-3 hours.

For 1.5 liters of water:

salt - 1 glass;
sugar - 4 tbsp;
citric acid - ½ tsp;
garlic - 2-3 cloves;
bay leaf - 2-3 pcs.;
a few black peppercorns.

Mix everything and put on fire. Place the meat in the brine and cook from the moment it boils for 5 minutes. Turn off the stove, leaving the pan on it for 8-10 hours.

Types of salting

Pork lard is salted for cold and hot smoking in a non-oxidizing container. The best choice would be wooden barrels made of beech, oak, and aspen. If they are not available, you can use enameled (without chips) dishes or stainless steel containers.

You cannot salt lard for smoking in galvanized buckets.

Important! During any salting, periodically rearrange the pieces of lard, changing their order so that they are evenly soaked.

Salting semi-finished lard products for cold and hot smoking is the same.

Dry salting

Important! Use medium-ground salt (No. 2) to salt lard for dry smoking. Coarse grinding does not rub well into the product and does not salt it enough, while fine grinding forms a drying crust.

A simple method of dry salting

This method of salting lard for smoking involves using only salt (100 g per 1 kg of raw materials), sometimes with the addition of ground black pepper.

Simple dry salted lard

Semi-finished products are rubbed with salt on all sides.

Place salt 0.5 cm thick into a container, place the pork skin side down, trying to compact the pieces as much as possible. They are laid horizontally, and the rows are generously salted. Peppercorns may be used. The quantity is determined by taste. The top layer is salted and pressed down with pressure.

You can salt lard before smoking 2-3 days in advance or increase the period to 10 days.

Dry salting with spices

Lard will be aromatic if you salt it before smoking with a set of seasonings. The mixture is made up of salt with allspice, cloves, coriander, cinnamon, garlic, ground black pepper, chopped bay leaf, and paprika. Mix the ingredients well.

Dry salting of lard with spices

The semi-finished product is rubbed with the resulting spice mixture and placed on salt. Salt the layers generously, especially the top one. This salting of lard is often used for smoking at home.

Wet Ambassador

If you salt lard for smoking with wet salting, the products will turn out more juicy. Use clean, filtered water.

Kefir marinade

An interesting recipe for a marinade for smoking meat in a smokehouse with kefir. Small pieces and whole poultry carcasses quickly become soft and evenly salted.

kefir - 200 ml;
vegetable oil - 0.5 cups;
honey - 2 tsp. honey;
salt - 1 tbsp;
black pepper - 1 tsp;
mint or lemon balm leaves;
1 large onion.

Grate the onion. Crush the mint leaves. Mix everything, pour over the meat for 9-11 hours. The recipe is suitable for hot smoking.

Quick salting for hot smoking

How to marinate fish for grilling

Wash, clean and gut the fish, cut into steaks. Place a saucepan with 1 liter of water on the stove, add 50 g of salt, half a lemon and half an orange, an onion cut into 4 parts, 1 tbsp. l. cinnamon, sugar and pepper mixture, 3 pcs. bay leaf, 1 tsp. a mixture of rosemary, sage and thyme. Cook for 5–10 minutes.

Cool and pour over the fish pieces. Cover and leave for 12 hours. Place the salted carcasses on a paper towel and leave to dry for 2 hours. Then you can smoke it. This fish turns out to be very aromatic, with a slight hint of citrus.

Universal marinade with ketchup and honey

This quick marinade is equally good for smoking meat and poultry. It is enough to keep poultry cut into pieces for 5 hours, whole carcasses, portioned pieces of meat - 8-11, large pieces of pork - 12-16, beef - up to 24.

Mix 1 glass each:

white wine;
ketchup;
vegetable oil;
honey

Add salt, pepper, dry mustard, and spices to taste. The recipe is recommended for hot smoking.

Smoking meat, hot or cold, is an exciting creative process, the result of which will be a delicious delicacy.

Advantages of products smoked at home

If we salt and smoke lard at home, the finished products are more environmentally friendly.
You can salt lard for hot or cold smoking using your favorite spices.
Salting lard for smoking at home and preparing smoked products is much cheaper than buying it.

Homemade smoked lard