When smoking or curing food, many recipes will call for you to brine your meat. Having a reliable go-to brine recipe is a must, so we’ve shared our favourite recipe below. You can find everything you need to replicate this at home by shopping our online store by clicking the links.

Basic Brine Recipe – how to make a basic brine for curing meat

Ingredients to make 4 Litres:

Cure #1 6.25% – 42g

Kosher Salt – 350g

Brown Sugar – 225g

Cloves – 3 whole cloves

Crushed Peppercorns – 2 tbsp

Coriander Seeds (lightly toasted) – 2 tbsp

Fennel Seeds – 2 tbsp

Ground Mace – 2 tsp

Chili Flakes (optional) – 2 tbsp

Ground Bay Leaf – 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds (lightly toasted) – 1 tbsp

Oregano Leaves – 1 tbsp

One cinnamon stick – whole

Method:

As with any brine, pickling spices are optional. If any of the above aren’t to your liking, leave them out. If using coriander and/or mustard seeds, lightly toast in a clean pan over low heat.

Combine all ingredients in a large pan. Add room temperature water and add to a low heat. Stir until all sugar and salt has dissolved. Allow to cool completely.

At Smoked and Cured, we provide a variety of umai bags, wood smokers, and more. Browse our selection today!