If you are a fan of meat, we are sure you like brining the meats to add flavor and improve the overall texture. Usually, people brine pork and chicken to make sure the recipe turns out juicy and flavorful. However, many people ask, “can you brine chicken and pork together?” when they want to save time. So, is that a possibility? Let’s find out!
Can You Brine Chicken And Pork Together?
Brining The Chicken & Pork Together – Is It Possible?
Proper preparation is important when you are cooking meats, especially pork and chicken. Brining only takes a few minutes and can make a significant difference to the final dish. Many people don’t understand it but brining helps add flavor to the meat. In addition, brine ensures that meat turns out tender and it involves soaking meat in the salted liquid solution. For the most part, kosher salt is used but liquid depends on your personal preference. While water is the most common choice, people also use apple juice, lemonade, and sweet tea. Now that you know what brining is, let’s see if you can brine pork and chicken together or not!
Should You Brine Chicken & Pork Together?
When the brine ingredients are mixed up, meat is placed in the brine and let sit there for over 24 hours. If you have time, you can soak the meat for 48 hours but make sure you don’t over-brine it as it can make the meat too salty. As far as brining these two slices of meat is concerned, it’s not suggested.
This is because pork and chicken need to be brined and packed separately. You might take the risk of brining them together but it increases the risk of cross-contamination. Cross-contamination is extremely dangerous and can also lead to food poisoning. On the other hand, if you have already brined these two types of meat together, make sure you don’t rinse the meat because rinsing is likely to enhance the chances of cross-contamination.
In addition, you must cook the meat properly – it is better to cook the meat at a higher temperature because it helps minimize the risks associated with bacterial growth and cross-contamination. It’s obvious that a higher cooking temperature will dry up the meat but that’s what you need to be on the safer side. On the other hand, if you haven’t brined the meats till now, we are sharing some reasons why must not brine them together;
- Chicken is one of the most consumed meats out there but it is also common to cause food poisoning. So, if the chicken is undercooked, you are highly likely to get sick and the same is the case with pork. Having said that, brining them together will increase the chances of food poisoning which is something you must consider
- Secondly, both these types of meat take a different timeline to cook up. in addition, they need to be cooked at different temperatures when you are trying to stick with USDA’s recommendations
- Brining them together will change the overall flavor of the meat which is not favorable for your recipe as it can change the entire flavor
To summarize, you must not brine chicken and pork together for health reasons and others.