2 Brined Racks and 1 Not

[Captain Morgan]

well how was it????

 

[Green Hornet]

Well there ya go. looks good to me!

 

[Nick Prochilo]

Looks great Craw! Would you brine again?

 

[ScottyDaQ]

Looks good. nice pics

 

[Cliff H.]

Looks great. I love lots of pics

 

[Puff1]

Nice pic's Craw, looked great

 

[K Kruger]

I was aksing myself this same question, and I think I would. I might even press my luck and brine for longer (2 hours). The brine didn't really break down the meat, but they were indeed juicy.

Unless the brine is acidic or contains enzymes like those found in fresh pineapple, papaya, kiwi, ginger et al, brining won't break down meat unless the brine time is over the top--but plain water will do it in that case too. Also, notwithstanding the warning in the recipe, brining longer will not "pull out too many of the pork juices ". What it can do, particularly if the brine contains a high ratio of sugar to salt, is flatten the flavors and/or add a 'hammy' note to the profile.

I'd skip the paprika for two reasons: one, it doesn't have much flavor to begin with, especially in that concentration and two, its flavor elements are mostly fat soluble, not water soluble.

If you wish, try at some point cutting the sugar to 1 tablespoon; try heating 2 c of the water with the salt and sugar (dissolves better) plus the flavor additions (heat will more readily disperse the volatle flavor elements) then add the rest of the water and chill the brine before use or add ice water to chill it quicker. (Make sure it's cold before the meat is added. A Ziploc full of ice stuck into the brine container will chill it more quickly as well. Also try fresh garlic (a clove or two smashed, no need to peel), perhaps a bay leaf or three and/or a sprig of thyme or a T or two of dried, and/or some citrus zest or granulated onion. All of these work best if heated in some of the water at the outset. Just a few thoughts.

Your ribs look great.

 

[Finney]

Craw, they looked great. Glad you liked the outcome of your experiment.
question: Did you remove or leave the membrane?

 

[Finney]

I just asked because of the picture below the "before sauce" caption. The back side of the ribs just "looked" like it might have still been there.