Pork Brine Recipe:

A heavy-duty plastic tube, stainless-steel bowl, or resealable plastic bagcan work as a brining container, as long as the pork is fully submerged.Weight with a plate, if necessary, to keep the meat fully covered by thebrine.To determine how much brine you''ll need, place the meat to be brined inyour chosen container. Add water to cover. Remove the meat and measure thewater.Dissolve salt and sugar in the boiling water. Add it to the cold water; addpepper and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigeratorbefore adding pork. Place your pork in the water and place in therefrigerator for the time required.Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else isoptional. Consider garlic, ginger, fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove,cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, mustard seed, coriander seed, star anise, hotpepper flakes or Sichuan peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge andencourage browning, add 1/2 cup sugar to each 2 quarts of water.Rinse pork twice after removing it from the brine solution; discard brine.If you are not ready to cook at the end of the brining time, remove andrinse the meat. Refrigerate until ready to use.