Brown Sugar/Brining

So my pork cheek is brining for 24h now, but I'll leave it for 48h since my brother really wants to eat it and he'll only be home on monday.

Something I've yet to fully understand is how brining for different periods of time will affect the meat's texture, flavor and juiciness. It's in an equilibrium brine of 1% sea salt, 0.5% brown sugar and 0.5% spices and aromats.

How different is 24h brining from 48h and how will the end product be affected? It can only get better right?

Another question that's been wondering my mind: how does brown sugar in recipes differentiate from white sugar?

Obviously stuff like caramels, meringues and icings are very affected by this difference of purity in the sugar but how will it affect the texture of say, a cake, or a scone? Why is it used in brines instead of white sugar? (Mostly anyway)

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Comments

brian_martin2001

The brown sugar has more moisture, and a different flavor to it. It affects the texture by having more moisture in it. I would think it's used in brines more frequently than white sugar because of the flavor. If you're using an equilibrium brine, there probably won't be much difference in texture or flavor. There may be a little extra moisture to it. I can't imagine it would be affected very much. That's the beautiful utility of equilibrium brining, it can't be over-brined. As far as it getting better, I don't think it would get better or worse.

tshewman

See Brian's response. The longer it's in the brine, the more opportunity there is for the product and environment to reach equalibrium. As for brown sugar, there is a trade between sweet and salty and as I understand it any sugar (including honey, maple syrup and the like) are to lessen the impact of the salty flavor. As Brian says there may be a moisture component but with brown sugar, there is also molasses ....as much as ~6 percent in dark brown sugar, less in light brown, so there would be a change in flavor as well.