Brining/Marinating Questions for Professionals

Former Member

As a small caterer, looking to ramp up and increase volume as time goes on, I currently have the luxury of being able to do things like soak chicken breasts in brine, inject brine into pork butts, and inject marinade into my briskets b/c obviously there is a good cushion between my orders coming in and the delivery date - I love the results I get.

My question is as time goes on and things get busier, and say I grow into a small restaurant operation, etc is it feasible to continue brining, etc or do you guys just have to sacrifice these types of steps for the sake of quantity and volume - eg take the meat hit it with rub and toss it in the pit.

I have worked as a chef/cook in restaurants for years but not in any Q joints so I am not as familiar with the operations side of such an establishment and the norms. Not sure this question came out right but I'll keep asking until I get the answer I am looking for.

8/16/0411:25 PM

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Former Member

tnbrian,
never let up on your quality. what you will be required to do is to make a prep list determined by your orders. or in other words plan ahead based off of them. a lot of items can be cooked, frozen and reheated with no loss in quality as you know from your experience.
for example cooked meats are good for 3 days tops. frozen with minimal care 1 month. so all you have to do is figure your meat load and then just back off from there. this is the very thing that kills me about competition cooks and turn in times. counting backwards is fairly easy even for us old f...rts but man do they turn it into a problem but then again 3 meals a day at specific times is what i am used to but i wish it was only 6 servings at 11.30 12.00 12.30 and 1.oo and not 200 at those times.
if you think i could help you please feel free to email me. not sure i got what you want but will do my best to help

8/17/043:55 PM

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Former Member

Brian~

I think Jack hit it right on the head when he said, "never let up on quality". Too many operations lose sight of that and concentrate instead on growth and keeping up with increased demand....quality suffers and eventually demand goes down too.

If brining the chicken breast is what makes yours better than the next guy's, then make brining a part of your plan. I sell beef and pork that cooks more than twelve hours....letting chicken sit in a bucket in the cooler for four hours or overnight wouldn't be that big a deal.

I don't marinate my brisket or butts, even for 'special' gigs or for myself and friends at home. I think my rub and the smoke give my product exactly the flavor I want. But it shouldn't be that big a deal to inject say four butts and four briskets when you cook. In the end, you gotta do what is right for your product.

Never sacrifice quality for the sake of production!

8/18/0410:14 AM

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