- 2 cups superfine (caster) sugar (many suggest brown sugar, but not me)
- 2¼ cups coarse sea salt
- 12 juniper berries
- 12 cloves
- 12 black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 quarts water
- Bring all the brine ingredients together in a pot, and bring to a boil so the sugar and salt melt. Decant into a container and allow to cool. When cold add your meat, and leave it in the brine for the number of days required for your recipe.
- Even though the brine is a preserving process, we are celebrating its flavor-enhancing properties, so just in case in these somewhat bacterially anxious days it is probably not bad thing to keep your brine and its contents in the fridge.