The World of Injection

3 Easy Success Recipes

I confess I love so much the American attitude of the seasoning. We do not have this much in our ropes, but if we talk about barbecue it is useless to deny it is one of the first things to learn. This is a series of “conditioning” on meat, the purpose of which is to mask the defects in the raw material or to emphasize the advantages. In this vast group we include marinades, brines, or even rub and sauces. If the whole world of seasoning is far from our approach to cooking, the element the most difficult to understand for us, it is probably the the injections.

It consists of distributing a liquid substance between meat tissues through the aid of a syringe. This is a different instrument, transversal in many ways. If marinates and brines have a very precise function in terms of food, the injections are intended to bring the effects to the heart of the raw material. Here, in fact, lies the main difference: marinade and brine reach their own effects from the outside in, while through the injection army an action in exactly the opposite direction.

This inevitably reflects on its conformation. For example, marinade does not act more than 8 millimeters from the surface. On the Bite then, even if using as an ingredient some extremely intense foods, it will have a delicate, almost invasive impact. In contrast, the injections will not lose anything of their impact and must therefore start from a more neutral base, typically broth, which to some extent matures with the natural taste of the meat.

There is practically nothing published on this topic, so before giving you my usual 3 favorite recipes, I will list some personal beliefs about that I have come over the years. I start by saying that injections in the world of competitions are a rather rooted habit but follow their own rules, being their purpose very specific. So here we are not talking about competition injection but just about home use, just to make our backyard barbecue better.

The ideal composition. There are many exceptions, as we will see later, but basically my starting recipe is:
Basic Injection
60% Stock + 30% Acidic + 10% Fat
That is, a broth base, enriched with an acidic element of any nature (Chris Lilly used to put in his injections for Pulled Pork the Peach Tea…) and a smaller percentage of fat, typically butter.
The right amount. The recommended quantity is 10% of the weight of the raw material. So for example, on 5 kilograms of meat I will inject 500 grams of liquid. I have tried several times to overestimate this proportion but my opinion is that this brings changes in the meat cooking behavior (especially if injection contains fats) without having real benefits.
Avoid pouches. Many people inject large quantities of liquid into a few injections and to avoid subsequent leakage, they tilt the needle during the operation to create pouches. My opinion is exactly the opposite: I prefer to act with a very fine needle and inject many times in very small quantities, gradually removing the needle during pressure. In this way I have a much more homogeneous result and very little liquid return.
Rich in Collagen. A good advantage, if you have time, comes from preparing the broth and boiling in it cuts very rich of collagen, such as the famous beef knee. This in cooking helps maintain the moisture of the meat
Rest. I’m fine with resting the meat for a few hours in the fridge after injecting it. Liquids have the time to distribute and find a much more uniform result, even in terms of moisture.

Let’s go now with my favorite 3 recipes:

Pulled Pork

This will certainly not be the most elegant injection recipe you could ever find, maybe rather vulgar, but if we are talking about public events, where to get acquainted with Pulled Pork, I have not yet found a more effective and greedy solution than this. Maybe a bit crippled but it’s a guaranteed success!

40% Beef Broth
40% Amber Beer
20% Melted Butter

Chicken

This injection, in addition to being a memory, comes from an unsuspecting source: a butcher I had known many years ago (before I was thrilled with the barbecue), who sold many roast chickens in his rotisserie and had a secret recipe, confided then before retiring, to which I only added butter.

50% Chicken Broth prepared with a sprig of rosemary
30% White Wine
10% Sweet Marsala (or any kind of sweet wine)
10% Butter

Beef/Lamb

The target for understanding is roast or if you want to see it in a barbecue key, the Standing Rib Roast but also on the Lamb Chop works very well. On red meats I generally try to respect the raw material as much as possible but sometimes I do not deny a fantasy shot outside the schemes