118 brine recipes

Pickled pink eggs tinted with beet juice and brined in a vinegar-pickling-spice mix with garlic and bay leaf. Classic pub-snack or potluck appetizer that gets better the longer it sits. Just six ingredients.

Easy kimchi for first-timers: salted napa cabbage fermented with green onion, garlic, ginger, and dried chile in a simple brine. No fish sauce, no special paste. Let it bubble on the counter, then chill the funky, sour, crunchy result.

Low-fat chicken breast paired with a tangy Mediterranean marinade deliver a rich flavor packed healthy main.

Rosemary leg of lamb with roasted tomato compote: garlic-rosemary-crusted leg of lamb roasted medium-rare alongside tomatoes, onions, olives, and capers. A Mediterranean Sunday centerpiece for 8.

This Chinese invention is loved by Thais, who serve salty eggs as a contrast to the incendiary heat of a green curry or a bland dish. Kai kem is traditionally made with duck's eggs, which are cured for several weeks in a simple salt brine. Once cured, they keep for many months at room temperature, and are boiled when it's time to eat them.

Tuna and bacon quiche skips the pastry crust and bakes flaked tuna, smoky bacon, and onions in a rosemary-scented egg custard. Crustless, low-carb, ready in 50 minutes. Brunch or a light dinner with one shallow dish.