To cover or not to cover?

[jitsntricks]

So I'm going to be making some great sandwiches this weekend with the boys. They are going to have thinly sliced pork loin, tri tip, and bacon on them with some sauce. A buddy of mine makes these sandwiches at his BBQ truck and they are amazing.

I've decided I'm going to dry brine the meats over night. I've always seen that people tend not to cover the meat when they do this. Why is that? I get that if you dry brine a chicken or turkey you're looking to dry out that skin, but for something like tri tip or loin or even boston butt it seems like you'd want that moisture that is pulled out by the salt to stay around so it can be pulled back into the meat. Although I'm not sure how much moisture you'd lose by not covering, do you think it'd be fine or even beneficial to wrap in plastic after I put the salt on? Also thinking this will help save some fridge space.

Thanks!

[FireMan]

I don’t cover unless it’s more than 36 hrs, but that just me. What yer figgerin is right about the "skin" or outer covering.

[RonB]

You get a better maillard reaction with dry meat.

[jitsntricks]

Got ya. Thanks for the tip! I'm thinkin about doing a pork loin and tri tip this weekend for a get together but I've never done a pork loin (I'm aint scared though) and am conflicted on whether or not I want to dry brine or wet brine. What do you think?

[RonB]

jitsntricks - I only dry brine, soo I'm probably not the right person to ask. However, the protein does have a chance to actually dry if dry brined, but if you take your protein out of a wet brine solution, and put it on the grill, it's hard to get completely dry.

[Jerod Broussard]

Meat with skin such as poultry- cover

Meat without skin such as brisket- cover

[jitsntricks]

So... cover both?

[JeffJ]

I don't cover. I'm not sure if it really matters much either way but I've always had good results not covering.

[Rocinante]

What I have noticed with covering is that, at least to me, it seems that if the covering touches the meat it tends to wick out liquid onto it that otherwise would have been drawn back into the meat. I will notice very little liquid on the sheet uncovered vs covered.

[Dan Deter]

As I don't have the luxury of a fridge (or even a shelf) strictly for meat, it always gets covered. And if I did have that luxury, I might go uncovered right up until SWMBO saw it, and then it would be covered...

[BarbecueBob]

I do not cover my meats, whether it is poultry or other anything else. As RonB pointed out, the browning of the outside is better if it is dryer. I dry brine up to a few hours for steak or chicken and overnight for a pork butt.

[jitsntricks]

So I'm considering wet brining the pork loin and dry brining the tri tip. The dry brine is nothin' new to me when it comes to tri tip. I've never wet brined anything but chicken. I've seen people wet brine boston butts as well as pork loin. What are ya'lls opinion on wet brining it?

[Jerod Broussard]

Wet brining is somewhat advantageous for things like pork and chicken.