Normally when I buy a few steaks I vac pack and freeze em. Then if I put them in the sous vide bath from frozen I skip the brine.
This time I thawed a vac pack steak and dry brined it. Should I dry brine it and leave it open in the fridge and then vac pack right before the sous vide or could I just vac pack it immediately after dry brine and pop back in the fridge for the sous vide later?
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I've tried several methods. Before vac and freeze, apply Kosher salt then freeze. Lightly season after removing from bag and SV then sear/grilling. Tried sealing, freezing untreated, then thawed, brined overnight, re-bagged, SV and then seared/grilled. Lately however, I've taken to just bagging, freezing, thawing, SV - then season and grill/sear.
I frankly think the last method is just as tasty - I think some of that is that pre-brining before SV loses a lot with the "purge" from the SV step.
Totally unscientific, and totally senior citizen taste buds, so take it all with a grain of salt ! šš
I always thaw and dry brine overnight, open to the fridge, then season with pepper & garlic powder before resealing for the SV step. I think the meat consistently comes out more tender this way, but I have not done the full up experiment But the fact that NaCl penetrates the meat more effectively when it's not mixed with other stuff (as the Meathead wisdom has shown, NaCl can really zing in there owing to its small molecular size) is something I definitely want to take advantage of.
I dry brine most portion cut meats before vac sealing and then freezing. Just remember to mark the bag as having been dry brined. Seems to work well for me and saves me steps later. And, it works well and saves a bag, if headed to the sous vide.
But the fact that NaCl penetrates the meat more effectively when it's not mixed with other stuff (as the Meathead wisdom has shown, NaCl can really zing in there owing to its small molecular size) is something I definitely want to take advantage of.
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