Dry brining query

[Sweaty Paul]

All, I have been dry brining for years. However, it occurred to me that I don't typically dry brine more that 20 hours or so. Due to being on call I dry brined some steaks for closer to 40 hours. I have always left my steaks uncovered while dry brining in my basement/backup/beer fridge. With the more prolonged dry brine time the meat was clearly darker as it had dehydrated some. Anyway, a couple of questions for the crew here as I'm curious if I can do something better (or have I been screwing this up all along and it has just worked.


1) When you all dry brine do you cover your meat with plastic wrap or do you leave your meat open to air while dry brining?

2) When you dry brine to sous vide do you vacuum seal right away? Do you leave the salt on for an awhile before sealing? How long do you dry brine prior to putting steaks in the freezer?

Thank you all in advance.

Sweaty Paul

[texastweeter]

Never cover and dont use a hot tub time machine.

[barelfly]

Dry brine with no cover - on a wire rack in the fridge for 24 hours, sometimes more.

With SV - I usually grab from freezer and go to the bath, so no brining at all. I buy bulk and then vac seal portions and straight into the freezer, so no brining for that reason.

[WI Bubba]

I salt, then vac seal as soon as everything is bagged up if I'm say, cutting a primal up into steaks. My thought is that the actual dry brining will happen when I thaw them out down the road.

[fkrall]

I dry brine uncovered on wire rack in fridge; 2 hrs minimum and regularly 3-4 hours for "everyday" meats (pork chops/tenderloins; NY Strips, etc.), and +/- 24 hrs for tougher meats, e.g. leg of lamb.

[DaveD]

I typically dry brine everything overnight, so 20ish hours is the norm. I never cover anything when dry brining. And for SV, I don't vac seal until just before going into the meat jacuzzi, when I add whatever other seasoning I want - most often just garlic powder and pepper.

I've never bothered with salting before freezing, it doesn't really save me any time or effort down the line. Not like I'm on a production line or anything, a couple extra minutes in a cook is of no consequence.

Good luck!

[Sweaty Paul]

Thanks all for your replies. Good to have this info!

[shify]

Bigger cuts I dry brine 2-3 days or more.For longer brines, I’ll cover until the last ~24 hours. For some like overnight or even 36 hours, I would leave uncovered the whole time.

For example a thanksgiving turkey I’ll start dry brining on Monday or Tuesday and leave it loosely covered until Wednesday and then I’ll leave it uncovered overnight.

[bardsleyque]

I dry brine uncovered, I like 24 hours+ . I vac seal after dry brine as well (have a3 1/2 lb. tomahawk in the freezer)
I don't own a soo vee so no experience with that.

[Huskee]

I cover steaks. I've gone 3 days, maybe 4, and they have consistently been some of the best steaks I've ever made. I also cover pork roasts/chops. I try not to cover beef roasts or briskets unless fridge crowding is an issue, then only loosely if so. I do not cover poultry, I make room around it.

[Sweaty Paul]

I also leave poultry uncovered for 24 hours if I've dry brined (like for deep fried turkey) for 3-4 days.

[cruiseplanner1]

I learned something today. I have been covering my ribs and pork butts with plastic wrap when brining overnight 12 hours. Guess I will not do that again. And it seems I got the advice for doing that on here some years ago. Never heard of dry brining before reading it here

[Sweaty Paul]

What Huskee said. Got to keep things clean.

[cruiseplanner1]

Okay I will keep on doing it then. Never had any issue with it. Thanks for the input

[bardsleyque]

I'm lucky to have two garage fridge's, I can really keep things separate!