Dry Brining a Brisket

[gwfetty]

I am cooking a brisket tomorrow night for a Saturday get together. I use a salt based rub with paprika, garlic, brown sugar, and other ingredients. Is it OK to apply the rub today, or should I wait until just before I smoke it?

[dahcopilot]

i use salt and pepper, 2 days ahead

[Red Man]

Definitely fine to apply the rub today.

[IowaGirl]

If you want to use your rub to dry brine the meat, yes, you should apply the salt-based rub today to give the salt some time to do its magic.

I'd be more likely to dry brine 2-3 days ahead of the cook for a thicker cut of meat like brisket, but 1 day of dry brining is better than nothing.

[RonB]

I think it depends on how much salt is in your rub. It it's not much, go ahead with a light dry brine. If it's a lot, maybe not, or just use your rub as your dry brine.

[klflowers]

Welcome to the Pit from TN! I am with the rest of the crowd here - go ahead and use the rub as the brine, and do it now. I usually brine 24-48 hrs before the cook. If the rub has salt, I use it as the brine just like you are doing.

[Jerod Broussard]

It should be illegal to NOT dry brine a brisket at least 24-48 hours.

[Huskee]

Agree with all the above. If using a salted rub, use it as your dry brine. The other seasonings won't penetrate like the salt, but the salt will and that's all that matters. I too agree with 24-48hrs. I gotta admit though, due to pure laziness sometimes I give mine only 18-20 hrs and they're fantastic so if you can't quite make 24hrs+, you'll still be ok! But the longer the better.

[smokin fool]

I know many smoke addicts encourage salt in they're dry rubs but I've gone the other way and almost eliminated it.
I make my own dry rub and if I do put salt in my rub its sea salt. Maybe a level tablespoon per batch. Only use garlic/onion powders as opposed to salts.
I haven't used iodized salt in years and am now staying away from kosher salt.
I kosher salt dry brined the sirloin roasts I smoked last weekend and was told they where fantastic but....a bit too salty....
FWIW.

[Santamarina]

I don’t put salt in any of my rubs. That leaves room to dry brine anything I cook.

[IowaGirl]

Dry brining meat is not the same as putting a rub on meat, although you can use a salt-based rub to dry brine. That confused me for awhile, but now it makes sense. However you get the salt on the meat, the salt is the only thing that works for dry brining (or wet brining for that matter). You can't use a salt-free rub to do a dry brine.

The AR recommendation is 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of meat (not counting bones) for dry brining. That tastes only slightly salty to most people's palates, but it sure makes a difference in the moistness and texture of the meat.

[TBoneJack]

I've always dry brined my briskets.

However, it's worth mentioning that the country's most famous brisket smoker, Aaron Franklin, does not dry brine at all. He applies dalmation rub (50% mixture of kosher salt and 16-mesh black pepper) just before putting his briskets on the smoker.

I'm gonna try it his way next time I smoke a brisket, just to see for myself if there's a noticeable difference.

[Santamarina]

After years of dry brining 24+ hours then using a modified BBBR, I’ve done Franklin’s method for my last few briskets and it’s MONEY! So simple. So easy. So delicious. I’m never going back to dry brining or using a run other than Dalmatian!

[Ahumadora]

I have 2 briskets in th e fridge right now for a class tomorrow. I advise students to dry brine with the rub up to 2 days before but for the class I do it right before I toss it on the pit.