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I don’t want to burst any bubbles, but would it surprise anyone if I told you Big Bob’s pork isn’t considered the best in Decatur? That’s just a consensus of opinions, certainly not fact. I grew up on BBG and have eaten his comp. pork (it is devine btw), but in no way compares to the restaurant pork. IMO, no one cooks better chicken than them, but then again I haven’t tried everyone’s chicken.Originally posted by Nate View Post
I didn’t come on here to bust on Chris, he’s done wonderful things for his brand, but my comments are strictly related to their restaurant pork which is what OP says validates his claim.
FYI- BBG folks are good people too.
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Sorry I forgot something...Originally posted by mountainsmoker View Post
You realize it takes no more time for you to apply salt to brine something for 2 hours as opposed to 2 days. Adding salt is adding salt... unless you are watching and babysitting it for those 24-48 hours... in which case you may want to get a fridge cam or something and rig your fridge light to stay on when the door closes.... I mean the light does go off when you close the door right? I’ve never been inside a closed fridge.Comment
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Geez, why doesn't everyone just brine and cook to their liking? Who really cares if one method is superior to another? Just cook your meat to your liking and move on.
Man, it really doesn't have to be this difficult, this is ridiculous.Comment
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LOGIC??? TOLERANCE???
HOW DARE YOU!
I think what got some of us started was the supposition that dry brining is somehow harmful. I think it's mostly a matter of taste and of salt tolerance. I have some friends who have a very low tolerance for salty foods - I'd either lightly dry brine of not at all for them and you know what? It's still be tasty.
OP's point that you can do very high quality pork without dry brining is quite true. You can.
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Nate I think this has gone on long enough. I could answer your questions forever. I have what I consider my feelings, facts, etc. on over 40 years of BBQing, attending classes, attending championships and talking to the pit masters. Have read all of Meatheads writings on here and most of the recipes, some of which believe it or not match mine.
I am not here to be a disrupter but to learn from you and people like you and to teach from my years of my experience.
So lets go on from here and if need be I'll delete my original post.Comment
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OK, c’mon guys & gals. I mean who really Gives a rip?
All we want is Just the FACTS Jack!
Ready, Fire, Fire!Comment
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All due respect to all. To be blunt take your science and shove it. It's a matter of what you prefer. You want a red room paint it red. You want a green room paint it green. Now I'm no expert. But since reading and applying the application on dry brining from Meathead I've found taste, moisture to have blossomed from the past. I dry brine burgers about an hour prior to cooking. And yes I see a difference in both taste and moisture. So all the experts can bloviate on their opinion. The fact comes down to red, green or whatever you decide is right for you,.
respectively a dry brine proponentComment
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Dang it! Just when i felt like we were starting to get somewhere.... I mean you wanted a debate and I thought we had a good one going...Originally posted by mountainsmoker View PostNate I think this has gone on long enough. I could answer your questions forever. I have what I consider my feelings, facts, etc. on over 40 years of BBQing, attending classes, attending championships and talking to the pit masters. Have read all of Meatheads writings on here and most of the recipes, some of which believe it or not match mine.
I am not here to be a disrupter but to learn from you and people like you and to teach from my years of my experience.
So lets go on from here and if need be I'll delete my original post.
I am disappointed though because I had some good memes and gifs ready to go. There was the Dragnet one about Just the Facts, I had a couple of Salt Bae gifs, Tony Montana with his mounds of white powder on his desk and face that was going to be a dry brine reference instead, heck I even had a twerking salt shaker 🧂 and more! It could have been humorous and fun.
But if you insist and you also promise to be more judicious with your use of the word "fact" then we can move on.Last edited by Nate; June 24, 2019, 08:28 PM.Comment
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As far as the alleged "science" aspect of all this that's being thrown around on this thread and another one:
No one should be thinking that there's a "positive" science about any of this when we talk about the outcome of a cook, meaning repeatable controlled experiments with a falsifiable null hypothesis. It's impossible to control for all the variables. This is informal science that simply requires an explanatory mechanism and anecdotal validation. Basic chemistry provides the explanatory mechanism of dry brining, but it takes more expertise (e.g. Dr. Blonder) to evaluate whether more complex factors might contradict the basics - and that includes the use of positive science to verify the working of the mechanism (but not the outcome of a cook). In this case the basic chemistry explanation is largely correct, with some additional nuances Dr. Blonder and other experts provide. There is a large body of anecdotal evidence from professional and amateur cooks which validates that dry brining provides the result predicted by the proposed mechanism. Because it's impossible to control for all of the variables, a contrary result (or even many contrary results) does not invalidate the technique. Refutation of the dry brining technique would need to provide an alternate dry brining mechanism with equal or superior positive scientific credibility, along with its own set of anecdotes and/or a credible explanation of why the prior anecdotes are better explained by its mechanism.
The critics of dry brining in this case have provided no alternative mechanism, no alternative explanation of extant anecdotal evidence, and assertions of the existence of contrary anecdotal evidence within a particular geographic region, without corroborating testimony.
I would note in particular that I find no one asserting that dry brining works and other techniques don't. Therefore, evidence that other techniques work does not contradict the assertion that dry brining works. Furthermore, the fact that any particular individual or set of individuals does not use dry brining does not refute its mechanism or outcome unless one can establish that (1) their opinion carries extraordinary weight and (2) there is no other explanation for why they would not use dry brining. But in fact there is a very obvious reason, as has been pointed out: it takes more time, which is not economical in most large-scale operations. Therefore the weight of their opinion is moot.
EDIT:
P.S. You should probably just ignore me - I've been drinking.Comment
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From my own personal experience lean meats come out noticeably better if they've been dry-brined. That's factual enough for me.Comment
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Can you all help me summarize the facts presented here so far? As far as I know:
mountainsmoker asserts that no one he knows of dry brines so no one should.
Contrary to reproducible scientific testing that shows dry brinning helps meat retain moisture and adds flavor, mountainsmoker asserts that it drys out meat but sites no reference or testing for this claim.
mountainsmoker asserted that dry brinning was too new of a technique to have merit.
Some where along the way I remember mountainsmoker said that dry brinning made pork mushy but did not have this affect on beef.
Did I miss anything? Is this accurate?Last edited by lostclusters; June 25, 2019, 09:39 AM.Comment
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time to move on, now about man made climate change..............Comment
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I dry brine because Meathead said to, and because it makes the meat taste real good. That is all.
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