Ribs Dry Brine

[smokinsteve]

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to dry brining ribs for more than two or three hours or even overnight?

[Jon Solberg]

​Thats lots of schools of thought for this.


I was always a big fan of dry brining over night but I picked up a trick from Huskee that it's okay to go dry brine right to the cooker with no lose in flavor.

That said I now only use when I brine as a convenance. If I'm cooking tomorrow or the next day and have more free time today then I brine today. If not I'll brine and cook the same day.

[Huskee]

The way I see it, they're "dry brining" during the 5-7 hrs you're cooking them too. So 1-2 hrs before cooking vs 15 min before cooking is really such a non-relevant amount of time I will venture to say there's no difference. I have dry brined numerous times overnight with my salted rub, (I prefer not to use a no-salt rub on ribs) and every time I think it tastes a little better. So my personal deduction is 15 min or 3 hrs are the same. Overnight seems to be better. If you use a no-salt rub, like MMD, I would suggest adding a small dash of finishing salt after you add the rub. Salt is great in the rub on the bark.

[smokinsteve]

Thanks guys! The feedback is much appreciated.

[Yno]

I am currently reading Kenji's "The Food Lab". I went through it quickly once, and am now studying it a bit more carefully. In the Meat section he did some of his 'science' on dry brining and came to the conclusion that for steaks, 40 minutes is the minimum for the process to be successful. When I get home I will try to find the details and post them. That said, I usually dry brine overnight. I am not that spontaneous, and I usually know what I am going to BBQ well in advance.....

[Huskee]

I am currently reading Kenji's "The Food Lab". I went through it quickly once, and am now studying it a bit more carefully. In the Meat section he did some of his 'science' on dry brining and came to the conclusion that for steaks, 40 minutes is the minimum for the process to be successful. When I get home I will try to find the details and post them. That said, I usually dry brine overnight. I am not that spontaneous, and I usually know what I am going to BBQ well in advance.....

I'm spontaneous most of the time. I do try to give steaks a good 4hrs. One time I bought 4 NY Strips and dry brined all 4 at let's say 2pm. Cooked 2 of them that evening. The other two I saved until the next day. Those last 2 after a ~28 hr dry brine seemed way more tender & tasty. That could've been coincidence that they were just the better 2 steaks of the bunch. However ever since then I like to go overnight if I can, but my last minute nature rarely allows for it unless it's a big planned cook.

[Yno]

Kenji's test was with the (gasp!) sear first cooking method. Apparently if you put the steak on the heat immediately all goes well, but between then an about 40 minutes, the salt is drawing moisture to the surface. This moisture has to be evaporated before searing can take place, which takes time and energy. After the 40 minutes, the moisture is absorbed, and the sear goes quickly. Of course, everyone on AR does the reverse sear method, right? Anyway, he does say that the flavor and texture improves with longer brining time.

[smokinsteve]

Thanks for all the comments!