General question on dry brining

[dtbach514]

After putting on the salt for dry brining, do you wrap the meat in plastic or paper? Or just put it in the fridge "naked" for the brining period?

[Jerod Broussard]

I'll wrap my briskets. I don't like to wrap pork butts nor chicken with skin.

[HorseDoctor]

After putting on the salt for dry brining, do you wrap the meat in plastic or paper? Or just put it in the fridge "naked" for the brining period?

Yes. Depends on what I'm dealing with. Steaks or chops go in the fridge unwrapped to allow the surface to dry a bit for the sake of a better crust. Butts, briskets, chucks etc. that will be done "low & slow" for a long time, I wrap in the fridge to preserve moisture. They will also be in the fridge longer & I get less grief from the "better half" if they are wrapped up even though it's a dedicated Beer & BBQ fridge. Actually, it's also used to store fish bait on occasion and the proximity of meat to a styrofoam container of nightcrawlers may be what bothers her...

[Spinaker]

Personally, I like to let the beef breathe ,uncovered. Chicken I leave uncovered because I like to dry the skin out. Pork, I try to cover once I am done applying the salt. Pork fat oxidizes faster than beef fat, I don't want any off smells or tastes going into the cook.

[Thunder77]

True dat!

[Medusa]

I place dry brined beef unwrapped on a rack raised above a baking sheet. This promotes air circulation. I actually let some 1.5 inch ribeyes sit for 2 days and they were fine, but I don't make this a habit. I'll let thick steaks go 12+ hours, but usually I brine early AM and cook in the PM.

I salt most types of beef right before I put them in the foodsaver and freeze them.

I don't think you should brine ground beef.

Both of these techniques I learned from this site.

--Ed

[Huskee]

I'll season burger patties with a salted seasoning for several hours prior to cooking. I honestly don't notice much difference doing that vs immediately before the grill. But what you def. shouldn't do is mix salt in the ground beef and let it sit.

[Huskee]

I'm the same as Spinaker above.

I used to wrap briskets while dry brining too but I don't anymore....honestly I never really noticed much difference either way. After smoking past the stall for 8hrs or so I think it's enough to dry the surface out adequately regardless. But I like to think it takes the bark from 9.9 to 10 by not wrapping in the fridge

[RandomAccess]

I only put butcher paper loosely over the top if it going to be a longer dry brine. Beef will start to dehydrate after a few days similar to dry aging. I had this happen once when I could not get to the steaks as planned and lost a very slight amount of meat but enough to be aware of this now. Short one or two days sometimes I cover sometimes I don't.