Dry Brined Reverse Sear Tomahawks and Roasted Baby Red and Gold Spuds!

[civilsmoker]

Don't buy it.
Things must work differently in your state and mine.
I'll stick with the shorter method.

Fair enough, if you have a method that works for you no reason to change on my account…

My wife won’t touch a piece of red beef that hasn’t been treated this way so it’s a must at our house lol!

 

[civilsmoker]

CivilSmokerJr has been following this thread and sent me this link to share, it goes with right along with Jeff Phillips post I shared above as well. This is one of many many steak providers that teach the same method….

https://www.omahasteaks.com/blog/how-to-dry-brine-steak/

For me a near perfect steak is 1.5 inches thick and over night, ie 24 hours is a near perfect time…..for 2 inches and above I go for a 32-36 hour….i have done some larger briskets 48 hours….

I did this brisket point for 36 hours…..
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/winter-welcome-dry-brined-brisket-point.333175/

This post shows the amount of salt for a brisket….ie what 1/4 tsp/lb looks like for a large brisket…..
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/brisket-simplified-and-reliable-dinner-timing.331064/

 

[clifish]

Got 3 ribeyes in the fridge salted up for tomorrow. Probably make a sour cream horseradish sauce, maybe corn on the cob and a quinoa salad. Trying to cut the carbs after my last blood work.

 

[civilsmoker]

Got 3 ribeyes in the fridge salted up for tomorrow. Probably make a sour cream horseradish sauce, maybe corn on the cob and a quinoa salad. Trying to cut the carbs after my last blood work.

Sounds yummy! I do like quinoa salad when done right. Good luck and would love to see pics of the cook!

 

[clifish]

Sounds yummy! I do like quinoa salad when done right. Good luck and would love to see pics of the cook!

Did not get pics but turned out really good. Will do this again.

 

[civilsmoker]

Did not get pics but turned out really good. Will do this again.

Good deal, glad it worked out and that it will be a repeat!

 

[edmonds]

That's obviously the way it's being done in this instance but I don't understand it. I thought the idea behind brining was to maintain moisture, not dry things out.
The way I learned was to generously salt the protein and then place on a flat rimmed dish or pan. Allow a minimum of 1/4 hour per 1/4" of protein thickness. When the moisture comes out of the meat allow it to sit in the liquid and re-uptake back into the meat. When finished brining, wash any excess salt off the meat and pat dry. Season as usual Minus anymore salt. Cook as usual. Has always worked well for me that way.

Salt attracts moisture, so when you salt a protein moisture will be drawn to the surface and from the air. Once the salt starts to migrate into the tissue it will draw moisture back into the tissue. There is plenty of moisture in the air to transfer to the tissue and the "amount" of moisture isn't different than what you list above (the exception being if you have too much salt it could draw out much more than desired). Additionally using the right amount of salt and time allows for it to go deep into the tissue enhancing the flavor throughout. What you are doing above is a rapid version. The downside is the salt will not be distributed throughout the tissue, and it could lead to over salting. The open-air side of things is to have the surface be prepped for a nice sear as well as reduce bacteria growth. Hopefully this helps, and if you want to know/experience try it.... :-)

In dry brining, course salt is used to draw water out of the meat, which hydrates and dissolves the salt, and then the saline solution is absorbed back into the meat. You can watch this is real time. Apply course salt to meat, put in fridge and observe surface of meat every 10 min. You will start to see water droplets forming around the salt crystals, which will dissolve and then be absorbed into the meat. This happens within an hour. All of this water is from the interior of the meat (osmosis), not the air in the refrigerator (condensation). You can put a little bowl of salt in your fridge and after 2 hours will not see any liquid forming (I just tested it).

Thicker pieces of meat benefit from dry brining for longer times (up to 3 days), so the saline can penetrate further into the meat. You can use a flat pan/sheet for brining or a wire rack. The rack has the added advantage of allowing air to circulate under the meat and helping the surface dry. So dry brining helps the meat retain moisture in the interior while also drying the surface. And as we all know, a dry surface promotes the Mallard reaction.

 

[civilsmoker]

In dry brining, course salt is used to draw water out of the meat, which hydrates and dissolves the salt, and then the saline solution is absorbed back into the meat. You can watch this is real time. Apply course salt to meat, put in fridge and observe surface of meat every 10 min. You will start to see water droplets forming around the salt crystals, which will dissolve and then be absorbed into the meat. This happens within an hour. All of this water is from the interior of the meat (osmosis), not the air in the refrigerator (condensation). You can put a little bowl of salt in your fridge and after 2 hours will not see any liquid forming (I just tested it).

Thicker pieces of meat benefit from dry brining for longer times (up to 3 days), so the saline can penetrate further into the meat. You can use a flat pan/sheet for brining or a wire rack. The rack has the added advantage of allowing air to circulate under the meat and helping the surface dry. So dry brining helps the meat retain moisture in the interior while also drying the surface. And as we all know, a dry surface promotes the Mallard reaction.

I’ve been dry brining for about 25 years now…..we use to dry age all our beef growing…..28 days for a whole quarter then process it. We had to keep a check in the humidity cause it could get high…..since I almost always have some kind of meat in the fridge it has higher humidity ie if I leave a bowl is salt in the fridge it will start clumping in short order (a couple of days)……when dry aging I make sure I’m opening the door many times a day to “off load” the humidity…..

 

[edmonds]

I’ve been dry brining for about 25 years now…..we use to dry age all our beef growing…..28 days for a whole quarter then process it. We had to keep a check in the humidity cause it could get high…..since I almost always have some kind of meat in the fridge it has higher humidity ie if I leave a bowl is salt in the fridge it will start clumping in short order (a couple of days)……when dry aging I make sure I’m opening the door many times a day to “off load” the humidity…..

Interesting.
I've never aged beef beyond the processor's usual 2 week hanging time.
You have much more experience than me, which is none. From looking at your Meal Planning post, it looks like you are mostly wet aging in vacuum packs? Maybe an occasional dry aging? And of course the dry brining brisket.

From my empirical experience, food left uncovered in the fridge tends to dry out, and modern refrigerators with defrost cycles have little visible condensation (maybe some along the coldest walls and vents). Remember 50% RH at 35F has much less water content than at 70F.

But I don't understand how opening the door could lower the moisture inside your fridge. Opening the door lets in warm air, which has a much higher moisture content, increasing likelihood of condensation and frosting. Opening the door also probably triggers the compressor, which should cause a sudden drop in RH due to the moisture frosting onto the coils. This might be what you are seeing. During the coil thawing cycle, frost on the coil collects into the drip pan and most evaporates into the room. However, some of the water vapor is released back into the fridge, and RH should then slowly increase. I think it would be better just to keep the door closed.

Have you considered using desiccants in your fridge, or maybe a small external vacuum pump (with a water trap)? A continuously running fan in the fridge should also help. Then again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[civilsmoker]

Interesting.
I've never aged beef beyond the processor's usual 2 week hanging time.
You have much more experience than me, which is none. From looking at your Meal Planning post, it looks like you are mostly wet aging in vacuum packs? Maybe an occasional dry aging? And of course the dry brining brisket.

From my empirical experience, food left uncovered in the fridge tends to dry out, and modern refrigerators with defrost cycles have little visible condensation (maybe some along the coldest walls and vents). Remember 50% RH at 35F has much less water content than at 70F.

But I don't understand how opening the door could lower the moisture inside your fridge. Opening the door lets in warm air, which has a much higher moisture content, increasing likelihood of condensation and frosting. Opening the door also probably triggers the compressor, which should cause a sudden drop in RH due to the moisture frosting onto the coils. This might be what you are seeing. During the coil thawing cycle, frost on the coil collects into the drip pan and most evaporates into the room. However, some of the water vapor is released back into the fridge, and RH should then slowly increase. I think it would be better just to keep the door closed.

Have you considered using desiccants in your fridge, or maybe a small external vacuum pump (with a water trap)? A continuously running fan in the fridge should also help. Then again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Ah, those are actually UMAI membrane bags not wet aging but dry aging. These membrane bags allow the moisture to leave and keeps the bugs out (ie they dump moisture). UMAI recommends opening the door in the fridge to do just what you not above to keep the compressor working and to change out the air. Humidity, ambient temp, fridge operations, elevation, etc. all play a role in things, so changing out the air is an important part of keeping the dry aging drying, ie a fridge that isn't opened when using UMAI bags the fridge will "normalize" and then it doesn't dry properly, and the meat will spoil.

With dry brining, being that salt has hygroscopic properties is the reason the moisture is drawn out to the surface (it moves to the salt) and then back in as the salt migrates back into the tissue (the salt will hit a limit to absorbency). This is followed up by the moisture evaporating (being forced) by the action you mentioned above, however, the salt stays put. This is the reason that dry brining has reasonable time limit because after the salt has migrated in the tissue it does start to dry back out.

Just a side note if you find clumps in your bulk salt that is because its absorbing moisture from the air, rock salt (not table salt) can be used to reduce humidity in the right cases.