pat it dry or leave it wet?

[The Stone Coyote]

Hi,

I'm a new member here, and I've found a ton of helpful information. I've got a Charbroil gas smoker, and a Masterbuilt electric.

I'd welcome opinions about 'pat the meat dry' or 'just rinse it and leave it wet' prior to putting on a rub.

Your views?

Regards!

 

[GaryHibbert]

I generally pat it dry after rinsing. Its still plenty moist after that to get the rub to stick.
Gary

 

[The Stone Coyote]

Thanks Gary! I've been patting it dry too, never been a problem. Some smokin' buddies swear by leaving it wet, so I thought I'd see what the members here have to say.

Thanks bud.

 

[mike243]

Unless there are bone fragments or such washing meat off doesn't help matters,mustard or any other thick sauce can be used to help rub stick,I used honey mustard and couldn't tell any honey flavor but it held the rub on good,yrmv

 

[chopsaw]

I dry the surface .

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

I pat dry and then use something else as a binder for my rub. Usually mustard or oil.

George

 

[flatbroke]

I don’t molest my meat. I pull it out, rub it and slip in the smoker.

 

[noboundaries]

I pat dry, spray with oil, rub, spray again with oil. I do the same thing when dry brining.

 

[tallbm]

I go simple with it.
I pull the meat out of the package, season, and cook it.

The meat juice allows seasoning to easily stick to the meat. The meat juice is just more flavor. Also if you are worried that there is something unclean, well the heat is going to fix all that lol. I don't know what rinsing and patting dry buys anyone other than more time and effort.
NOW, if patting dry to form pellicle or to dry out chicken/turkey skin so it cooks better then I'm totally behind that. For any other reasons I personally think it is an inefficient use of time, but if it works for people then I have no arguments. No one is getting hurt by doing it lol :)

 

[gmc2003]

Confused yet. You'll find folks here doing things totally different from one another. None of them are wrong or right. It's just what works for them. Personally I just pull the meat from the fridge and apply my seasonings - then onto the smoker.

Chris

 

[petehalsted]

I'll be the "swing vote" LOL

I have done all of the above at one time or another. :-)

These days it really depends on the meat, I almost always rinse chicken, just because they usually have a ton of juice in the package and yardbird juice is slimy. Everything else its just depends on how much juice is in the pack, pork I rinse about 50/50, rarely do I rinse beef.

Not your exact question but most included in their answers, lately I haven't been using any binders (oil/mustard/etc), Meathead talks a bit about binders in is Rub article https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/science-rubs (real interesting info on mustard as a binder), and I am not sure if it was him, Alton Brown, or just a lucid dream, but I saw something recently that talked about oil actually forming a barrier between your meat and rub and not letting your rub penetrate as well into the meat, it got all "sciency" which is the way to this "software engineer's heart" so it made sense to me.

To apply my rubs these days, I just apply to the meat, then wait 5-10 minutes for it to develop a wet look, before turning and applying to the other side. If the meat is fairly "dry", I will use my spritzer and just dampen it with water/apple/pineapple juice.

 

[SmokinAl]

Great thread, as you can tell I don't think it matters much how you do it.
Al

 

[jbellard]

Try it every way and see which one you like the best.
I personally cut the plastic bag, put rub on and throw them on the smoker.

Jeffrey

 

[oldsmokerdude]

I've always heard wash, rinse, repeat......oh wait, that was something else. Not much more I can add. I sometimes pat it dry sometimes not, depending on what I'm cooking, the mood I'm in, and the phase of the moon (just kidding about the last one). As you can see, proponents of both methods. Try both and use the method that tastes best to you.

 

[bbqbrett]

I generally just apply the rub to the meat straight from the packaging. If there is excess moisture or juices I will dry some of it off.

 

[nanuk]

I'm new to smoking, but not new to cooking

for me, it all depends on....

chicken always gets a good wash, then laid out meat up, seasoned, moved to another tray, laid out skin up, seasoned and put in the heat

ANYTHING cryovac'd gets washed real well.... the smell from cryovac'd meat makes me puke, so I always try to get as much of that slime off as possible.

fresh trayed beef or pork, I just scrap the sawdust off and call it good.

 

[x0xsaywhutx0x]

I've always gave my meat a quick rinse and pat dry just so when I'm handling it, the juices won't get all over the place. Some people believe there's a taste difference, but I personally don't think there is. Even when you pat dry there is still enough moisture to get the rub to stick. Just try a few different ways and you'll find one you'll like.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I never wash beef. I rarely wash pork, unless the cryo juices are funky or if I am injecting it. Poultry I will CAREFULLY wash and dry well to get crispier skin...JJ