How much salt should I use for dry brining a steak?
I tried cooking a steak a few days ago. Having watched quite a few videos on YouTube, many of them suggested to salt the steak and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours or so, on a cooling rack.
Any video I've seen says to salt liberally, and that if you think that you've put enough, you didn't. I salted my steak liberally, and I don't think it was too much, it certainly seemed to be a lot less than what those videos showed. The idea is that with a very long period with the salt, it will draw out moisture, and some of the moisture will be reabsorbed, but with higher salt content, thus seasoning the deeper part of the steak as well.
At the end I managed to get a beautiful crust and an incredibly salty steak. It wasn't disgusting, but it was on the upper limit of what I'm willing to eat.
I am guessing that the main failure is the difference in weight. Most of the videos are cooking one of them huge steaks, 500g slabs of meat, or even more (I'm not counting the weight of the bone in tomahawks, clearly). My steak was about 250g or so.
Is there a formula, or some suggestions, as to what would be a good amount of salt based on the size of the steak, so that the next time it won't be terrible? And how would that formula change based on the length of the dry brining process? I understand that an hour on the counter is very different from 24h in the fridge.
Best Answer
I've seen reference to 1/2 tsp kosher salt per pound. For a steak, I'll do a few hours at most, but more often salt right before cooking. For a roast chicken, I salt and leave uncovered in fridge for up to two days. For the steak, salting far in advance leads to a more "cured" texture that I don't enjoy. For the bird, salting in advance gives me a more enjoyable texture, flavor, and crisp skin.
Perhaps semantics for some...but it is not brining, which, in my book implies a liquid environment...it is simply salting. I do realize that good folks will differ on my interpretation, but all you have to do is look up the definition of "brine."
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Quick Answer about "How much salt should I use for dry brining a steak?"
We recommend 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every 1 pound of meat. Try to use no more than 1 tablespoon per side. Dry brine about an hour per inch of steak. Thicker cuts require more time so that the salt can work its way deep into the tissues.How do you salt brine a steak for drying?
How to dry brine a steakCan you over salt a dry brine?
The dry brine won't be too salty. If it is, you should cut back on the salt in your dry brine, not rinse the food.Can you dry brine a steak with table salt?
The best salt for dry brining is kosher salt because it sticks the best and distributes evenly. Coarse sea salt will also work, though, if you have it handy. Steer clear of fine sea salt or regular table salt \u2014 if it's all you have, it'll work, but you'll need to cut the recommended amount in half.How long should you dry brine a steak?
Dry brining: Dry brining is the process of rubbing a steak with salt, then allowing it to rest in a chilled environment with plenty of airflow for up to 48 hours.Dry Brine EXPERIMENT, Only SALT! 24 hrs to 1 MONTH!
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Answer 2
If a cure has the effect of too aggressively salting the meat then you can consider making a softer cure. You make a cure softer by adding a certain amount of sugar too it, but to be honest if your meat has too harsh a taste of salt it probably means you cured it for too long.
Generally time is the thing you need to control. For an immersive cure you need enough salt to completely immerse the meat in curing agent, this can at times be quite a lot, but the time it sits in the salt is the important part
Curing for 24 hours seems like way too long. When I make Biltong, the beef is cured for 2 hours and then it is doused with a spice mixture for flavour and let to rest overnight.
If you use kosher salt you can see when the cure is complete when the salt-crystal turn a dark color. As the cure removes moisture from the meat, the moisture turns the crystal a darker color.
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