Dry brining is a technique used to pre-season and marinate meats without the potential issues faced with wet marinades and liquid brines. It’s a particularly excellent solution for steaks and roasts, deeply seasoning the meat, drawing moisture to the centre while drying out the surface, in real terms this equals, more flavourful, juicier meat, and a better Maillard reaction i.e. better crust/crisper skin. It’s an infinitely flexible, really simple and accessible, yet powerful flavour boosting tool.
Ingredients
For the spice base
¼ cup smoked paprika
2-3 tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds, ground
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoons Aleppo pepper
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
For the salt
Use the ratio mentioned in chef’s notes, adding the spice base to taste.
Method
Mix together, store in an airtight container.
Makes approx. 2 ½ cups
Chef's notes
- Dry brining works by the process of osmosis/diffusion – salt on the surface of the meat initially draws out moisture, the moisture then mixes with the salt and other seasoning/flavours in the dry brine, over time this liquid is reabsorbed back into the meat, distributing the seasoning throughout the muscle fibres. The salt also helps to dry out the surface which will create a better caramelised crust. The brine mix should be rubbed onto the surface of the meat, sat on a wire rack set over a tray and refrigerated.
- There are two cornerstone elements to dry brining – salt and time.
- SALT- Use coarse cooking salt or Kosher salt- the general ratio of salt to protein is 1.5% so roughly 7.5 grams of salt per 500g meat.
- TIME- this is going to depend on what the cut of meat is however the general consensus is a minimum of 4 hours up to 3 days, with the sweet spot being 24/36 hours.
- Freshness is key, dry brines benefit from being made in batches from the freshest spices. The pinnacle being the use of whole spices toasted and ground fresh.
- With the exception of the salt, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to dry brines; while salt is the main feature, they do benefit across the board from the addition of garlic and onion powder- oregano and paprika are also repeat performers, a little dried citrus zest works well (especially when cooking lamb and chicken) and a small amount of sugar which will further enhance the caramelisation of the crust/skin.
- If using whole spices e.g. black peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon quills etc, grind to desired consistency before mixing with your other ingredients.
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