Shelf · Salt, smoke & time · No heat
Dry brining
Salting meat directly, with no water at all, and leaving it uncovered in the fridge overnight.
- The temperature band
- In the fridge · 2 to 5 °C
- The time
- About 1440 min
Why it works
The salt first pulls moisture to the surface, then that concentrated brine gets drawn back in — the same deep seasoning as a wet brine, without diluting the meat’s own flavour. And because the surface ends up drier than it started, it browns far better in the pan.
The tell
After a few hours the surface looks wet; by morning it is dry and slightly tacky to the touch, and the colour has deepened.
- Salt on top
- Water drawn out
- Drawn back in
How it fails
Covering it or sealing it in a bag traps the moisture and defeats the drying half of the point — leave it uncovered on a rack. Do not rinse it afterwards, as that puts the water straight back and washes the seasoning off.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
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