How to Dry Brine Your Steak For Maximum Flavour- Easy Tips

Steak is one of the most delicious recipes that you can cook for a meal or a backyard gathering. You can dry brine your steak for maximum flavor and we have the recipe here for you.

See, this high-protein meal is perfect for you to mix with other recipes. Steaks are great with vegetables and other foods as well to make your meal healthier and more appealing.

It is a very simple recipe with usually just salt and pepper for seasoning. However, there are other things that you can do to make the steak better in terms of taste and texture when cooked.

If you are a big fan of steaks, then you should know that there are a lot of ways to combine steak with other recipes. But you should also know how to make the steak taste better.

 

 

One of the many processes is to brine the steak before cooking it. This process will take you steak into a whole new level and once you try it, you will never go back to the simpler recipe.

When you hear the word brining, the first thing that comes to mind is the introduction of liquid ingredients to the steak. This may be true but there are also some things to be considered.

See, brining does not necessarily mean that you need to put wet ingredients on the steak. Dry brining is a process that actually does the same as wet brining only it does not involve water.

There are some ingredients that you can use in order to enhance the flavor of your steak without injecting it with liquid ingredients. The purpose is there but the process is different.

The main point of this process is to make the flavours seep deeper into the meat. 

So if you want to know how you can do this, using dry ingredients, then read on as we discuss the process of dry brining.

 

What Is Dry Brining?

Dry brining is a process just like wet brining only it does not involve any liquid ingredients. The same purpose of making the flavors more powerful and tasty is attained through this process.

This process only uses salt and pepper as well but it relies on the period of time that you allow the meat to absorb it. This is done also by preserving the meat by chilling it in the fridge.

When you dry brine, it will take over a day for the process to change the quality of the meat. That is why you also need to keep harmful bacteria from building up within the steak.

Refrigerating the steak with the dry brine will also help in keeping the salt active. It will make the ingredients seep deeper into the meat to enhance the taste and flavor of the steak.

When you do this process, the flavor or the salt will be able to season the meat all the way through. This will also help tenderize the meat which is better when you cook it later on.

This means that the meat will be better compared to the season-and-cook process where the flavors from the salt and pepper will only be tasted from the outer parts of the steak.

How To Dry Brine A Steak

First, you are going to need a steak that is at least 1 inch thick. The thicker the steak, the more time you are going to need in order for the dry brine to work properly and seep into the meat.

Cover the outer parts of the steak with kosher salt and black pepper. For every pound of meat, you will need a half teaspoon of kosher salt to properly coat the meat and let it seep in.

You are going to need to let air pass through the meat. So place it on a small rack and then refrigerate it, you can also put a pan underneath the rack in order to catch the drippings.

From there, you can wait for 1 to 3 days to let the seasonings get inside the meat. You can go for a shorter time but the longer you let the meat brine, the better the flavors will be.

If you want more flavors in the meat, you can also go with dry rubs and add other ingredients such as garlic powder, chili powder, and other common ingredients into the meat.

Do not cover the meat as it will only create moisture that will also help in bacteria build-ups. So make sure that you put the meat on a rack with foil underneath just to catch the liquids from it.

 

Cooking the meat after one day of dry brining is good. The salt would have penetrated most of the surface of the meat but I found it best to cook the meat after three days of dry brining.

With that said, do not let the brine go longer than three days. This is especially true when there are other foods in the fridge as the bacteria build-up will be inevitable and can be harmful.

Dry brining the meat for longer than three days will not only create more bacteria but it will also deteriorate the quality of the meat making it chewy or flaky when you cook it, so avoid that.

 

Advantages Of Dry Brining

There are a lot of benefits that you can get when you dry brine your steak. However, we will only be discussing the more important ones so you can get into the process right away.

 

Deeper Flavours

See, when you dry brine the steak that you want to cook, the salt will get deeper into the meat. This is better compared to the usual seasoning and then the cooking process that you do.

When you put the seasoned steak in the fridge, the salt will draw moisture out of the meat. It will also help in eliminating moisture from the refrigerator itself and make the meat better.

The salt will then dissolve and the moisturized salt will then be at a form where it is easier for it to go into the insides of the meat. 

Therefore, the flavor from the salt will go deeper into the steak.

 

Tender Steak

As you may have observed, professional cooks let their steaks rest before serving it. This is a process where the proteins are allowed to relax in order for the meat to actually tenderize a bit.

The salt that you put in the brine helps in making the meat more tender. See, when the proteins inside the meat encounter the salt, they start to loosen up and create a more tender steak.

This will also make the outer parts have a better color. The crust of the meat will brown perfectly while also giving you a smooth and soft texture inside the meat itself.

 

Lack Of Time?

If you do not have a day or two to spare, then you do not have to worry as you can still dry brine your steak without the need of letting it rest in the refrigerator for at least one day.

Right before you cook the steak, you can coat it with salt and pepper. From there, you can let the meat dry brine for about 10 minutes or even up to an hour if you have the time.

This process will cause the meat to reduce the moisture inside it. The salt will not be able to totally penetrate the meat during the brining process but it will go deeper when it is cooked.

 

Conclusion

When you cook your steak, there are things that you need to consider in order to make it great. One is to make sure that you get all the flavors in it and make it as delicious as it can be.

One way to do that is to put the seasonings in the meat for a longer period of time. This will allow the ingredients to seep deeper into the meat and make every bite as great as possible.

Dry brining is a process that can help you attain this and improve the quality of the meat. However, it will not make the steak look or taste like a professionally cooked piece of meat.

It does improve the flavors but you should not expect anything more. This is one of the most common misconceptions about dry brining the steak, so prevent disappointments by knowing.

Just make sure to properly season and let the seasonings go deeper in the meat to make the steak better. This will change the way you cook and it will certainly make the steak better!

If you like the post then do not forget to share it on social media!