What is the difference between dry brining and wet brining?

Both are ways of getting salt into meat before cooking. They work by the same mechanism but end in different places, and which you want depends on whether you are trying to keep the meat moist or trying to get the outside brown.

Step by step

1. Understand what salt does.Salt first draws moisture out, then that moisture dissolves the salt and is reabsorbed carrying it inwards. It also loosens the muscle proteins so they hold water better during cooking.
2. Dry brine with about 1% salt by weight.Roughly 10g of salt per kilo of meat, or a teaspoon per 500g. Rub it over the whole surface and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge.
3. Give a dry brine the right time.Steaks and chops 1 to 12 hours; chicken pieces 4 to 12; a whole chicken 12 to 24; a turkey 24 to 48. Under about 45 minutes the salt is still on the surface and it tastes salty — either go short or go long.
4. Wet brine at about 5 to 6% salt.Roughly 50 to 60g of salt per litre of water, fully submerging the meat. Chicken pieces 1 to 2 hours, a whole chicken 4 to 8, a turkey 12 to 24. Keep it in the fridge throughout.
5. Choose dry brining for anything with skin.It dries the surface, which is what crackling, crisp chicken skin and a good sear all need. Wet brining does the opposite.
6. Choose wet brining for very lean, easily dried meat.Turkey breast, pork loin and lean chops genuinely benefit — the added water gives a margin against overcooking that dry brining does not.
7. Reduce salt elsewhere.Brined meat is already seasoned. Season the sauce and vegetables normally but go light on the meat itself afterwards.
8. Never brine kosher, koshered or pre-brined meat.Most supermarket turkeys and many chickens are already injected with a salt solution — check the label. Brining them again makes them inedibly salty.

Tips

• Uncovered in the fridge is a feature of dry brining, not an oversight — the drying surface is half the point.
• 1% of the meat's weight is the figure to remember for dry brining.
• Rinse after a wet brine and dry thoroughly, or the surface will not brown at all.

Common mistakes

• Dry brining for twenty minutes — That is long enough for salt to draw moisture to the surface but not long enough for it to be reabsorbed, so the meat is wet on the outside and tastes salty rather than seasoned. Either salt immediately before cooking or leave it at least an hour.
• Wet brining a bird you want crisp skin on — The skin absorbs water along with everything else, and water on skin means steam rather than crisping. If crisp skin matters, dry brine.

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