By unanimous consensus this past weekend bbq’ing for people very accustomed to sitting at our dinner table, my steaks were otc (Off The Charts). They are usually mouthwatering delicious and consistent meal to meal, but this past weekend everyone ended up in a meat coma – including me.
There was only one significant difference and that was dry brining.
I had and seized the opportunity to prepare the steaks the day before the cook. Having a vacuum sealer (see post here) allowed me to take advantage of a HUGE sale on cowboy ribeyes at Costco. They were on sale for $14/lb vs. their normal $24. After getting the boss's approval I bought a few, vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer.
Knowing we were having a bunch of people over Saturday evening; I took two out and put them in the sous vide (see post here). Setting the temperature on the sous vide to 70 degrees, they sat in there for about an hour and half. And yes, 70 degrees because all I wanted to do was unfreeze them and NOT cook them. At that point when I took them out of the sous vide, they had no evidence of any part of the cowboy ribeye being frozen.
I opened the bag, drizzled a little olive oil on it, rubbed it in so that the salt would stick to the steak. Using the Maldon Sea Salt (see post here), I liberally sprinkled it on both sides AND the sides. Those are thick steaks so they can take a lot of salt, in fact they need it. Do not skimp on the salt.
Using a baking tray that was wrapped in aluminum foil, both cowboy ribeyes found a very nice resting place on its cooling rack in my refrigerator for the next 24 hours.
You could tell the next day by the color change in the steaks that the salt had penetrated deep into the ribeyes. That a lot of moisture and juices were going to be held in the steak very tightly – which happened. And, that the char we would be able to put on the steak would be mouthwatering – which happened too.
Take Home Message: Dry brine your steaks overnight if possible. And if it is not, for at least 2 hours.
Sidebar: Remember to take the steaks out of the refrigerator 30 minutes ahead of the cook. NEVER throw a cold steak on a hot fire.
Next Post on the pre-cook seasoning.
Wishes for a great day to all,
Hugs too,
David/
