How to dry-brine a steak

First, let’s talk salt.

Always season your steaks well with either kosher salt or salt flakes. These salts have larger courser ‘grains’ than table salt and usually don’t contain additives or iodine. They weigh less and are way less ‘salty’ – if a recipe calls for “kosher salt”, and you plan to use standard table salt – you need to HALVE the amount of salt. As an aside, Kosher salt isn’t about being Kosher; rather, it’s a salt designed for the koshering process. So for seasoning meats, you will want to use kosher salt or quality salt flakes such as Murray River Salt Flakes or Olsson’s. We also love to cook over wood or charcoal but not everyone has that luxury, so if that’s the case, try Olsson’s Redgum Smoked Salt. It's subtle but will give you a lovely hint of woodsmoke to your steak.

We really love both of these salts. First, they are Aussie-owned businesses, and second, they are absolutely pristine salts with no chemicals or nasties that can interfere with the taste of your steak.

They also have a more delicate salt flavour than even kosher salt, so you can use more salt than you would table salt without making it too salty. This will only aid the dry-brining process.

So what is dry brining?

The word brining is about submerging food into liquid to absorb flavours. Dry-brining doesn’t involve any liquid – in fact, one of the main things is to remove liquid.

How does dry-brining make the steak taste better?

1) The Deeper Reason

In basic terms, the salt gets deeper into the meat than conventional seasoning methods. The salt draws out the moisture (some from the fridge, but mostly from the meat), creating a slick, watery surface on the steak that eventually dissolves the salt, and then the process of diffusion draws this salty brine back into the meat.

2) The Juicy Reason

Salt works to denature proteins. This part can get a bit science-nerdy but in simpler terms, meat proteins are pretty much strings that are bundled together. Salt has the effect of loosening these strings slightly from each other, creating a more tender bite.

3) The Real Crust

You know that delicious brown crust that food gets when it cooks? That phenomenon is known as the Maillard reaction and is a hallmark of a well-cooked steak. You should always pat down any meat with a paper towel to remove moisture before you cook it and this allows the Maillard reaction to occur even faster. Putting the steak uncovered in your fridge works in the same way, but even better, and means that you’ll have a dryer-surfaced steak that will form an exterior crust faster, lowering your risk of overcooking the interior.

After dry-brining for the right length of time for your sized steak, the salt will have been absorbed and the surface of the steaks will be dry.

So, how do I dry-brine my steaks?

As soon as you get your steak home (or when it is delivered to your door!), remove it from the packaging and pat both sides dry with a paper towel. Generously season with the salt flakes of your choice on both sides (but go easy if you only have table salt!) You can also add any other dry meat rubs at this stage although depending on the strength of the rub, you might only do this on the last day if you are leaving them in the fridge for several days. 

Lay the steak on a wire rack that is sitting in a foil-lined tray – if you have multiple steaks, ensure they are not crowded and have plenty of room (with our big rib eyes, you might need two trays). Place the steaks uncovered in the fridge. You will want to leave the steak uncovered for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days for a rib-eye. For smaller steaks without a bone such as porterhouse, overnight will be fine.

Make sure your fridge doesn’t have anything that smells funky which could work it’s way into the meat. Think raw garlic, leftovers or unwrapped blue cheese! For those of you who have a second “drinks” fridge, these are perfect as they aren’t likely to be opened as regularly as the main fridge!

Before you are ready to cook the steak, remove it from the fridge, wipe off any excess salt and make sure it is really dry with a paper towel. Loosely cover with a cloth or food cover (not plastic wrap) and leave in a safe place on the bench until your grill is ready. A lot of people recommend bringing it out an hour before but usually this is so the meat dries out. Dry-brining has already done this so as long as you wipe it down thoroughly, you don’t need to leave it for any longer than necessary.

And there it is! Your steak is ready for cooking!