Season Overnight?

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quickray

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 4, 2021
22
5
Gonna make my second attempt at a brisket first thing tomorrow morning.

Do you season your brisket overnight or just a few hours prior to smoking?
 
I season any meat thicker than 1" the night before. Thinner cuts 1 hour before.
It's been proven that Salt will Dry Brine meat structurally changing the meat protein, causing it to be more tender and retain more of it's moisture if given the time to do the job. The result of Kenji Lopez' testing of Salting Thick Rib Steaks...

If you've got the time, salt your meat for at least 40 minutes and up to overnight before cooking. If you haven't got 40 minutes, it's better to season immediately before cooking. Cooking the steak anywhere between three and 40 minutes after salting is the worst way to do it.

The whole article...JJ
 
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I do mine the night before but only because I'm always in a hurry to get smoking when I get up early and don't want to waste valuable cook time.
 
I always salt/season overnight. I will also place the meat on a rack on top a cooking sheet. Seems like if the meat is placed on a flat surface, the bottom tends to wick out the juice and its left in the sheet. On a rack, I tend to not see much if any residual juice.
 
I season prior to firing up the coals.

Chris
 
For us it is always a pure Texas approach, 50/50 salt & cracked black pepper. Usually prep the brisket the night before.
 
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I start the fire, trim and season the brisket and by then the fire is ready to go. I used to start by 5AM to hopefully eat dinner but recently I start late morning so it finishes up before bet. Wrap it and put it a cooler to rest and its good to go in the morning. That's the plan for football grub. Was planning to do one today but the fires in the mountains have triggered no burn alerts.
 
Here an interesting read on the role of salt and timing.
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