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Leaving rubbed meat uncovered overnight?

good day everyone 
ive always put rub on my meat then placed it in like a big plastic container with a lid and refrigerated overnight,always a little watery the next day.ive read hear people leaving it uncovered in fridge to dry it? Is this common amongst forum users? Should this be done with all protein?  What is the benefits?  Many thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Wolfpack
    Wolfpack Posts: 3,551
    I always leave chicken (with the skin on) uncovered.  It helps dry out the skin so it gets crispier. Don’t leave anything else uncovered. 
    Greensboro, NC
  • @Wolfpack thanks I had thought it was all about maybe the rub sticking better. Never knew it would help the skin get crispy on chicken.  I will try that next time for sure.
  • JethroVA
    JethroVA Posts: 1,251
    I rub and leave uncovered overnight in a meat-n-beer fridge in the basement.  No other food odors present but that fridge smells like BBQ for a week!
    Richmond and Mathews County, VA. Large BGE, Weber gas, little Weber charcoal. Vintage ManGrates. Little reddish portable kamado that shall remain nameless here.  Very Extremely Stable Genius. 
  • XC242
    XC242 Posts: 1,208
    Last weekend I put rub on a rib roast and left it uncovered in the fridge overnight. The crust on it turned out excellent. I would do it that way again. 
    LBGE (still waitin' for my free T-Shirt), DIgiQ DX2 (In Blue, cause it's the fastest), Heavy Duty Kick Ash Basket, Mc Farland, WI. :glasses:  B)
    If it wasn't for my BGE I'd have no use for my backyard...
  • ColtsFan
    ColtsFan Posts: 6,310
    My meat is uncovered every night. 
    ~ John - https://www.instagram.com/hoosier_egger
    XL BGE, LG BGE, KJ Jr, PK Original, Ardore Pizza Oven, King Disc 
    Bloomington, IN - Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    I don't have any hard-n-fast answers, but there's a bunch of things to consider:
    1.  Salt supposedly draws water out of the meat, which dissolves the salt, and then seeps back into the meat to season it all the way through.  This goes against the "osmosis" I learned in high school biology, but I know from my own side-by-side test that meat salted (not brined) the night before is more juicy.
    2.  Salted meat does indeed get water/juices standing on it.  If the meat was covered (tightly with saran wrap, not "loosely" in a closed container) the water/juice would have nowhere else to go but back into the meat, rather than evaporating in the dry environment of a refrigerator.  A covered container would be somewhere in the middle, I would think.  
    3.  Does your rub even have salt in it?  
    4.  I would be concerned about losing any water/juice from a steak (which is only cooked to 125 F or so).  On a brisket, the meat gives up most/all of its water/juices at the stall point (170 F or so) and, if the brisket is removed at that point, is dry and tough; its the higher temps (up to 200~210) that melt the collagen that re-lubricates the meat and makes good barbeque.  I wouldn't be as concerned about losing the water in a brisket.
    5.  Will a brisket that is salted and left uncovered overnight in the frig, go through the stall quicker, as it already lost some of that water, than a brisket that is salted and then tightly-wrapped overnight in the frig?  I don't know.  
    6.  Chicken, with its skin, presents a whole different set of questions.  What would happen if you loosened the skin, rubbed the salt on the meat, then replaced the skin?  Could you get a win-win with the bottom of the skin keeping the drawn-out water on the surface of the chicken meat, to re-enter the meat, while the top of the skin dries out in the refrigerator?  
     
    I think I've come up with a new set of experiments for this season.  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
    Uncovered is what I do...yoi get the pellicle effect crucial for optimal crust formation 
  • Hmm. I think I’m gonna try everything uncovered once and go from there. My fridge has a couple types of filters and smell thus far has not been an issue 
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Unless you
    Hmm. I think I’m gonna try everything uncovered once and go from there. My fridge has a couple types of filters and smell thus far has not been an issue 
    Unless your nose is a lot more sensitive than mine, odors won't be an issue.