When to rub?

Some people feel that the salt sucks the moisture out of the meat if you rub them early and leave it over night.  In theory I agree, but I have put rub on meats the night before cooking several times, and I haven't noticed a difference.

Personally, I only marinate meat for Chinese wok cooking and fajitas. I think it is easy to over marinate, and then, you lose the flavor of the meat.

I always apply the rub to my briskets just before putting them on the Egg.  That's just me.  I don't have any scientific reason for doing it -- Stike is the mad scientist around here. 

^:)^

I do this way because Gary told me toooooooooooooooooooo.

I usually only rub just before or up to one hour prior to the cook.  

What are you rubbing? And what is in the rub? There's no one answer.

One comment I've read is that overnight for ribs may give a "hammy" flavor, because the salt and sugar will give the meat a little bit of cure. I've gone overnight several times, and sometimes the flavor was "hammy," and other times "bacony." Now I usually just put the rub on between 2 and .5 hours before the rack foes on. Long enough for the rub to melt, and adhere.

For butt, just before. They will be sitting in the Egg long enough, I don't see how an additional 8 - 12 hours will make a big difference.

As far as marinating via rub, it might "denature" some of the protein, which means that it will lose moisture faster during the cook. The should be less denaturing than with a full marinade, because those are usually quite acidic.

If there was salt in the mix, first the salt draws the water out of the meat. Then, after a time, the process reverses, and the dissolved salt is pulled back into the meat, where it holds moisture better during cooking. The timing is important. Fatty meats react differently than lean. About an hour per pound is the rule of thumb.

The amount and time can have an effect. I rubbed a pork loin, intending to cook it at the end of the day. Something came up, and it was the next day before it was cooked. It was edible, but as salty as any ham I've had.

Briskerts are sometimes rubbed with sugar the night before. I tried that, but the only thing I had to go by was a picture that showed a brisket blanketed in sugar. Way too much. The brisket did not turn out any more tender, and was extremely sweet. Think beef taffy. Urk.

Corned beef can make a good pastrami. It needs to be soaked for 24 - 48 hours, and then rubbed in pastrami spices over night.  Doesn't turn out dry, or salty, and has a good taste.

i do a lot of curing and drying and i can tell you that you could bury that thing in salt overnight and you wouldn't suck out any apporeciable water.  it just doesn't 'dry out' the meat. 

and you certainly can't cure it overnight. there's just not nearly enough salt in the rub to do anything.  nitrite (in smoke) will effect a cure (smoke ring).  andthat  nitrite does more to change the meat texture and flavor than salt does.  if the salt cured it at all, the nitrite in the smoke would steamroll that 'cure' anyway, since it (nitrite) is the more aggressive curing agent. and everyone loves a smoke ring anyway

don't sweat it. do what works for you.

it is not possible to dry out meat by sprinkling it with salt.  burying it in salt overnight wouldn't even do it, and you certainly aren't doing that....

yep.
gerhard nailed it.

"I have since taken to liberal use of salt and pepper prior to grilling
steaks and.... I don't
believe that it dries the meat one bit."

most steakhouses will salt liberally before cooking.  you can improve a cheapo steak by salting well for about an hour or so, letting it do its thing, then rinsing off. 

when you make duck prosciutto, you bury an entire breast in kosher salt, overnight.  take it out 24 hours later and wash the salt off, pat dry, and that thing is still moist and flexible.  salty (prosciutto, after all), but not at all dry.  even though it has lost a lot of water.

if meat is 90% water, you have to really do a lot to it to dry it out.  45-day dry-aged steaks are still moist, and they've lost 20% of their weight (all water).  salting before cooking a steak can't come close to sucking out 20% of the weight.

salt away, folks!

what do diminutive quasi-european canadian chefs do?
:-\"

I agree with the salt and sugar, I have never ran into any problems? I do have a way I like. I have a FoodSaver vac with several canisters. One canister will hold 2-14 bone racks cut into 3rds. I pull a vacuum and let them set in the fridge 24 hours. They turn out great and sometimes I jsut let them sit alone and kiss all night? It's jsut a matter of how I feel.