Thawbrining ... SCIENCE!

[cow]

I did an experiment a while back

I had taken some ribeyes out of the freezer to cook up for dinner the same night. I always brine my steaks too, but had to thaw them first, and it got me thinking about something...

Up north, they put salt on the roads to melt snow and ice. If salt melts ice, and meat has high water content, will brining my frozen steaks also accelerate the thawing process?

Salt lowers the freezing point of water. Ice melts faster when salt is added as the salt lowers the freezing point of the water, this is known as freezing point depression. The more salt you add the lower the freezing point. - source

On the average driveway, rock salt will typically decrease the freezing point of water to around 15 degrees - source

Meat and poultry are composed of naturally occurring water, muscle, connective tissue, fat, and bone. People eat meat for the muscle. The muscle is approximately 75% water (although different cuts may have more or less water) and 20% protein, with the remaining 5% representing a combination of fat, carbohydrate, and minerals. - USDA

The answer, it turns out, is yes.

I pulled the steaks out of the freezer and warmed the outsides with my hands just enough to soften the surface so the salt would adhere.. then dry brined and threw them in the fridge.

Low and behold, the salt quickly began penetrating the meat like it normally would with an unfrozen steak, and they were thawed out in no time.

Typical freezer temp is 0°F. So the meat has to very slowly warm in the fridge by 32°F before the ice turns back to liquid. By introducing salt, the freezing point is lowered and the frozen water only has to warm by about 15°F instead of 32°F before change back to liquid state. Theoretically speeding up the thawing process by around 53%.

I'm a crappy scientist and I was hungry, so I didn't bother checking to see how long it took, but I can say it was "very fast", and the experiment definitely worked.

So if you ever have any meat to thaw out, throw your brine on early and speed up the process.

:hungry:

 

[Gnarlbecue]

I have done this, and can confirm that it speeds up the defrosting process as well as cuts overall prep time.

By the time the meat has fully defrosted, most of the salt has been absorbed and I can throw it right into the smoke or on the grill a lot sooner than waiting for full defrost, then adding salt.

 

[cow]

By the time the meat has fully defrosted, most of the salt has been absorbed

That's exactly what happened for me as well. The kosher salt had disappeared into the meat almost as fast as it would with an unfrozen steak. The brine penetrates, melts the ice, penetrates deeper, brines deeper, melts more ice, etc. They were ready to throw on the grill as soon as they'd finished thawing. It's a nice time saver

 

[Gnarlbecue]

Great post AC!

I have done this several times in the last year on those days where I forget to thaw something overnight.

I thawbrine steaks or chops before work, and when I get home the meat is thawed and brined and ready for a rub as soon as I walk in the door.

I have not tried this with thicker cuts because I'm afraid the salt won't penetrate deep enough to rapid thaw the center of a roast before the surface, and that seems sketchy to me.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that has tried this. I thought I was just being lazy and weird.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

My grandmother taught me to always let my chicken take salt before cookin. So now whenever I have to start with frozen chicken I coat it in salt and wait

 

[JRDINCC]

SirPorkalot posted a while back about dry brining a frozen turkey.
Haven't tried yet but process sounded good.

 

[ModelMaker]

Very interesting, Thawbrining !!!!
Ed

 

[Qkooker]

Great post and very curious. Do you rinse any of the excess off? Should you add salt before cooking? Thanks in advance.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Awesome, I love the term “thawbrining”!

It does work, I have posted in past about it, but I didn’t have that cool terminology to use

It will not only thaw quicker, but as you’ve found, it will dry brine as it thaws.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253512

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238843

 

[Newglide]

Interesting, Makes perfect sense when you think about it. I dry brine most of my meat any more. I wonder if there would be a much of a difference in taste or tenderness between dry brine a thawed piece of meat and doing the "thawbrine"

 

[snadamo]

Just waiting for someone to change their handle to "Thawbrining"

Thanks for sharing, I may have to try it.

 

[cow]

Awesome, I love the term “thawbrining”!

It does work, I have posted in past about it, but I didn’t have that cool terminology to use

It will not only thaw quicker, but as you’ve found, it will dry brine as it thaws.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253512

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238843

It's cool to see others have tested this too.. that's awesome. It was just an idea when I was in a rush, and I got to thinking about the icy roads and it seemed to make sense in my head... turns out it works.

It seems that it brines at almost exactly the same rate as it thaws... which makes sense because as the ice melts, the salty water is able to penetrate deeper to melt more ice and therefore brine deeper. Yet the meat is still below freezing temperature, so it's not losing any spoil time in the fridge which is another bonus... especially for pork and poultry.

 

[cow]

Great post and very curious. Do you rinse any of the excess off? Should you add salt before cooking? Thanks in advance.

The brine absorbs into the meat entirely, so there's nothing to rinse off.. it vanishes. You should definitely not salt before cooking (or use any rubs that contain additional salt), the brine should be exactly as much as you'd normally use as a seasoning, except you're putting it on earlier and giving it time to soak in.

The whole purpose of the brine is to evenly distribute salt throughout the meat, instead of just sitting on top.

The dry brine process works because the salt draws moisture OUT of the meat, and then the moisture liquefies the salt and then it gets sucked back into the meat. It's basically magic and works amazing. The only time brining doesn't work, is if you're putting salt on a thick fat cap or something.. it won't penetrate much. On raw muscle, it works like a charm.

 

[Qkooker]

Thank you Sir for your detailed response. Definately going to try this. I'm always grateful to learn things.

 

[thirdeye]

It was just an idea when I was in a rush, and I got to thinking about the icy roads and it seemed to make sense in my head... turns out it works.

Good idea. But, the thawing salt I have is colored blue, so I could make a blue plate special. :mrgreen: Now I just need to figure out how to quick thaw my cookers.