Can I add a light layer of salt to meat I want to dry age?

[John Freese]

I do love to dry brine beef roasts prior to smoking (brisket, rib eye). I’m wondering if I can lightly sprinkle salt on a roast before dry-aging for 45 days? Just thinking it might help prevent bad bacteria from ruining the meat. With all the moisture loss I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to add much.

Thanks in advance.

John

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome aboard, John. I would not recommend brining your meat before aging it in a UMAi Dry@ bag. The key to successful dry aging is removing the moisture content from the meat and anything to interfere is not good.

BTW speaking of brining I have had good luck with this brine:

1 quart of water
4 T canning salt
4 T white sugar.

I have had great success using this for 2 to 4 hours for beef, pork and chicken. That salt is super fine compared to table salt so it seems to give more punch to the brine.
Try it sometime!
Ron

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