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Morton’s kosher salt per pound of meat in advance for about 1
hour per 1” of thickness in the refrigerator. We call this dry
brining. If you use table salt or Diamond Crystal kosher, cut the
quantity in half because there is less air in a given volume and so
they have more salinity
.
The thicker the food, the longer you need to dry brine advance. An hour or two is enough for most foods that are 2" thick or less. Turkey breasts and roasts are best salted in the morning for supper. If you salt just before cooking much of the salt can come out and make the juice in the bag too salty for a sauce.
Yes, you can wet brine, i.e. mix salt into water and soak the food in the saline solution, but the results are pretty much the same as dry brining. Why waste so much salt and water and take up so much space in the fridge? So save some money and simply sprinkle salt on the surface.
Spices, Herbs, And Marinating
It is far more effective and safer to season food after it comes out of the bag. Why? Flavor molecules from herbs and spices are too large to penetrate much beyond the surface of most meats (exceptions being many seafoods) so they should be seen primarily as surface treatments.
If you don’t believe me, get a pork loin hunk, say 4" long, and marinate the heck out of it. Empty the spice rack into a marinade and let it soak overnight. Then cook it, cut it in half, wipe the surface in case the knife pushed some marinade down in, and take a core sample. Nothing but pork. No garlic, no onion, no pepper, no nothing. Except salt. Because salt is the magic rock.
If you want to flavor the meat, the right time
is after it comes out of the bag.
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