Dry Brine Question

[akruckus]

When doing a dry brine for chicken, should i just use salt or will the salt in the rub achieve the same goal?  I plan on doing some PBC chickens this weekend while the better half is at her bridal shower. 

2 rubs, both posted earlier today. Salt pepper garlic powder; salt pepper garlic powder chili powder, paprika, re pepper flakes, dry mustard, cayenne powder, and a secret warmth flavor.  Thanks pictures will be up next week.

[1Bigg_ER]

Is salt the first ingredient on the list of ingredients in the rub? If it is then it should do the trick. If not, use it on an egg, see how salty it gets then adjust from there.

Dry brine I use a teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of bird.
Tricky situation, I avoid presalted rubs like a plague.

[akruckus]

I make my own, so yes salt is the most abundant ingredient.  I'm afraid if i just dry brine then add my homemade rubs it will be too salty.

Side note Bigg, you were the man I'd hope answer because I saw you use a dry bring on a bird for you PBC, then season with herbs and oil before hanging the meat.

[muebe]

Ingredients are listed by most to least content so when salt is the first ingredient it is the dominate one like Bigg says. I also try to avoid rubs like that.

I think that TendaRub is the exception. The first ingredient might be kerosene

[1Bigg_ER]

If you make your own I'd advise you to make a small saltless batch. Then dry brine your bird and then apply your rub before cooking.
Trick I do with rubs/ herbs is to make a paste with a warm fat of choice. Let them steep for about 15 minutes then rub that bird all over. The warm fat opens up the spices /herbs.

FYI, do not rinse the bird after dry brining.

[akruckus]

Thank you guys.  looks like I have some experimentation to do.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Thanks y'all for the great info I'll have to try that on my next batch of PBC chicken.

[akruckus]

I did one half with just salt and the other half with salt pepper and garlic powder, both sat uncovered in fridge for 28 hours before cooking.

After cooked, I the one that I dry brined wasn't any saltier then the one with just my rub on it.  The dry brined chicken(darker bird) did finish about 15 minutes before the rub only bird. 75, 90 minutes on cook time.  Both rebars in, standard KBB with two chunks of pecan and at about 300ft above sea level 1/4 opening on vent. PBC keeps the bird so moist she questions if it is fully cooked or not, but she did grow up with her dad using the burn and turn technique to produce dry blackened chicken.

[attachments deleted after 6 months]

[drholly]

Very nice looking chicken. I got the same questions when I started making chicken on the PBC - had to prove it was done with my Thermopen. Now they understand that chicken doesn't have to taste bad to be safe. Good comparison of dry brines / rubs. Thanks!

[1Bigg_ER]

Next time try without the wood chunks, the skin will come out even crispier.
Contrary to what most folks believe, smoke does not penetrate meat, that's why 99.9% of every smoked chicken has a lousy skin.

[muebe]

Looks great! Removing one rebar really works good for me. Bumps up the temp a bit. I like the higher temp when making PBC chicken!

[viscera912]

i dry brined for the first time last week on some chicken drum's.  i used kosher salt using bigg's formula but i also used PBC all purpose rub which has salt in it.  thus i just guessed/eyeballed less salt because i was going to use the all purpose rub.  it came out pretty good.  the science of the dry rub works as it did dry out the skin.  i think it helped crisp it up along with the higher heat like bigg says.  the skin was better on my first batch of drums than the second one.  i was running about 350's using kings blue and by the time second batch went in i was between 290 and 305.  im contemplating just using lump for anything chicken related and using kingsford for all else. 

[1Bigg_ER]

That's a good call on the lump coals Viscera