Wet curing a brisket changed my whole weekend routine

I've always done dry rubs, but last Saturday I tried a wet cure with a 5% salt brine and some pickling spice on a 14 pounder. Left it in the walk-in for 48 hours, and the flavor came out way deeper than any dry rub I've done in 12 years of cutting. The moisture retention was the big surprise, it held nearly 2 pounds more weight after the smoke. I'm wondering if anyone else has swapped methods like this and stuck with it, or was it just a one-off lucky batch?

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felixlane2mo ago

Wet brines just mask the meat with salt water, that's why it held weight, you basically injected water weight and called it a win. Dry rubs build a crust and concentrate flavor, a 48 hour soak just makes it taste like deli ham.

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