<p>It’s emeraldkity’s link… apparently covering the surface of the meat of the salt induces an osmotic effect that denatures proteins within the meat.</p>
<p>(prolly why the salt would be bacteriocidal too)</p>
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<p>I don’t think anything’s really vapor impermeable – the diffusion constant for (work-hardened) aluminum is just really small?</p>
<p>“Could you give me a link to the modern salt thing?” </p>
<p>You could also google “dry brine”; apparently made famous by the roast chicken at Zuni’s in San Francisco</p>
<p>Impermeable is like insoluable, nothing really is yet the terms are in common use.</p>
<p>This really works really well! </p>
<p>Just make sure that you REALLY stick to the time schedule though. 4 hours in a fridge ==> the salt diffuses all the way in, too much water is extracted and the meat tastes horrible.</p>
<p>15 minutes for my cut ===> really tender, moist and delicious</p>
<p>(oh salt has this wonderful defrosting effect… you can salt it before you put it in the microwave and the defrosting time is significantly reduced!)</p>
<p>I’m not much of a cook. I just dabble in it a little bit and I’ve turned out a few edible meals from time to time.</p>
<p>This whole thread leaves me scratching my head. All this back and forth about what this or that does to the color and texture of the meat and then we find out you are defrosting frozen meat in a microwave? Bottom line. If you are really concerned about texture, you don’t freeze the meat in the first place and you certainly don’t defrost it in the microwave.</p>
<p>I am not aware of any marinade that improves the texture or flavor of meat beyond overnight in the fridge. I actually find that longer marinade times than that always degrade the texture and browning of the meat.</p>
<p>Focus on the proper ingredients and the proper cooking techniques. Keep it simple.</p>
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<p>I’m a poor college student. 
My FAFSA EFC for 2009 was 1000. Cost-effectiveness is my first value. I buy meat on sale at bulk rates and freeze it, unless I am holding a party or something, in which case I can use it all within 1 day. Generally, freezing meat once I open it is much much better than letting unpreserved meat fester in a refrigerator (esp. once the package has been opened), since I note a degradation of quality of fridge-stored meat well before the expiration date. </p>
<p>But, I’m also a science kind of person. I’m not finicky about texture, I’m just curious.</p>
<p>re: the microwave – I don’t defrost all the way … I generally use defrost to the point to either: a) separate stuck pieces of meat stored in my rubbermaid containers (I use wax paper but it still gets stuck) b) make meat cuttable (half-frozen is actually the best for chopping). If I am frying I just put the frozen pieces over the frying pan. </p>
<p>Experimenting with salt, I discover even have to defrost less – I just have to defrost for a few minutes, the salt makes microwaving really effective so I can take the meat out (stuck to the wax paper), salt the other side, let the 3/4-frozen piece sit out for a bit and the ice melts very quickly (yay for melting point depression!) </p>
<p>Any stronger dessicants? (btw, COO- has a stronger enthalpy of solvation than Cl-, right? so shouldn’t amino acids and acetates be even more effective?)</p>