question: If salt draws out moisture, why does brining have the opposite effect and makes meat tender and moist?
comment: The process is called osmosis and it attempts to equalized the salinity (saltiness) inside and out. When all you have is salt on the outside, the only way to do this is for water inside to move outside, which then evaporates and dries out the meat. When you have salt and water on the outside, then it does this by bringing the salt from the outside in.
passages: Brining can also be achieved by covering the meat in dry coarse salt and left to rest for several hours. The salt draws moisture from the interior of the meat to the surface, where it mixes with the salt and is then reabsorbed with the salt essentially brining the meat in its own juices. The salt rub is then rinsed off and discarded before cooking.
  
  Food scientists have two theories about the brining effect, but which one is correct is still under debate.
   BULLET::::- The salt introduced into the cell denatures its proteins. The proteins coagulate, forming a matrix that traps water molecules and holds them during cooking. This prevents the meat from dehydrating.
  
  Section::::Fish.
   As opposed to dry salting, fish brining or wet-salting is performed by immersion of fish into brine, or just sprinkling it with salt without draining the moisture. To ensure long-term preservation, the solution has to contain at least 20% of salt, a process called "heavy salting" in fisheries; heavy-salted fish must be desalted in cold water or milk before consumption. If less salt is used, the fish is suited for immediate consumption, but additional refrigeration is necessary for longer preservation.
  
  Wet-salting is used for preparation of:
   BULLET::::- Salt is the most frequently used additive in meat processing. It imparts flavor but also inhibits microbial growth, extends the product's shelf life and helps emulsifying finely processed products, such as sausages. Ready-to-eat meat products normally contain about 1.5 to 2.5 percent salt. Salt water or similar substances may also be injected into poultry meat to improve the taste and increase the weight, in a process called plumping.
   Salt (sodium chloride) is the primary ingredient used in meat curing. Removal of water and addition of salt to meat creates a solute-rich environment where osmotic pressure draws water out of microorganisms, slowing down their growth. Doing this requires a concentration of salt of nearly 20%. In addition, salt causes the soluble proteins to come to the surface of the meat that was used to make the sausages. These proteins coagulate when the sausage is heated, helping to hold the sausage together.
  
  Section::::Chemical actions.:Sugar.
   BULLET::::- The brine surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other solutes. This leads salt ions to diffuse into the cell, while the solutes in the cells cannot diffuse through the cell membranes into the brine. The increased salinity of the cell fluid causes the cell to absorb water from the brine via osmosis.
   After the preparation, the lutefisk is saturated with water and must therefore be cooked extremely carefully so that it does not fall to pieces.
  
  To create a firm consistency in lutefisk, it is common to spread a layer of salt over the fish about half an hour before it is cooked. This will "release" some of the water in the fish meat. The salt must be rinsed off carefully before cooking.
   Osmosis can be demonstrated when potato slices are added to a high salt solution. The water from inside the potato moves out to the solution, causing the potato to shrink and to lose its 'turgor pressure'. The more concentrated the salt solution, the bigger the difference in size and weight of the potato slice.
   Salting (food)
  
  Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt. It is related to  pickling  in general and more specifically to brining (preparing food with brine, that is, salty water) and is one form of curing. It is one of the oldest methods of preserving food, and two historically significant salt-cured foods are salted fish (usually dried and salted cod or salted herring) and salt-cured meat (such as bacon). Vegetables such as runner beans and cabbage are also often preserved in this manner.
   During the Age of Discovery, salt meat was one of the main foods for sailors on long voyages, for instance in the merchant marine or the navy. In the 18th century, salted Irish beef, transported in barrels, was considered finest.
   Tensional stress leads to thin-skinned extension, which stretches the overburden but not the salt layer in the base. Deformation of salt structures from thin-skinned extension can be divided into three stages. However, it is important to note that diapir does not need to go through all these stages, depending on the amount and rate of extension, density of overburden, etc.
   The technique of covering food in salt to create a sealed place is used by many cultures: Indian clay-pot cooking, French "en papillote" style and Oriental techniques which also emulate a sealed space. Oriental style uses instead of salt, wrapping food in plant matter such as leaves or bark. The techniques all aim to lock in moisture and maximise the effect of the seasoning. Covering the ingredient in salt crust is the first part and the second part is baking it. Baking typically occurs in an oven and the fuel is supplied by wood, coal, gas, or electricity. The crust also acts as a mini-oven, locking the heat inside as salt is a poor conductor of heat creating an oven within an oven. This slows heat transfer to the food creating a slow and low dry oven, beneficial to most proteins. 
   BULLET::::- Acidifiers, most often lactic or citric acid, can impart a tangy or tart flavor note, extend shelf-life, tenderize fresh meat or help with protein denaturation and moisture release in dried meat. They substitute for the process of natural fermentation that acidifies some meat products such as hard salami or prosciutto.
  
  Section::::Production.:Misidentification.
  
  With the rise of complex supply chains, including cold chains, in developed economies, the distance between the farmer or fisherman and customer has grown, increasing the possibility for intentional and unintentional misidentification of meat at various points in the supply chain.
   Preservation of fish through fermentation in a weak brine may have developed when brining was still expensive due to the cost of salt. In modern times, the fish are initially marinated in a strong brine solution that draws out the blood, and then fermented in a weaker brine in barrels prior to canning.
   The coarse-grained salt is used to create a dry brine, which increases succulence and flavor and satisfies some religious requirements, sometimes with flavor additions such as herbs, spices or sugar. The meat is typically soaked in cool water, drained, completely covered with a thin layer of salt, and then allowed to stand on a rack or board for an hour or more. The larger salt granules remain on the surface of the meat, for the most part undissolved, and absorb fluids from the meat, which are then partially reabsorbed with the salt and any added flavors, essentially brining the meat in its own juices. The salt rub is then rinsed off and discarded before cooking.
   Meat with the fat content deposited within the steak to create a "marbled" appearance has always been regarded as more tender than steaks where the fat is in a separate layer. Cooking causes melting of the fat, spreading it throughout the meat and increasing the tenderness of the final product.
  
  Section::::Testing.
   Salt crust
  
  Salt crust is the name given to the method of covering of an ingredient, commonly fish such as sea bass and grouper, in a sand-like mixture of usually egg whites and salt. The salt acts as insulation and helps cook the food in an even and gentle manner. After baking, the golden-brown shell is cracked, resulting in moist and evenly cooked food. The technique is used often with chefs as it simultaneously roasts, steams and seasons. 
  
  Section::::Food and techniques.
   Section::::Meat.
  
  Brining is typically a process in which meat is soaked in a salt water solution similar to marination before cooking. Meat is soaked anywhere from 30 minutes to several days. The amount of time needed to brine depends on the size of the meat: More time is needed for a large turkey compared to a broiler fryer chicken. Similarly, a large roast must be brined longer than a thin cut of meat.
  
  Section::::Meat.:Dry brining.
   The process changes beef by two means. Firstly, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. The resulting process of desiccation creates a greater concentration of beef flavour and taste. Secondly, the beef's natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef.
   In pan frying, the water that exits the meat forms a barrier between the meat and the oil or the surface of the pan. This barrier is critical for the success of pan frying meat. 
   The salting stage is one of the most important in the entire preparation process for Iberian acorn-fed ham. The aim of this technique is twofold: to introduce salt into the muscle mass of the hams, and to slowly dehydrate the hams themselves. The salting process lies in the extent to which the salt acts. This salting action depends on the amount of salt applied as well as the capacity of the meat to assimilate it and allow the process of osmosis to take place, that is to say, the introduction of salt and the removal of juices. Both sea salt and fossil salt can be used to carry out the salting process. 
   A study conducted by the Sinop University in Turkey was done to determine the difference a salt crust makes on the rainbow trout ("Oncorhynchus mykiss"). The rainbow trout was prepared by first being gutted without being scaled with the head and tail being intact. Parsley and bay leaf were placed in succession with cuts of onion and lemon into an incision of the fish’s body, sealed with aluminium foil. This was done to prevent the absorption of salt into the actual flesh of the rainbow trout. The salt crust was made by a combination of rock salt, egg whites and water. The covered fish was baked at 180C for 45 minutes or until golden brown. The fish was allowed to cool down to room temperature and then the outer layer was broken using a knife.
   Section::::Cooking and preparation.:Moist heat.
  
  Moist heat cooking methods include braising, pot roasting, stewing and sous-vide. These techniques are often used for cuts of beef that are tougher, as these longer, lower-temperature cooking methods have time to dissolve connecting tissue which otherwise makes meat remain tough after cooking.
  
  BULLET::::- Stewing or simmering
  
  BULLET::::- Braising
  
  BULLET::::- Sous-vide
   Salt cod has been produced for at least 500 years, since the time of the European discoveries of the New World. Before refrigeration, there was a need to preserve the cod; drying and salting are ancient techniques to preserve nutrients and the process makes the cod tastier. More importantly, fish low in oils and fats allow for the drying and preservation process to occur: oils and fats prevent the salt water from preserving the fish. Cod fish have very low levels of oils, and most is located in the guts.
   Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria. Smoking, often used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required.
  
presuppositions: If salt is known to remove moisture, then brining should not make meat tender and moist.
corrections: Because brining involves both salt and water, the salt on the outside of the meat is actually drawn inside instead of the salt brining the meat of the moisture outside, this is all due to the process of osmosis. 
raw_presuppositions: If salt is known to remove moisture, then brining should not make meat tender and moist. Salt draws out moisture in only one direction.
raw_corrections: Because brining involves both salt and water, the salt on the outside of the meat is actually drawn inside instead of the salt brining the meat of the moisture outside, this is all due to the process of osmosis.  Salt draws out moisture to equalize the saltiness in both directions.