Does the flavor really permeate the meat? Or could we just added the spices during / after cooking?
And if the spices do permeate the meat, what's the mechanism? And how deeply do they penetrate?
https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine
I'd _highly_ recommend the book The Food Lab, and site Serious Eats. They both go into the science of cook and answer lots of questions like this.
You can taste the difference. We’ve done blind tests in terms of rushing the process and people always notice the difference. “Did you do something different today? The meat tastes bland/different/funny”.
But the difference is biggest between 0min and 20min. More than 20min doesn’t seem to make a big impact in flavor, it does make the meat juicier and softer tho.