Seems to me I read an article a while back something on the purpose of salt in rubs. I learned a few important things to know about how salt works and what it does for the meat.
Here’s a quick Reader’s Digest version. Salt doesn’t need to be room temperature to work. Salt initially begins to dry out the surface of meat and draw moisture out of it. The moisture combines with the salt and begins to breakdown the surface cell structure. This process takes roughly an hour to start if you stop here your meat will be dry. As the cellular structure breaks down the dissolved salt is drawn into the meat along with anything it has been mixed with.