If you salt your steak and let the meat absorb the salt for less than 10 minutes, the salt starts to pull out juices from the meat through the process of osmosis but doesn't have time to reabsorb them. This will cause your steak to lose moisture and you'll have trouble achieving that perfectly crispy, desired crust.
Just before it's going to be cooked, and no sooner. Salt draws moisture out of the meat, and it will be dry if you salt it too early.
The ideal time to salt your meat is 24 hours before cooking, though dry brining can start as close as two hours before placing your meat on the heat. Simply apply ½ to ¾ teaspoon of salt per pound of meat, spreading evenly over the entire surface. Place your meat in the fridge right after applying the salt.
24 hours before cooking: Salt the steak 24 hours before cooking, then set it in the fridge, uncovered. Remove from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking. Salting the steak long before cooking it gives it the optimal amount of time to wet-cure, deeply flavoring the entire steak and tenderizing the meat.
Moral of the story: If you've got the time, salt your meat for at least 40 minutes and up to overnight before cooking. If you haven't got 40 minutes, it's better to season immediately before cooking. Cooking the steak anywhere between three and 40 minutes after salting is the worst way to do it.
Salting meat and leaving it overnight in the refrigerator allows time for the salt to travel deep into the meat, thoroughly seasoning it and changing the protein structure so that it can hold on to more juices during cooking.
The best way to season steak is to add a generous amount of salt to both sides about 45 minutes before cooking. Then, just before cooking, add your other spices, like black pepper and garlic powder, ensuring that you cover both sides of the steak.
Many people think due to osmosis that salt will draw water out of any ingredient, resulting in dry and toughened meat. However, with time salt will dissolve protein strands allowing the meat retain water as they cook – this is what makes meat tender and juicy!
The logic here is that 40 minutes gives your meat the time to reabsorb its liquid and any amount of time before that just makes your steak wetter. But salting it right before putting it in the pan will aid in forming a solid crust on the steak.
Though many cookbooks rightly warn you never salt meat or poultry right before you put it in the oven– because the salt will draw out the juices and make it dry and tough–the opposite occurs when you salt well in advance of cooking. It all has to do with the behavior of proteins and cell osmosis.
If You Make the Salted-for 12-Hours Steak, a Few Tips
Skip the second salting: Generously salt the steak and let it air dry in the fridge overnight, as described, but skip the second salting.
While the process speeds up during cooking, it's still not instantaneous. Adding salt at the beginning of cooking gives it time to migrate into the food, seasoning it throughout. Meanwhile, if you add salt only at the end, it provides a more concentrated, superficial coating that immediately hits your tongue.
Take steps to ensure a good crust
"Pat down your meat," says Cervantez. "Dry meat forms the best crust." Juan Carlos Gonzalez, former executive chef of SoBou in New Orleans, likes to add a bit of olive oil as well, which he says helps achieve a better sear or griddle marks.
Besides enhancing the natural flavors present, the salt also reconstitutes any of the juices that it draws out. This creates a perfectly seared final product that is full of flavor. Properly salting though can be difficult. The goal is not to make the steak taste salty, but to use salt to draw out the steak flavor.
If you don't have time to let the meat sit for at least 40 minutes, wait to salt until right before cooking. Otherwise, you'll lose some juices and make it more challenging to brown your meat. Don't salt more than 3 days in advance. It may start to dry out and get a leathery texture.
Is Chewy Steak Overcooked Or Undercooked? Both. Tough and chewy steak may be the result of undercooking naturally tough meat or overcooking tender steak to the point of dryness. Cooking steak to the right temperature is essential to making a tender juicy meal.
Make a marinade with acidic components—such as citrus juice, buttermilk, yogurt, wine, vinegar or soda—to help break down tough connective tissue and muscle fibers.
Then there are those who refuse to salt until after a steak is cooked. But most agree that cooking your steak within 3 to 45 minutes after salting is a big mistake (huge). That amount of time allows the salt to pull moisture out of the steak but not enough time for it to diffuse back in.
Just before cooking or 24-hours in advance. My preferred method is to season the steak generously with salt and pepper then let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator at least overnight or up to 48 hours.
Gently pat the salt into the meat. Next, place your steaks onto cooling racks, cover them with plastic wrap, and then put them in the fridge. You can let them sit in the fridge anywhere from 40 minutes to 24 hours. The longer you let them sit, the more concentrated the flavor is going to be.
Most big steakhouses broil their steaks, using overhead, infrared broilers that produce incredibly hot temperatures to cook steaks. Don't worry though, you don't need to go out and invest in one, but the principle is the same. You need incredibly high heat in direct contact with the meat.
For raw ground meats, poultry, seafood and variety meats (liver, tongue, chitterlings, etc.), refrigerate them only 1 to 2 days before either cooking or freezing. Beef, veal, lamb and pork roasts, steaks and chops may be kept 3 to 5 days.
Butter on steak
Butter is ideal for continually basting a steak and lends itself perfectly to some cuts and for those who like to be there tenderly managing the cooking. Being there and continually basting means the butter is less likely to burn and mar the flavour.
Steak and olive oil
Like butter, olive oil has a distinct taste and low smoke point. It also offers immense moisture and character depending on what kind of oil you buy. Even modestly priced olive oil can give flavour to a steak and if you like that flavour, this is definitely the way to go.