Could the timing of butter make or break your seasoned steak?
Keep watching to learn more about this and other mistakes you've been making when seasoning steaks.
Salt is the primary go-to accompaniment for steak. However, the type of salt you use is
just as important as the salt itself. Regular ol' super fine-grained table salt is not the ideal
salt for seasoning steaks but people often use it because it's what they have in the pantry already.
Kosher salt is what most chefs universally recommend for steaks.
The actual flakes in kosher salt are much thicker,
and therefore cover the surface of the steak more efficiently. It's certainly easier to
confirm you've seasoned the entire exterior of the steak when you can see the actual salt crystals.
When it comes to beef, it's essential to use salt liberally when seasoning,
and it's usually a lot more salt than you might initially deem necessary.
Pros know that If you want every bite to have flavor, especially when it's a thick cut of meat,
be sure to aggressively salt every square inch of that steak.
"One inch thick top sirloin steak, salt and pepper heavily, grill at 400, 4 minutes total,
flip each minute to get the good grill marks, let sit for two minutes - down the hatch."
As The Spruce Eats points out,
you aren't just eating the top part of the meat — the salt needs to coat every surface
of the steak. This also helps form the crust like consistency of a supremely cooked steak.
The exception to this rule of using a hefty amount of salt, per Steak School,
is if you're cooking dry-aged steak. Because the process pulls moisture out of the meat,
not as much salt is required when steaks are prepped with this method.
Some people advocate for seasoning steak just before cooking, while others suggest
letting the seasoned steak sit in the fridge up to a day or even two days before cooking.
Otto Wilde recommends salting 40 minutes prior to cooking, again just before cooking, and right
after cooking. Regardless which path you choose, there is one move you should absolutely avoid.
A common mistake, according to Oola, is letting the steak get to room temperature on the counter
before seasoning it. Letting a piece of raw steak from the fridge reach room temperature
with seasoning on it helps the meat to absorb all the seasoning's flavoring as it warms up.
The result is a more supple final steak. Ideally,
the route should be taking the steak out of the fridge, seasoning it, then letting it
sit on the counter with the seasoning for at least 40 to 50 minutes before cooking.
We suggest that if you have the time, season the steak then place it in the fridge overnight.
This is essentially dry-brining the steak, a popular seasoning technique.
Believe it or not, how you apply the salt might be negatively impacting the outcome of your steak.
Many times people cooking steaks at home don't take into consideration the technique they're
using to apply their seasoning. If you want to ensure an even coating of salt, try to hold your
hand about two feet above the piece of meat as you liberally sprinkle the salt onto it.
Then, once the surface of the meat is fully coated in the salt,
The Pioneer Woman recommends using your hands to press the salt flakes into the steak.
The reasoning behind this is very simple and probably exactly what you'd assume — it
helps the salt to stick to the meat. And remember to place the steak on a wire rack
over a foil-lined sheet pan after seasoning so the air can fully circulate around the meat.
If you are searing a steak at home and want that awesome, perfectly salty crust you expect from a
restaurant steak, there is a simple tweak you can make prior to doing any of your seasoning.
Do not make the mistake of skipping the part where you use a paper towel
to gently pat the raw steak until it's dry before adding any seasoning to it.
The paper towel blotting technique is very simple to execute and might not seem like
a necessary step, but it's essential for getting the best possible outcome with the cooked steak.
“Mmm, This steak is incredible!”
“I’m glad you’re all enjoying it.”
It's important to be cognizant of the cut of meat when you're deciding on the best way to season it,
and very often people do not take this into account when they start the seasoning process.
The main factor here is that some cuts might do better with an actual legit liquid marinade first,
as opposed to ones that just need a sprinkling of dry ingredients, like salt and pepper.
The majority of steak cuts require little more than salt to season sufficiently. However,
certain steaks, such as hanger, flank, or skirt, are inherently tougher and therefore,
we advise that you marinate these cuts for four hours or even overnight prior to cooking. While
a liquid marinade can technically be used for more tender cuts like ribeye,
it definitely isn't required, and the use of a liquid marinade can overwhelm the flavor of the
meat and decrease the potential for that nice browning of the steak in the cooking process.
Adding butter too soon
Butter is the secret ingredient to enhancing richness and flavor in a lot of high-quality
restaurant steaks. But if you're going to employ this hack in your own kitchen,
make sure you do it at the exact right time in the cooking process. Some folks
might think you can slap some butter on prior to cooking the steak and get juicier results.
According to KitchenSeer, the key is actually adding butter to the steak after it finishes
cooking, then letting the meat rest a bit before serving. That resting period is a
great time for the butter to melt over the top of the meat and yield a nice shiny sheen on the top.
If you try to cook the steak with butter on it,
you can end up with a burnt-tasting steak because butter has a relatively low smoke point.
If you really want to get wild, use compound butter, which is basically
butter mixed with other ingredients to make it an even more flavorful steak.
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