and serve two people overcooked meat.
Congratulations—now that you’ve got a great steak in
your kitchen, you’ve won 80 percent of the battle. The only
thing left to do is not mess it up. Here are some commonly
asked questions about cooking steak and the answers.
Q: When should I salt my steak?
Read a half dozen cookbooks or listen to a half dozen
celebrity chefs, and you’re likely to hear at least as many
different responses about when you should salt your meat.
Some claim that salting immediately before putting it in the
pan is best. Others opt not to salt the meat at all, instead
salting the pan and placing the meat on top of the salt. Still
others insist on salting up to a few days in advance. Who’s
right?
To test this, I bought myself six thick-cut bone-in rib-eyes
(I love the smile butchers get in their eyes when you do this)
and salted them at different 10-minute intervals before
searing them one at a time in a hot skillet—so the last steak
went into the pan immediately after salting, while the first
steak went in a full 50 minutes after salting. All of the steaks
were allowed to stand at room temperature for the full 50
minutes, ensuring that they were all at the same starting
temperature when cooking began. The results? The steak
that was salted immediately before cooking and those that
were salted 40 or 50 minutes ahead turned out far better
than those that were salted at any point in between. What
was up with those steaks?
Here’s what happens: