Tenderizing steak with salt? Is that really possible? We always know that salt is making the meat dry and that you should not add salt to steak until it is cooked or at least sealed on both sides. Are you telling me, we have prepared steak wrong the whole time?
Yes, you can tenderize steak with salt. However, there is a certain, secret method for using salt to tenderize your steak. If you are doing it wrong, you are going to get the opposite effect. This is why you should make sure that you know everything about tenderizing steak with salt before you try it for the first time. This is everything you need to know about this secret.
Salt Drying Out Raw Meat and Steak?
Is this then the truth that raw meat and steak are getting dried out when using salt on it? Yes, this is still the truth. When you are cooking any meat, especially steak, you should only add the salt when the steak is sealed or seared on both sides. Otherwise, the salt is drawn the moisture out of the steak, making it dry.
And, if you are purchasing low-grade meat, this is going to make the meat dryer and tougher to eat. Really not enjoyable. This is why everyone learns from a young age that adding salt to your meat, before it is cooked isn’t a great idea. With tenderizing your steak with salt, you are using a secret method that will not dry out the meat.
Can You Use Just Any Salt for Tenderizing Steak?
This is the secret. You just don’t use any type of salt for tenderizing your steak. You especially don’t use table salt. This is the salt that will take all the moisture out of your steak, and that will not tenderize your meat for sure.
You should only make use of sea salt or kosher salt. Don’t try any other salt, or you will not get the same results. This is the mistake that many people are making. They think that any salt can be used, and then they are ruining a great piece of steak.
Should It Still Be a High-quality Steak, or Would Low-quality Steak Do?
Another important question that you should be asking. Should the steak that you are purchasing be a high-quality grade steak, or will the cheaper type steaks work as well?
This is good news. If you are purchasing the high-quality grade steak, you will not really need to worry about finding ways to tenderize it, will you? This method will work best on low quality, cheap steak. However, something that you should keep in mind is that the steak should be at least 1inch thick. Thin, minute steaks won’t work at all.
Guide in How to Tenderize Your Steak, Using Salt
Here is the step by step guide on how to tenderize your steak, using the sea salt or kosher salt.
- Make sure that the steak is defrosted properly
- Laying the steak flat out on a plate, making sure that you are able to cover both sides thoroughly with salt. You should make sure that you are covering the whole steak with salt.
- You should leave the meat for at least an hour with the salt on. The longer you left the salt on the steak, the softer and juicier the steak will become.
- Rinse off the salt before you seasoning the steak. You don’t want to leave the salt on the meat. It is going to taste like pickles.
- Cook or fry your steak as you normally would.
- Rest the steak for a couple of minutes before serving.
- Enjoy tenderized steak that wasn’t costing you an arm and a leg.
Last Tips to Remember
Remember that the type of salt that you are using is the secret ingredient. If you are using the wrong salt, your meat will not have the result that you were hoping for. You should also make sure that you are rinsing your meat before you are seasoning it for cooking. You need to rinse all those salt off.
Something that most people forget is that you didn’t season your meat. You just tenderized it. You should add the spices as normal before cooking, or baking your steak.
Tenderizing your steak with salt can really work if you are using the right salt. And, if you are using the right method. There are many people that have tried this but failed. This is mostly because they didn’t know that they should have used a specific type of salt and that they should have rinsed their meat before cooking.
However, if you are following this guide, you will never have to eat cheap, dry steak again. You will be able to enjoy a juicy steak, that wasn’t expensive at all. You just use one secret ingredient: salt.
But what kind of salt should I use? Sea salt? I want to cook a juicy steak but I need more advice! Thank you!
Serious Eats and other experimental cooking medias would disagree. Salting in advance helps infuse sodium content into the meat more evenly instead of tasting salt at the surface (what you would get from salting right before cooking).