The color change is from the oxidization and curing of the meat. The extra tenderness is caused by the fact that the meat was allowed to evaporate all the extra liquids. This means that all the time it was cooking it was rendering those fats in the steak. The other two had to evaporate the liquids first before starting to render their fats. Hope this helps.
And thank you for that addition- I enjoy learning and I follow ya! Personally, I think he could have put the other two on the rack in the fridge to keep everything equal?
When he salted the first steak and put it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours while the other steaks were wrapped, he not only salted it but also started drying it. Should have left the other two steaks uncovered too for 24 hours to zero out that effect.
Its amazing how much knowledge people have about cooking steaks. Never thought about baking a steak and then pan searing it, might have to give it a try.
Great video thanks, really enjoyed the experiment. There's an easy 'steak hack' that we use in competitive steak competitions that your subscribers might find of interest. Get a big cheap box of coarse kosher or pickling salt ( no iodine in either) and pour a cup or so in a glass or ceramic tray lay the steak on top with full contact then pour a cup on top so it's fully covered. Leave it for one hour then thoroughly rinse it off with cold water, dry well with paper towels, lightly coat it with any high-heat oil, and season as usual (but just a little less salt if that's all you are using). Grill as you like and let rest for 15 min under tented foil. This technique has wins a ton of comps and is great at home to super-tenderize your beef in only an hour. Someone here will no doubt know the organic chemistry on this but I forgot the little chem knowledge I had back in the 80s lol
Interesting! Never knew they had competitive state competitions but it sounds delicious Haha Do you leave it on the counter with the salt or put it in the fridge? I usually take steaks out 20-30min prior to cooking but ive never done an hour.
Changing membrane permeability causes water retention. Water retention causes cells to "explode" thereby creating phagocytosis which is where the tenderness comes from. Haha, my organic chem days was also from the early 80s.
@@rickdougherty1371uncovered allows the meat to dry which is desirable because it enhances the meats flavor and allows for fats to render and penetrate faster. If you cover it you will retain all that moisture which causes a bland grey awkward piece of meat.
So I only started cooking a few months ago at 28. I also am an ex-vegan as of a month ago. I have to say, this was the perfect way to eat red meat for the first time all over again. I did a 20 hour brine (missed for a few hours but we couldn’t wait lol). I seared it in cultured butter rather than avocado oil. It has a high smoke point and adds a bit of tang. No other seasonings. It’s also the first time I’ve made something in my new cast iron pan. Just awesome. If my boyfriend doesn’t propose to me now, I don’t know if anything will work. You’re the best, thank you so much.
Immediately after salting the steak, the salt rests on the surface of the meat, undissolved. All the steak's juices are still inside the muscle fibers. Within 3 or 4 minutes the salt, through the process of osmosis, will begin to draw out liquid from the beef. This liquid beads up on the surface of the meat. Cooking at this point and you waste valuable heat energy simply evaporating this large amount of pooled liquid and flavor-building browning reactions are inhibited. Starting at around 10 to 15 minutes, the brine formed by the salt dissolving in the meat's juices will begin to break down the muscle structure of the beef, causing it to become much more absorptive. The brine begins to slowly work its way back into the meat. By the end of 40 minutes, most of the liquid has been reabsorbed into the meat. A small degree of evaporation has also occurred, causing the meat to be ever so slightly more concentrated in flavor. That is way it is always recommended to salt at least 40 minutes in advance either for standard or reverse searing.
This is good advice if you're just searing it, but he's reverse searing these; they're all going to have around the same surface moisture after 45 minutes in the oven.
I once learned this in a grill seminar, where the instructor literally buried the steaks in salt and left them so for about one hour. After that he complete removed the salt and started the reverse grilling process. The result was fantastic as we had very tender meat.
Great. Very concise and informative. I've always lightly salted and I use a small amount of fresh ground garlic pepper and occasionally a little blackening seasoning. I have a friend who always marinades his steaks and personally I think it ruins the 🥩.
Very well done, and yes salting the day before is the way to go. As a 40 plus year meat cutter and part time grill cook i say great video. Another thing to consider, we used to let a whole ribeye sit in the walk- in cooler for 1 week. They were so much more tender than ribeyes that were cut the same day. I always sold those ribeyes to myself only because of inspectors, i didn't think they would approve of the practice but the difference was unbelievable. Ty for the video
So you aged them a week? We’re they cut already or did you have the whole cut sit for a week? Also we’re they just resting flat? Did you wrap the steaks at all? Any brown oxidation? If so did you leave it or cut it off?
@@niko-7417 most whole ribeyes are put in a vac sealed plastic, so i would take the plastic off and let in set in the cooler, 33degrees, for 1 week and i didn't cut anything off, i used to buy meat from a local packer, he would let them set for 3 to 4 weeks, i don't know if he cut anything off but to me it was too long to do this. One week did very well ,also after they are cut, let them set out in room temp to warm up then put them on the grill. As i said, i did this just for myself, i would guess letting a quarter of beef set in the cooler would or should have the same effect. I believe letting a steak warm at room temp activates a chemical process that makes it more tender. I always use choice beef or prime, the small pockets of fat in the steak is called marbling, if the whole steak is completely red with no visible fat pockets it will be a little chewy, the fat pockets help make it tender and juicy, do not overcook, remember a steak will continue to cook even after you take it off the grill. Happy grilling!
I just re -read your post, buy it whole, if you buy a couple of steaks keep them flat and exposed, look at them daily , everyone's refrigerator is different, if may not take as long as a week, experiment with different times, maybe go several days at first but always remember to let them set at room temp, i usually did around an hour , again try different times. Try 30 min to an hour, cold muscle fibers tense up when put in a hot pan or grill but i believe there is more to it then that, i believe a process starts to break down tissue to make it more tender.
Good stuff! I've been a 1-hour guy for years, get it out and let it get to room temp. Then season and set aside, prep grill and whatever sides you're having, then cook. I also prefer open flame to skillet, but that's another discussion... Glad I found your channel.
As a young child growing up in Indiana I spent the summers playing around my dad's meat packing house. I'd watch the kill floor operation and clean up. I grew up knowing what fresh beef smelled and tasted like. Today I'm closing the door on 79 (born 1944). The only seasoning I put on my steaks are basically salt and pepper. I have grown fond of McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. Used sparingly. Basically, it is coarse salt, black pepper, a not-so-noticeable red pepper and garlic. I love the taste of medium rare to rare beef too much to bury it under a heavy layer of stuff. Your salt treatment is worth remembering. I always used my salt & pepper right before they went on the grill. Looks like a change is in order.
Yes! 🙌🏻 I've been salting my steaks a day ahead of time for years! I use a coarse salt and cover them for 24 hours. Remove. Pat dry. Then soak in a mix of worcestershire and soy sauce for another 24 hours. Remove. Pat dry. Get to room temp. Season with cracked peppers. Sear all sides in a pan with butter, garlic and rosemary. Into the over to finish off. Down the hatch! 🤤 I learned this from a chef at a nice country club. Never looked back lol
I tried salting my sirloin steak the day before I was going to cook it, and it turned out awesome. BEST steak I have had in a long time. Definitely will do this again. Thanks for the seasoning tip.
Hey, one thing I noticed you should try experiment again: The 1 day steak had a different process than the other outside of the salting timeline. By stashing in the refrigerator exposed, salted or not, meat will be dried out, concentrating the flavor. It's kind of home done dry aging. I would suggest doing this again, keeping all 3 pieces on the same tray at all times, and only vary salting time. This would even out testing parameters such as temperature and moisture differences since all would be subject to the same movements at all times. Salt 1 steak 1 day prior Stash all 3 open shelf in refrigerator. Pull all 3, salt 1 hour prior on second steak Let all rest room temp together. Salt last steak 1 minute prior. Bonus for you... MORE STEAK!!!!
@@sameter3 likely true, but as performed this experiment has two variables, one of which is not controlled. So the improvement in the 24 hour steak may be due to the salt time. And it may be due to the drying time. And it might be due to both. It is impossible to tell with the design of the experiment. What we learned is that if you salt early, then dry in the fridge overnight it is better than salting later and not drying overnight. That's a nice thing. Related to salting? Only maybe so far.
Well crafted experiment. I’ve researched this subject a fair amount. Preference is of course the rule of thumb, but I agree with Mr. Brisket’s final conclusion. As an addition, when it comes to salting, one should either salt one minute prior to cook or wait at least 45 minutes, in between that time frame is not recommended. The explanation is that salt on meat triggers the moisture inside to rise to the surface, that begins to happen after about a minute of salting. That salted moisture then gets drawn back inside the meat and diffuses through the inside until about 45 minutes after salting. So if you cook in between that time frame you’ll end up cooking off a lot of that seasoned moisture before it has a chance to make its way back inside and you’ll end up with a dryer steak. At the minute mark you’re still good because that moisture is still inside, though you’ll end up with a blander inside with a saltier crust, nothing wrong with that, but my preference is definitely at least an hour to a day. Hope that might help any curious cooks out there.
Great job on the video. I have been salting steaks at least 45 minutes before cooking for years. Once you try it you will never go back. The flavor is better, the tenderness is better, and the outside sear is better. It just works. Cheers!
But, then you can’t fit in as many ads and monetize as much. Ever wonder ‘why’ 1-3 minute videos are drawn out to the 10 minute mark? Now you know why...it’s more profitable.
Omg, thank you for doing this experiment! I bought some steaks on Thursday and didn’t get around to cooking them that night, I remembered your video and decided to salt them so they would be ready to go. I wound up leaving them salted for 48 hours and they were probably one of the most flavorful and tender steaks I’ve had in a while. This will now be my new method and your channel has move to my top favorites. Thank you for doing what you do!
I once got a brine recipe off the Food Network for Thanksgiving. Soaked that bird in brine overnight. It was the juciest turkey I ever had! Sorry, mom!
I tried this method tonight - the one hour salt version - with a 3/4 inch porterhouse steak. It came out just great. My wife and I each had half of the filet and half of the rest (I got to gnaw the bone). Thanks so much for helping me create this great meal!
Great video. New suscriber. I once did a pork tomahawk with this dry brine method, although I used a rub of spices as well (I keep my salt and spices separated). Once it was ready, I cooked it on a charcoal grill with indirect heat at 400 °F, until it reached a core temperature of 138 °F, then rested it so carryover cooking rised the internal temperature all the way to 145 °F. At the end, I decided to sear it, although it was not necesary at all. If anything, it developed something between a steak crust and a BBQ bark. It was crunchy, smokey and delicious. Greetings from Sonora, México.
I’ve always salted at least 1hr, pat dry, add seasoning (no more salt), sear on grill for 3-5min per side...perfect rare/mid-rare. Turns out fantastic; flavorful & tender every time.
Ill have to look that book up and get a copy. I was always taught that salt draws moisture to the surface then you just cook it away, so don't salt the meat until AFTER its cooked. How do so many people get this wrong? Turns out I need to salt the meat at least a day before I cook it? Mind blown.
@@jamesmerritt5562 , you're kind of correct. Salt does draw moisture out of the meat, but primarily only near the surface. A nice dry surface allows for the Maillard reaction (browning/carmelization) to take place more easily. This enhances the flavor and texture. General rule: Salt it, rest it, dry it off with a paper towel, cook it.
We tried this method for the first time today. Only did the 1 hour, then added garlic pepper and onion powder about 30 minutes prior to grilling. OMG.. haven’t had a ribeye that delicious in quite some time. I’m sold.. you got me. Thanks for the info and happy grilling.
The best way to cook a NY Strip steak is to give it a dose of lime juice (both sides), season liberally with garlic powder and pepper 3-4 hours before you throw out the skillet, grow a pair of functioning testes and fire up a charcoal grill (preferably a Weber) using mesquite hardwood charcoal. Once the coals are ready, add a few chunks of mesquite wood around the edges (for smoke), add Lawry's Season Salt literally immediately as you put the meat onto the oiled grill, close the lid, go clean off the dish you brought the steak out on (3-4 mins), open the grill lid, flip the meat, salt it and reclose the lid for 3-4 mins. Use the second 3-4 mins to finish off your beer (or in my case, neat bourbon) and once the time has elapsed, pull the meat off the grill onto the newly cleaned plate and cover with foil for 5-10 mins before serving. The lime juice adds zero taste but does help to break down the muscle fiber some and since salt CAN dry meat out and since you're using it as flavoring and not as a long term preservative medium, you add it at the very end (zero reason to add it any earlier). Garlic powder and pepper are there just because they taste good and the mesquite charcoal and wood chunks give you that steakhouse smoked flavor. Try it this way once and then come back and thank me after.
I'd absolutely recommend using ghee as it's butter still but with a much higher smoke point. I'm from a butcher family, my father hipped me to this. For me, it's better than any oil.
We had steaks tonight. Maybe RUclips is spying on us, but low and behold, here's your video out of the blue on my front page. So I watched and naturally, I had to subscribe! I picked up two points. Reverse searing is the way to go for thicker steaks, and two ... I'm not using nearly enough salt (I also use garlic powder). Nice experiment, appreciate you sharing.
Dry aged meat usually cooks a bit faster than not. When you’re salting it and putting it in the fridge, you’re doing a bit of dry aging for that steak. It wouldn’t really have any impact if you did it with a roast and then cut the steak from that roast, but individual steaks dry age very quickly. I typically cook to a lower temp when I cook dry aged meat or a steak that I’ve salted the day before. If I’m doing a sous video it’s probably 2-4 degrees lower before going and searing it.
Glad I found your video. I only had some T-bone steaks and I salted them this morning before work. 10 hours later, I wasn't sure if I should wipe off all the salt and re-season or just use what was still on from this morning. Well, I ended up wiping just a little off and added black pepper...Mind you, my steaks were only like 1-1/2 inches. Thanks for teaching me the reverse sear!
I really like the salt crystals on the surface, and pepper too. I would like to try seasoning for hours and then with kosher or fleur-de-sel right prior to cooking, but I wonder what the risk of over-salting is. I'd have to experiment with quantities. It's fascinating because I worked in a high(ish)-end French bistro for a year and sold thousands of steaks; The procedure was to take out the steaks and salt/pepper them as the appetizers were ordered, and usually cook them at least one hour, sometimes two hours later. I NEVER knew that this was making much of a difference or why I was doing it, and my sous-chef and the head chef never mentioned it so I doubt they did either. They were just doing it the way the original French chef from the 80s had been doing it-the guy who made the place famous. Some knowledge has been around for a long time, it just needs to be shared more widely.
One thing I noticed that might throw the results off a bit: The 1 Day Salted Steak was put unwrapped into the fridge, while the other two were wrapped and pulled out the next day for cooking. I would think that would allow the outside of that steak to dry more than the others and thus increase the Millard Reaction to allow more browning of that steak over the other two. Perhaps you could re-do the experiment and put all three steaks on the wire rack over-night. Also, I recently saw a video that said to get the proper reaction from salting a steak, it must be allowed to rest for a minimum of 40 minutes before cooking, otherwise, you've just wasted the salt.
@@PizzaBoyHero Resting outside the fridge is not what he's talking about. A dry surface increases the millard reaction and what the post above was saying, and I agree with, is that the 24 hours uncovered vs covered caused a much drier surface and that is the difference in the steaks. A better test would have had all three steaks uncovered.
Yes, the better exercise would have been to salt all three steaks on the rack at the same time. Cook one after one minute, cook one after one hour, cook the last 24 hours later.
Guys, you're missing the point. It wasn't about being 100 percent scientifically accurate: it was about what real people will usually do with their steaks and to just see which tastes better.
First time viewer, great presentation...you had me at having a beer and talking conspiracy theories... but watching the color change and texture was interesting. I always try to let my dinner come to room temp and season it for about an hour before putting it on the grill. This was good. Thank you.
Gave you a thumbs up for the show! Alton Brown did a Good Eats show explaining salts effect on meat. And in his Good Eats norm, it went to the molecular level of how it breaks down proteins to provide a better meet.
I have been retired for one year now and have since been learning more and more on how to improve my cooking/grilling skills. I just discovered your channel today,where have you been lol, and like your style and have hit the like, subscribed along with the notification bell. I learned something today, always a good thing.
I'm retired too and love to cook and grill and learn. The problem is, my 3 sons moved away and If I'm going to a lot of trouble, I like to cook a large amount to make it worth the effort. My wife and I don't eat a lot. So, I only show off on holidays.
I sometimes put my favorite rub the day before and set it in the forage for twenty four hours, always comes out good. Awesome video everyone should watch this video.
Such a great comparison video! I used to dry brine(salting) over night in the fridge often. When I succeed the dry brine properly, the finished product is far superior than "salted one minute before steak" However, I failed couple times because I over salted and made the steak super salty and dry as a cardboard. After those couple failures, I stopped dry brining it. But when I watched your video, I wanna do that again.
I agree with a lot of the comments, me specifically I wasn't even looking for food. This salt idea came up in conversation the other day and your title was spot on for sparking my interest and i watched the entire video not realizing 14 minutes just passed by. Great video! Great test! Will be trying and recommending this video to people in my future conversations! :)
Hmmm. The 1 minute and 1 hr steaks were not exposed to open cold air for 1 day. You are changing two factors - salt content and open to cold air. The other two steaks should have been open to cold air for 24hrs as well. The drying process may intensify flavour
Interesting! I'm having tenderloins for dinner and had them sitting in the fridge unsalted until I watched this video. I just went and salted and seasoned them and put them back in the fridge. Four hours to cook time so I get to try out this pre-seasoning technique. I might even post sear them for good measure. Thanks for the tips! Worst part of watching was seeing you taste each steak.
The result makes sense. It's conceptually the same as drying fruit. Removing excess water concentrates flavour. With less water, the heme is going to be more pronounced giving it a beefier, meatier taste. Plus, the salt has time to denature connective tissue making it more tender. Giving it more time with salt also allows for more dewatering by osmosis and hypertonicity. I love the fact that either the way the steaks are great, but it's great to get confirmation that salting in advance makes steaks even better.
This was actually disproven, A study was done on the moisture content of steak cooked with different methods, including dry brining, and they found the dry brine steaks have no less water in them than any other method. This is in part because the water that leaves The steak goes right back into it taking the salt with it, as well as the fact that the majority of moisture loss comes from the cooking and not from the brining process. It has more to do with the denaturing of proteins and the breakdown of muscle fibers like you mentioned (which are actually two different processes).
Hi. That's why I don't get it when people put the steak under the faucet and wash off the salt. Isn't that just adding extra water into the steak? Creating a 'steaming affect."?
@@platinumsky845 How do you know it's not the other way around - That the salt goes into the steak taking the moisture with it. The study does not show that. The study also does not show whether the moisture remains with the salt or disperses back into the meat. So no it has not been disproven because although as a whole there may be the same total water content - The end result of how the food tastes is different, not just saltier. That would be like saying food would still taste the same if you combined your main course, salad and desert into one big slurry and expect the taste and experience to be the same when you eat it. The same applies here with the salting, it definitely has an end result that is different and not just because of the seasoning taste of salt itself. "This is in part because the water that leaves The steak goes right back into it taking the salt with it," Not really, I just salted a pork chop the other night about a half hour before I cooked it. The salt had visibly drawn out water to the surface where it began to pool and I blotted it off with paper towel. So in the end, the salt did work to take out the moisture in my meat.
I've started seasoning my steaks right when I take them out to warm up to room temp - about an hour, give or take. Glad to see my method is sound. Thanks for the experiment!
Unfortunately, many of these “experiments” is that the meat is not treated the same. All three pieces need to placed on the rack and aged in the fridge for the same time. Then salt in the different methods. Otherwise, the “dry aging” of the first steak is a treatment not applied to the other steaks. In other word, you are unable to separate the effects of salting from dry aging.
Your theory is correct but if one doesn’t have time to salt a day ahead, then one probably doesn’t have time to just put it in the fridge for 1 day to dry age. This experiment is more of a real world experiment.
Additionally, the test test should be 'blind' as the sub cognitive expectations will very likely influence your taste analysis if the differences are subtle.
Doing this for years and 4 hours is sweet spot and 24hrs is usually the max. So sit the steak to defrost after breakfast. Dry pat and salted. By 4 hours it absorbs enough salt and evaporates enough air it dries out the surface moisture. This develops a better crust, taste better, and tender, and salts evenly. It gets better at 24 hours, the steak gets really solid and firm before cooking but IMO I don't like waiting that long, the difference is slight.
That was useful - thank you - its good to see someone else do the science. If I buy a length of sirloin and store it in my beer fridge (less traffic) resting on kitchen towel until its done 34-35 days with a little flaked sea salt on it, it dried and goes burgundy colour right through. Sliced thick and seared for 90 seconds each side and rested for 5 minutes to get them just under medium-rate, they take a lot of beating. They don't tastes salty by themselves but the flavour of steak...
Read “Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat” if you want to understand about salting. The author does a great job of explaining the science behind why the salted stuff is juicier and more tender.
That moment you realise the effect this channel has on your love of meat when you realise you can no longer watch during work hours, in fear of possibly drooling without realising it.
it's actually because he did a short term dry aging process to the 24 hour steak, been doing it for years. When I do a prime rib, i let it sit uncovered in the fridge for 3 days, works great
My wife loves blue rare steak, but when she was pregnant she wasn't supposed to eat beef that rare (or so they say). Anyway after months of neither of us having steak, we were both like "this is stupid". Tried Sous vide, worked well. Then I learned about the dry aging/reverse sear method. Needless to say every couple of weeks we had 3 day aged steak and fell in love with it. Definitely a worthwhile endeavor for any beef lover, and super easy too.
I always treat my meats with their seasoning, rubs, or marinades the day prior, and refrigerate overnight. It makes a huge difference in flavor and tenderness, especially on wild game.
I agree 100% with the results of your test. The only thing I would add is that the process of salting draws some of the juices out of the meat. If the steak is allowed to sit for an hour or overnight (my favorite), the extracted juices are allowed to retract back into the steak. Salting just before cooking lets the extracted juices cook off into the pan (or other cooking medium) thereby making the steak less juicy, less tender and less tasty. I'm amazed at how many good cooks don't know this. Good work!
I was told by an Italian Chef that I should always oil my steaks before salting them so that the the salt doesn't draw any moisture from the meat but helps create a great crust. You may intensify the flavour but you will dry the steak out too.
That’s true if you season it within a half hour or so of cooking it, but after the salt draws the moisture out of the meat, it dissolves and then is absorbed back in, so no moisture is lost as long as you get past that point.
Good video. Might try the 1 day, 1 hour, 1 min test next time. Sometimes I do reverse sear, others, 2 1/2 min each side high heat on grill. Love them all. Thanks.
It's expected that the 1 day steak will be more tender and have a thicker band of well done meat under the crust. It's more tender because a thicker layer of meat effectively brined when the juices mixed with the salt. The band of meat under the crust got done more quickly in the pan because it was dehydrated more…the salt pulled additional moisture out of that band of meat. That's water that doesn't have to boil into steam during searing before the meat can go above the boiling point.
@@KYsYooToob Dry brine does everything you want a wet brine to do, but doesn't oversaturate the meat or wash out any meat flavor, this is true with beef, chicken or pork.
@Logan Waltz I hope you reverse sear, if not, that's steak abuse. Oh, and try dry brining overnight, it makes a difference. Especially on tough 'Top" cuts.
OK. My issue is that you’re introducing more than one variable. There’s the salting time. But then you add in to that the 24 hour steak is in the fridge, presumably with free-circulating air, oh so subtly dry-aging the outer portion of the steak. Secondly you clearly indicate that the last steak, ie. The somewhat dry-aged one, is also thicker than the other two... When doing a compare, the most important thing is to keep variables to a minimum and, to the best of your ability, to account for said variables. Don’t get me wrong. You’re doing a great job. I’m just trying to help you get more consistent results.
The reason the last steak has a noticeably thicker sear is because the surface is much drier due to the refrigerator- not the salt. But, it's a win 2-fold, the air causes the steak to concentrate the salty-moisture towards it's center, and makes the outside dried- resulting in a more consistent and better sear. So the steak comes out more tender, juicy, and seared better. So yeah, if you invest money into a nice steak- invest some time too! It'll be worth it!
I've been salting my red meats for over 30 years. Two hours on the counter in a heavy coat of kosher salt, rinse, pat dry, season grill to sear, complete in the oven. Great every time! Keep up the good work! RML, If you want a great grill recipe for an eye roast on the grill, reply to this comment!
This should wind up being like brining. It denatures the exterior flesh of the meat, thus preventing the liquid from running out or evaporating during cooking. You can think of meat muscle tissue as being cords or ropes all laid in a direction. When exposed to a salt water brine, or to salt, the very outside of these fibers now TANGLE up and thus are "denatured". This creates a sort of barrier against the flow outward of internal meat liquids. That's what Cooks Illustrated seems to say about this kind of thing (their brining Turkey for Thanksgiving article). With greater retained liquid we get a more "tender" mouth feel as we eat.
@@WardvanKoperen Well, not really. It is a two step process. What actually happens, and you can easily verify this at home, is that in the first minutes, juices start getting pulled out of the steak as osmotic pressure starts pulling liquids towards the salt. Then, these juices get pulled back in the steak in the second phase because the interior has a smaller concentration of salt. This is why it is preferable to let the steak sit on a flat surface rather than a rack if you decide to salt a day before as some of the juices would drip off the meat and never get pulled back in.
Salting and letting the meat sit overnight is technically called "dry brining." Does the same thing but with less mess. I've been doing this for years after stumbling upon another RUclips vlogger called Meathead from the site AmazingRibs,com.
Ya... I kinda felt like he was just "experimenting and learning from his own trial and error". Like he has never heard or seen anywhere that salt tenderizes the meat. Still a good video, just kinda wierd how it all played out.
I think the 1 day steak should've been covered or wrapped the same as the other 2 while they were in the fridge. Salted or not, it seems to me that leaving meat uncovered would cause it to dry out around the edges & absorb aromas or tastes from other items in the fridge. Just my input. Never thought I'd watch a 14 minute test on steaks but you offer very interesting content plus a great delivery. Really glad I found your channel.😊
Once I forgot I had steaks on the grill. They had been on the grill for at least 10 minutes without being turned. To my surprise they were incredible. Since then I never flip my strip steaks.
Great video. I really enjoy the scientific approach to cooking. The only thing I'd do differently is to cook a steak that wasn't salted. That would answer the question of whether or not leaving the steak in the fridge uncovered is responsible for any differences.
leaving meat uncovered in the fridge for a day will dry it out which contributed to the changed colour of his first one. I have not done a side by side so im assuming that the salt changed the colour too.
leaving meat uncovered in the fridge for a day will dry it out which contributed to the changed colour of his first one. I have not done a side by side so im assuming that the salt changed the colour too.
for ribeye: dry brine four hours before, reverse sear cooked to internal temp. of 100F (130F seems far too high), the taken off and blotted dry so the meat doesn't steam on the grill or frying pan. Then sear so that the exterior is very seared, final internal temp. around 120 - 125F, take off, let sit for another ten minutes as the internal temp. continues to rise. if this is on the grill, I'd add a handful of hickory smoke pellets directly on the briquets.
Hi I live in Tasmanian Australia and have been a butcher for 40 years oud beef here is aligned with British conditions salt has a unique properties it dries and flavours all meats it really is a magical Ingredient on meat it dries and flavours but you need to cook it exactly a combination of simple Ingredients minimal do not over complicate all the process
I have cooked steaks for years . I have tried everything. Try this and I think you will find the perfect steak. Get a open charcoal pit. Fill it with a lot of charcoal . Set the steaks out in the Refrigerator the night before . 2 hours before you cook them take Martins kosher salt and cracked pepper a 50/ 50 mix in a shaker and cover the steaks both sides two hours before you cook them. When the coals are hot , take soaked hickory chips and add them to the coals. Add the steaks right away to the grill . Set a times on your phone for 3 minutes and 45 sec. walk away from the steaks and do not touch them this is the hard part. Don’t screw with them at all. It does not matter how bad they appear to be burning. Flip them once and 3:45 and let them go another 3:45 with out messing with them. Do not touch them I mean it. At 3:45 stick a thermometer in the steak and it should be at 1:35 to 1:45 . Pull the steak if it is in this temp range if you want medium rare steaks . Let the meat go about 40 seconds longer for medium , but always use a thermometer , digital are the best. You will have a great steak with awesome char on the outside , salted to perfection and the cracked pepper makes it perfect. The smoke from the wood chips gives you just the right amount of smoke flavor . If you do this. No one will make a steak as good as yours.
Pretty glad you liked the 24 hour method. I've been sticking to that as much as I can whenever cooking steaks and I've even noticed the big difference in flavor impact throughout the steak for years. My most recent steak was only 1 hour, but like you said, that 1 hour makes an enormous difference. Cheers!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
The color change is from the oxidization and curing of the meat. The extra tenderness is caused by the fact that the meat was allowed to evaporate all the extra liquids. This means that all the time it was cooking it was rendering those fats in the steak. The other two had to evaporate the liquids first before starting to render their fats. Hope this helps.
Yes it did. I am
A fan.
And thank you for that addition- I enjoy learning and I follow ya! Personally, I think he could have put the other two on the rack in the fridge to keep everything equal?
When he salted the first steak and put it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours while the other steaks were wrapped, he not only salted it but also started drying it. Should have left the other two steaks uncovered too for 24 hours to zero out that effect.
Not a scientist.
Its amazing how much knowledge people have about cooking steaks. Never thought about baking a steak and then pan searing it, might have to give it a try.
Great video thanks, really enjoyed the experiment. There's an easy 'steak hack' that we use in competitive steak competitions that your subscribers might find of interest. Get a big cheap box of coarse kosher or pickling salt ( no iodine in either) and pour a cup or so in a glass or ceramic tray lay the steak on top with full contact then pour a cup on top so it's fully covered. Leave it for one hour then thoroughly rinse it off with cold water, dry well with paper towels, lightly coat it with any high-heat oil, and season as usual (but just a little less salt if that's all you are using). Grill as you like and let rest for 15 min under tented foil. This technique has wins a ton of comps and is great at home to super-tenderize your beef in only an hour. Someone here will no doubt know the organic chemistry on this but I forgot the little chem knowledge I had back in the 80s lol
Interesting! Never knew they had competitive state competitions but it sounds delicious Haha
Do you leave it on the counter with the salt or put it in the fridge? I usually take steaks out 20-30min prior to cooking but ive never done an hour.
Changing membrane permeability causes water retention. Water retention causes cells to "explode" thereby creating phagocytosis which is where the tenderness comes from. Haha, my organic chem days was also from the early 80s.
Great results, salting the steak 24 hours before and letting it sit uncovered in the fridge is the exact same way Kenji does it and he's a master
But can covering it negatively affect it? Just seems it would have to be more moist.
@@rickdougherty1371uncovered allows the meat to dry which is desirable because it enhances the meats flavor and allows for fats to render and penetrate faster. If you cover it you will retain all that moisture which causes a bland grey awkward piece of meat.
It's just dry brining and is extremely common for steaks
So I only started cooking a few months ago at 28. I also am an ex-vegan as of a month ago. I have to say, this was the perfect way to eat red meat for the first time all over again. I did a 20 hour brine (missed for a few hours but we couldn’t wait lol). I seared it in cultured butter rather than avocado oil. It has a high smoke point and adds a bit of tang. No other seasonings. It’s also the first time I’ve made something in my new cast iron pan. Just awesome. If my boyfriend doesn’t propose to me now, I don’t know if anything will work. You’re the best, thank you so much.
Ex vegan here too...0 carb Carnivore for the last year....Awesome results in health!
Butter has a very low smoke point actually
Ex vegan here too. After ruining my health I'm now carnivore and the heathiest, leanest and happiest in my life!
Smart AND can cook a steak!.... if that doesn't get a ring on your finger I don't what will!! Lol ...try ketchup!
Cheers!
Immediately after salting the steak, the salt rests on the surface of the meat, undissolved. All the steak's juices are still inside the muscle fibers.
Within 3 or 4 minutes the salt, through the process of osmosis, will begin to draw out liquid from the beef. This liquid beads up on the surface of the meat. Cooking at this point and you waste valuable heat energy simply evaporating this large amount of pooled liquid and flavor-building browning reactions are inhibited.
Starting at around 10 to 15 minutes, the brine formed by the salt dissolving in the meat's juices will begin to break down the muscle structure of the beef, causing it to become much more absorptive. The brine begins to slowly work its way back into the meat.
By the end of 40 minutes, most of the liquid has been reabsorbed into the meat. A small degree of evaporation has also occurred, causing the meat to be ever so slightly more concentrated in flavor. That is way it is always recommended to salt at least 40 minutes in advance either for standard or reverse searing.
This is good advice if you're just searing it, but he's reverse searing these; they're all going to have around the same surface moisture after 45 minutes in the oven.
I once learned this in a grill seminar, where the instructor literally buried the steaks in salt and left them so for about one hour. After that he complete removed the salt and started the reverse grilling process. The result was fantastic as we had very tender meat.
Great. Very concise and informative. I've always lightly salted and I use a small amount of fresh ground garlic pepper and occasionally a little blackening seasoning. I have a friend who always marinades his steaks and personally I think it ruins the 🥩.
Robert Bear. Don’t be so crude and vulgar! You Americans........
This is exactly what I do. Turns out perfect every time!
Very well done, and yes salting the day before is the way to go. As a 40 plus year meat cutter and part time grill cook i say great video. Another thing to consider, we used to let a whole ribeye sit in the walk- in cooler for 1 week. They were so much more tender than ribeyes that were cut the same day. I always sold those ribeyes to myself only because of inspectors, i didn't think they would approve of the practice but the difference was unbelievable. Ty for the video
So you aged them a week? We’re they cut already or did you have the whole cut sit for a week? Also we’re they just resting flat? Did you wrap the steaks at all? Any brown oxidation? If so did you leave it or cut it off?
@@niko-7417 most whole ribeyes are put in a vac sealed plastic, so i would take the plastic off and let in set in the cooler, 33degrees, for 1 week and i didn't cut anything off, i used to buy meat from a local packer, he would let them set for 3 to 4 weeks, i don't know if he cut anything off but to me it was too long to do this. One week did very well ,also after they are cut, let them set out in room temp to warm up then put them on the grill. As i said, i did this just for myself, i would guess letting a quarter of beef set in the cooler would or should have the same effect. I believe letting a steak warm at room temp activates a chemical process that makes it more tender. I always use choice beef or prime, the small pockets of fat in the steak is called marbling, if the whole steak is completely red with no visible fat pockets it will be a little chewy, the fat pockets help make it tender and juicy, do not overcook, remember a steak will continue to cook even after you take it off the grill. Happy grilling!
I just re -read your post, buy it whole, if you buy a couple of steaks keep them flat and exposed, look at them daily , everyone's refrigerator is different, if may not take as long as a week, experiment with different times, maybe go several days at first but always remember to let them set at room temp, i usually did around an hour , again try different times. Try 30 min to an hour, cold muscle fibers tense up when put in a hot pan or grill but i believe there is more to it then that, i believe a process starts to break down tissue to make it more tender.
Thank you for the detailed responses!
Good stuff! I've been a 1-hour guy for years, get it out and let it get to room temp. Then season and set aside, prep grill and whatever sides you're having, then cook. I also prefer open flame to skillet, but that's another discussion...
Glad I found your channel.
As a young child growing up in Indiana I spent the summers playing around my dad's meat packing house. I'd watch the kill floor operation and clean up. I grew up knowing what fresh beef smelled and tasted like. Today I'm closing the door on 79 (born 1944). The only seasoning I put on my steaks are basically salt and pepper. I have grown fond of McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. Used sparingly. Basically, it is coarse salt, black pepper, a not-so-noticeable red pepper and garlic. I love the taste of medium rare to rare beef too much to bury it under a heavy layer of stuff. Your salt treatment is worth remembering. I always used my salt & pepper right before they went on the grill. Looks like a change is in order.
Yes! 🙌🏻
I've been salting my steaks a day ahead of time for years! I use a coarse salt and cover them for 24 hours. Remove. Pat dry. Then soak in a mix of worcestershire and soy sauce for another 24 hours. Remove. Pat dry. Get to room temp. Season with cracked peppers. Sear all sides in a pan with butter, garlic and rosemary. Into the over to finish off. Down the hatch! 🤤
I learned this from a chef at a nice country club. Never looked back lol
that isnt salty ?
I tried salting my sirloin steak the day before I was going to cook it, and it turned out awesome. BEST steak I have had in a long time. Definitely will do this again. Thanks for the seasoning tip.
Hey, one thing I noticed you should try experiment again:
The 1 day steak had a different process than the other outside of the salting timeline. By stashing in the refrigerator exposed, salted or not, meat will be dried out, concentrating the flavor. It's kind of home done dry aging. I would suggest doing this again, keeping all 3 pieces on the same tray at all times, and only vary salting time. This would even out testing parameters such as temperature and moisture differences since all would be subject to the same movements at all times.
Salt 1 steak 1 day prior
Stash all 3 open shelf in refrigerator.
Pull all 3, salt 1 hour prior on second steak
Let all rest room temp together.
Salt last steak 1 minute prior.
Bonus for you... MORE STEAK!!!!
I was thinking the same thing.
Yup. So nice
Yep, totally agree!
The salt won’t stick as well to the once they are dried out.
@@sameter3 likely true, but as performed this experiment has two variables, one of which is not controlled. So the improvement in the 24 hour steak may be due to the salt time. And it may be due to the drying time. And it might be due to both. It is impossible to tell with the design of the experiment. What we learned is that if you salt early, then dry in the fridge overnight it is better than salting later and not drying overnight. That's a nice thing. Related to salting? Only maybe so far.
Well crafted experiment. I’ve researched this subject a fair amount. Preference is of course the rule of thumb, but I agree with Mr. Brisket’s final conclusion. As an addition, when it comes to salting, one should either salt one minute prior to cook or wait at least 45 minutes, in between that time frame is not recommended. The explanation is that salt on meat triggers the moisture inside to rise to the surface, that begins to happen after about a minute of salting. That salted moisture then gets drawn back inside the meat and diffuses through the inside until about 45 minutes after salting. So if you cook in between that time frame you’ll end up cooking off a lot of that seasoned moisture before it has a chance to make its way back inside and you’ll end up with a dryer steak. At the minute mark you’re still good because that moisture is still inside, though you’ll end up with a blander inside with a saltier crust, nothing wrong with that, but my preference is definitely at least an hour to a day. Hope that might help any curious cooks out there.
Finally I can prove to my wife that salting and ageing meat makes a huge difference. Thanks n keep up the quality work.
Great job on the video. I have been salting steaks at least 45 minutes before cooking for years. Once you try it you will never go back. The flavor is better, the tenderness is better, and the outside sear is better. It just works. Cheers!
VERY interesting. I wonder what the differences will be on wild game meat? I'm gonna test...
This video is 10 minutes longer than it needs to be.
But, then you can’t fit in as many ads and monetize as much. Ever wonder ‘why’ 1-3 minute videos are drawn out to the 10 minute mark? Now you know why...it’s more profitable.
Yup ... there are minimum time requirements for monetization, and ranking algos also tend to favor 10m vids over shorter ones ....
Exactly.
15 minutes too long.
Yeah and the music loop gets really fuckin' annoying after a couple of mins.
Omg, thank you for doing this experiment! I bought some steaks on Thursday and didn’t get around to cooking them that night, I remembered your video and decided to salt them so they would be ready to go. I wound up leaving them salted for 48 hours and they were probably one of the most flavorful and tender steaks I’ve had in a while. This will now be my new method and your channel has move to my top favorites. Thank you for doing what you do!
I once got a brine recipe off the Food Network for Thanksgiving. Soaked that bird in brine overnight. It was the juciest turkey I ever had! Sorry, mom!
Yes... I just started doing this... omg what a difference... I only dry brined for an hour... next time I will try for a day! Thanks for the vids!
I tried this method tonight - the one hour salt version - with a 3/4 inch porterhouse steak. It came out just great. My wife and I each had half of the filet and half of the rest (I got to gnaw the bone). Thanks so much for helping me create this great meal!
Great video. New suscriber.
I once did a pork tomahawk with this dry brine method, although I used a rub of spices as well (I keep my salt and spices separated). Once it was ready, I cooked it on a charcoal grill with indirect heat at 400 °F, until it reached a core temperature of 138 °F, then rested it so carryover cooking rised the internal temperature all the way to 145 °F. At the end, I decided to sear it, although it was not necesary at all. If anything, it developed something between a steak crust and a BBQ bark. It was crunchy, smokey and delicious.
Greetings from Sonora, México.
Great video! We have dry brined with kosher salt for 2 days and then grill!
I’ve always salted at least 1hr, pat dry, add seasoning (no more salt), sear on grill for 3-5min per side...perfect rare/mid-rare. Turns out fantastic; flavorful & tender every time.
The salt denatures the proteins within the meat, making it a lot juicier. Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat is a great book to read
its honestly the best cook book ever created !
Yep, I accurately predicted the outcome of this video based on that book!
Ill have to look that book up and get a copy. I was always taught that salt draws moisture to the surface then you just cook it away, so don't salt the meat until AFTER its cooked. How do so many people get this wrong? Turns out I need to salt the meat at least a day before I cook it? Mind blown.
@@jamesmerritt5562 , you're kind of correct. Salt does draw moisture out of the meat, but primarily only near the surface. A nice dry surface allows for the Maillard reaction (browning/carmelization) to take place more easily. This enhances the flavor and texture. General rule: Salt it, rest it, dry it off with a paper towel, cook it.
We tried this method for the first time today. Only did the 1 hour, then added garlic pepper and onion powder about 30 minutes prior to grilling. OMG.. haven’t had a ribeye that delicious in quite some time. I’m sold.. you got me. Thanks for the info and happy grilling.
The cool part of this is I went to 13 minutes in, 1½ minute left, and learned to salt at least an hour before and preferably a day before.
I did the same
The best part to me was when I read this comment and skipped the video entirely.
good way to skip all the BS
I had to search your comment.
The best way to cook a NY Strip steak is to give it a dose of lime juice (both sides), season liberally with garlic powder and pepper 3-4 hours before you throw out the skillet, grow a pair of functioning testes and fire up a charcoal grill (preferably a Weber) using mesquite hardwood charcoal. Once the coals are ready, add a few chunks of mesquite wood around the edges (for smoke), add Lawry's Season Salt literally immediately as you put the meat onto the oiled grill, close the lid, go clean off the dish you brought the steak out on (3-4 mins), open the grill lid, flip the meat, salt it and reclose the lid for 3-4 mins. Use the second 3-4 mins to finish off your beer (or in my case, neat bourbon) and once the time has elapsed, pull the meat off the grill onto the newly cleaned plate and cover with foil for 5-10 mins before serving.
The lime juice adds zero taste but does help to break down the muscle fiber some and since salt CAN dry meat out and since you're using it as flavoring and not as a long term preservative medium, you add it at the very end (zero reason to add it any earlier). Garlic powder and pepper are there just because they taste good and the mesquite charcoal and wood chunks give you that steakhouse smoked flavor.
Try it this way once and then come back and thank me after.
Steak 1: “great steak”
Steak 2: “great steak”
Steak 3: “great steak”
Fantastic analysis lol
Your comment needs to be highlighted. Lmfao
Obviously he is a meatetarian!! I’m sure I would say the same thing as i slam back the steaks.
Hilarious
It probably taste the same. Guy's a goon.
Lmao considering its all subjective opinions...
Great video. Loved the detail and concept. Thanks for sharing.
I've never managed to own a steak for 24 hours.
😂
😂
Funny comment, but it tells me you don't buy enough steak.
@@user-vb9lm5ef6cexactly. I buy like 10 at a time 😂
@@user-vb9lm5ef6c You might be on to something.....
I'm about to walk down a slippery slope of meats and smokers.
I'd absolutely recommend using ghee as it's butter still but with a much higher smoke point. I'm from a butcher family, my father hipped me to this. For me, it's better than any oil.
Pork lard is even better than that
@@josephlombardo4825 If you want that taste, sure.
We had steaks tonight. Maybe RUclips is spying on us, but low and behold, here's your video out of the blue on my front page. So I watched and naturally, I had to subscribe! I picked up two points. Reverse searing is the way to go for thicker steaks, and two ... I'm not using nearly enough salt (I also use garlic powder). Nice experiment, appreciate you sharing.
Dry aged meat usually cooks a bit faster than not. When you’re salting it and putting it in the fridge, you’re doing a bit of dry aging for that steak. It wouldn’t really have any impact if you did it with a roast and then cut the steak from that roast, but individual steaks dry age very quickly.
I typically cook to a lower temp when I cook dry aged meat or a steak that I’ve salted the day before. If I’m doing a sous video it’s probably 2-4 degrees lower before going and searing it.
What kind of salt do you use?
@@chriseagle7231 The salty kind.
When you salt it a leave it over night, it’s called dry brining, and in my opinion is the best way to salt meat.
SALT
yup
Glad I found your video. I only had some T-bone steaks and I salted them this morning before work. 10 hours later, I wasn't sure if I should wipe off all the salt and re-season or just use what was still on from this morning. Well, I ended up wiping just a little off and added black pepper...Mind you, my steaks were only like 1-1/2 inches. Thanks for teaching me the reverse sear!
I really like the salt crystals on the surface, and pepper too. I would like to try seasoning for hours and then with kosher or fleur-de-sel right prior to cooking, but I wonder what the risk of over-salting is. I'd have to experiment with quantities.
It's fascinating because I worked in a high(ish)-end French bistro for a year and sold thousands of steaks; The procedure was to take out the steaks and salt/pepper them as the appetizers were ordered, and usually cook them at least one hour, sometimes two hours later. I NEVER knew that this was making much of a difference or why I was doing it, and my sous-chef and the head chef never mentioned it so I doubt they did either. They were just doing it the way the original French chef from the 80s had been doing it-the guy who made the place famous.
Some knowledge has been around for a long time, it just needs to be shared more widely.
One thing I noticed that might throw the results off a bit: The 1 Day Salted Steak was put unwrapped into the fridge, while the other two were wrapped and pulled out the next day for cooking.
I would think that would allow the outside of that steak to dry more than the others and thus increase the Millard Reaction to allow more browning of that steak over the other two.
Perhaps you could re-do the experiment and put all three steaks on the wire rack over-night.
Also, I recently saw a video that said to get the proper reaction from salting a steak, it must be allowed to rest for a minimum of 40 minutes before cooking, otherwise, you've just wasted the salt.
@@PizzaBoyHero Resting outside the fridge is not what he's talking about. A dry surface increases the millard reaction and what the post above was saying, and I agree with, is that the 24 hours uncovered vs covered caused a much drier surface and that is the difference in the steaks. A better test would have had all three steaks uncovered.
Ok so the resting outside the fridge is not to raise the internal temperature to above refrigerated? Good points op
Yes, the better exercise would have been to salt all three steaks on the rack at the same time. Cook one after one minute, cook one after one hour, cook the last 24 hours later.
Guys, you're missing the point. It wasn't about being 100 percent scientifically accurate: it was about what real people will usually do with their steaks and to just see which tastes better.
*Maillard.
First time viewer, great presentation...you had me at having a beer and talking conspiracy theories... but watching the color change and texture was interesting. I always try to let my dinner come to room temp and season it for about an hour before putting it on the grill. This was good. Thank you.
Gave you a thumbs up for the show!
Alton Brown did a Good Eats show explaining salts effect on meat. And in his Good Eats norm, it went to the molecular level of how it breaks down proteins to provide a better meet.
Meat
I have been retired for one year now and have since been learning more and more on how to improve my cooking/grilling skills. I just discovered your channel today,where have you been lol, and like your style and have hit the like, subscribed along with the notification bell. I learned something today, always a good thing.
Thank you for the nice comment, much appreciated and glad we can help you along your journey, cook on! 🤟
I'm retired too and love to cook and grill and learn. The problem is, my 3 sons moved away and If I'm going to a lot of trouble, I like to cook a large amount to make it worth the effort. My wife and I don't eat a lot. So, I only show off on holidays.
@@smokeystriper ditch the carbs.
More steak.
Waist will shrink.
I sometimes put my favorite rub the day before and set it in the forage for twenty four hours, always comes out good. Awesome video everyone should watch this video.
The best frying fat for steaks is beef tallow. It has an optimal fatty acid profile, is very nutritious and has a delicious beef taste.
Smoked tallow!
Such a great comparison video! I used to dry brine(salting) over night in the fridge often.
When I succeed the dry brine properly, the finished product is far superior than "salted one minute before steak"
However, I failed couple times because I over salted and made the steak super salty and dry as a cardboard.
After those couple failures, I stopped dry brining it.
But when I watched your video, I wanna do that again.
Can a bitch get a scallop up in this house?
Salt the steak. Put on a rack in the fridge for 24-30 hours or so. I like butter, crushed garlic and rosemary at the end. Soooo good! Great vid!
I agree with a lot of the comments, me specifically I wasn't even looking for food. This salt idea came up in conversation the other day and your title was spot on for sparking my interest and i watched the entire video not realizing 14 minutes just passed by. Great video! Great test! Will be trying and recommending this video to people in my future conversations! :)
Thanks for your comment and very nice feedback. Sharing our content is the very best compliment we can receive, thank you!
Me, too!
Hmmm. The 1 minute and 1 hr steaks were not exposed to open cold air for 1 day. You are changing two factors - salt content and open to cold air. The other two steaks should have been open to cold air for 24hrs as well. The drying process may intensify flavour
I noticed that too.
Gangstas!
He said they are all In the refrigerator for 1 day
@@TheDaoistheway yes, all in the refrigerator but the 1 day salted was not covered, while the other two were wrapped up.
Completely agree. He did a short "dry-age" on the first steak, so more moisture evaporated from the meat and the flavor became more concentrated.
I am going to try this over the weekend. Looks fantastic.
Interesting! I'm having tenderloins for dinner and had them sitting in the fridge unsalted until I watched this video. I just went and salted and seasoned them and put them back in the fridge. Four hours to cook time so I get to try out this pre-seasoning technique. I might even post sear them for good measure. Thanks for the tips! Worst part of watching was seeing you taste each steak.
how did it come out?
The result makes sense. It's conceptually the same as drying fruit. Removing excess water concentrates flavour. With less water, the heme is going to be more pronounced giving it a beefier, meatier taste. Plus, the salt has time to denature connective tissue making it more tender. Giving it more time with salt also allows for more dewatering by osmosis and hypertonicity. I love the fact that either the way the steaks are great, but it's great to get confirmation that salting in advance makes steaks even better.
This was actually disproven, A study was done on the moisture content of steak cooked with different methods, including dry brining, and they found the dry brine steaks have no less water in them than any other method. This is in part because the water that leaves The steak goes right back into it taking the salt with it, as well as the fact that the majority of moisture loss comes from the cooking and not from the brining process. It has more to do with the denaturing of proteins and the breakdown of muscle fibers like you mentioned (which are actually two different processes).
Hi. That's why I don't get it when people put the steak under the faucet and wash off the salt. Isn't that just adding extra water into the steak? Creating a 'steaming affect."?
@@platinumsky845 How do you know it's not the other way around - That the salt goes into the steak taking the moisture with it. The study does not show that. The study also does not show whether the moisture remains with the salt or disperses back into the meat. So no it has not been disproven because although as a whole there may be the same total water content - The end result of how the food tastes is different, not just saltier. That would be like saying food would still taste the same if you combined your main course, salad and desert into one big slurry and expect the taste and experience to be the same when you eat it. The same applies here with the salting, it definitely has an end result that is different and not just because of the seasoning taste of salt itself.
"This is in part because the water that leaves The steak goes right back into it taking the salt with it," Not really, I just salted a pork chop the other night about a half hour before I cooked it. The salt had visibly drawn out water to the surface where it began to pool and I blotted it off with paper towel. So in the end, the salt did work to take out the moisture in my meat.
@@markwood5486 Steak is flesh, it's not a sponge that's going absorb the water that quickly.
@@platinumsky845 when you dry age anything it drops in weight
I've started seasoning my steaks right when I take them out to warm up to room temp - about an hour, give or take. Glad to see my method is sound. Thanks for the experiment!
Unfortunately, many of these “experiments” is that the meat is not treated the same. All three pieces need to placed on the rack and aged in the fridge for the same time. Then salt in the different methods. Otherwise, the “dry aging” of the first steak is a treatment not applied to the other steaks. In other word, you are unable to separate the effects of salting from dry aging.
Your theory is correct but if one doesn’t have time to salt a day ahead, then one probably doesn’t have time to just put it in the fridge for 1 day to dry age. This experiment is more of a real world experiment.
I believe you are confusing dry aging with a salt brine the salt a steak a day ahead is an old technique used by chefs for years
Additionally, the test test should be 'blind' as the sub cognitive expectations will very likely influence your taste analysis if the differences are subtle.
Excellent observation.
@@tommartin2360 I agree with this 100%
Doing this for years and 4 hours is sweet spot and 24hrs is usually the max. So sit the steak to defrost after breakfast. Dry pat and salted. By 4 hours it absorbs enough salt and evaporates enough air it dries out the surface moisture. This develops a better crust, taste better, and tender, and salts evenly.
It gets better at 24 hours, the steak gets really solid and firm before cooking but IMO I don't like waiting that long, the difference is slight.
That was useful - thank you - its good to see someone else do the science.
If I buy a length of sirloin and store it in my beer fridge (less traffic) resting on kitchen towel until its done 34-35 days with a little flaked sea salt on it, it dried and goes burgundy colour right through. Sliced thick and seared for 90 seconds each side and rested for 5 minutes to get them just under medium-rate, they take a lot of beating. They don't tastes salty by themselves but the flavour of steak...
Read “Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat” if you want to understand about salting. The author does a great job of explaining the science behind why the salted stuff is juicier and more tender.
Agree! S A F H is an awesome series to study
"But i say enough talking and more cooking, So Let's Do'It!"
Less dooit
Wrong channel 😂
I was waiting for him to say "Cheers everybody!"
I know ffs?!
Guga lol
I wasn't even looking for this video, but it was straight forward and informative without all the fluff. Thanks for this.
I do mine a day ahead, on the rack in the fridge uncovered... not only does it taste better it's more tender.
I need a bigger frig I guess.
I
That moment you realise the effect this channel has on your love of meat when you realise you can no longer watch during work hours, in fear of possibly drooling without realising it.
Thanks for your video. I’m going to try. It looks real good thanks again.
I just realized that when you got to 1 hour steak testing I was already drooling ...:) on my way to butcher shop!
Pavlov is smiling somewhere in heaven.
Dude, conditioned and non-conditioned reflexes ..it’s not about me! I love steaks with me whole heart! :)
Are you drinking shiner bock beer? Thats a really good beer to me.
Shiner Bock is like making love in a canoe:
fucking close to water!
Drink Guinness men!
Great breakdown. I did this before and noticed the same results
it's actually because he did a short term dry aging process to the 24 hour steak, been doing it for years. When I do a prime rib, i let it sit uncovered in the fridge for 3 days, works great
My wife loves blue rare steak, but when she was pregnant she wasn't supposed to eat beef that rare (or so they say). Anyway after months of neither of us having steak, we were both like "this is stupid". Tried Sous vide, worked well. Then I learned about the dry aging/reverse sear method. Needless to say every couple of weeks we had 3 day aged steak and fell in love with it. Definitely a worthwhile endeavor for any beef lover, and super easy too.
We wrap ours in cheese cloth. The salt tenderizes and pulls out moisture which allows for a better maillard reaction when seared.
The Shiner Bock gives this man immediate credibility!
Texas for the win!
As soon as I seen then Shiner I subscribed.
absolutely. i saw the shiner bock and i knew right away this guy had the bonafides.
Going to try your method with an hour salting and oven. Thanks for publishing this video.
I always treat my meats with their seasoning, rubs, or marinades the day prior, and refrigerate overnight. It makes a huge difference in flavor and tenderness, especially on wild game.
Good work. Suggestion: don’t use seed oil, especially not canola, and lose the music.
I agree 100% with the results of your test. The only thing I would add is that the process of salting draws some of the juices out of the meat. If the steak is allowed to sit for an hour or overnight (my favorite), the extracted juices are allowed to retract back into the steak. Salting just before cooking lets the extracted juices cook off into the pan (or other cooking medium) thereby making the steak less juicy, less tender and less tasty. I'm amazed at how many good cooks don't know this. Good work!
All I watched was the intro. Instant subscribe. You had me at RED MEAT LOVER 😂😂
Yeah, I started salivating also. Back to my roots I guess.
I was told by an Italian Chef that I should always oil my steaks before salting them so that the the salt doesn't draw any moisture from the meat but helps create a great crust. You may intensify the flavour but you will dry the steak out too.
That’s true if you season it within a half hour or so of cooking it, but after the salt draws the moisture out of the meat, it dissolves and then is absorbed back in, so no moisture is lost as long as you get past that point.
Good video. Might try the 1 day, 1 hour, 1 min test next time. Sometimes I do reverse sear, others, 2 1/2 min each side high heat on grill. Love them all. Thanks.
good to see Jesse Pinkman still doin' okay after throwing all his money away
lol
And that’s how you salt a steak.....Bitch.
You wouldn't believe Saul Goodman was the one manning the camera, would you? LOL!
Jesse... we have to cook... steaks
@@ArcadeSchool Hahahahaha!!!
I always salt my steaks ahead of time. at least 15 minutes per quarter inch of thickness to give it time to soak in and help tenderize also.
Great follow-up as about 2 weeks ago or more I watched Jean Pierre do a review of something the stakes a day ahead
It's expected that the 1 day steak will be more tender and have a thicker band of well done meat under the crust.
It's more tender because a thicker layer of meat effectively brined when the juices mixed with the salt.
The band of meat under the crust got done more quickly in the pan because it was dehydrated more…the salt pulled additional moisture out of that band of meat. That's water that doesn't have to boil into steam during searing before the meat can go above the boiling point.
Excellent insights for which I thank you, and will pay more attention to my steaks in future!
That's right. Just like brining a pork chop.
24 hours uncovered in the fridge is dry brining. Do it, every time
Is there a reason not to wet brine?
@@KYsYooToob Dry brine does everything you want a wet brine to do, but doesn't oversaturate the meat or wash out any meat flavor, this is true with beef, chicken or pork.
@@supermills03 thanks for the tips.
@Logan Waltz I hope you reverse sear, if not, that's steak abuse. Oh, and try dry brining overnight, it makes a difference. Especially on tough 'Top" cuts.
On a rack so both sides are dry. Instant sear, no steam.
Totally agreed with Vamdemar Duarte. Osmosis is the key to tenderness and flavour
OK. My issue is that you’re introducing more than one variable. There’s the salting time. But then you add in to that the 24 hour steak is in the fridge, presumably with free-circulating air, oh so subtly dry-aging the outer portion of the steak. Secondly you clearly indicate that the last steak, ie. The somewhat dry-aged one, is also thicker than the other two... When doing a compare, the most important thing is to keep variables to a minimum and, to the best of your ability, to account for said variables.
Don’t get me wrong. You’re doing a great job. I’m just trying to help you get more consistent results.
No, he really isn't.
The reason the last steak has a noticeably thicker sear is because the surface is much drier due to the refrigerator- not the salt. But, it's a win 2-fold, the air causes the steak to concentrate the salty-moisture towards it's center, and makes the outside dried- resulting in a more consistent and better sear. So the steak comes out more tender, juicy, and seared better.
So yeah, if you invest money into a nice steak- invest some time too! It'll be worth it!
The steaks all spent the same amount of time in the fridge.
LOVE the music in the background!!! I was moshing around my house listening to it while I was watching!!!!!
I've been salting my red meats for over 30 years. Two hours on the counter in a heavy coat of kosher salt, rinse, pat dry, season grill to sear, complete in the oven. Great every time! Keep up the good work! RML, If you want a great grill recipe for an eye roast on the grill, reply to this comment!
Sure, John!
I’m game for this recipe!
Sounds good.
Would love ayour grill recipe for eye roast!
Count me in!
This should wind up being like brining. It denatures the exterior flesh of the meat, thus preventing the liquid from running out or evaporating during cooking. You can think of meat muscle tissue as being cords or ropes all laid in a direction. When exposed to a salt water brine, or to salt, the very outside of these fibers now TANGLE up and thus are "denatured". This creates a sort of barrier against the flow outward of internal meat liquids. That's what Cooks Illustrated seems to say about this kind of thing (their brining Turkey for Thanksgiving article). With greater retained liquid we get a more "tender" mouth feel as we eat.
some cooks denounce salting too soon because they say the juices get out..
SCIENCE!
@@harpoon_bakery162 They are wrong.
@@WardvanKoperen Well, not really. It is a two step process. What actually happens, and you can easily verify this at home, is that in the first minutes, juices start getting pulled out of the steak as osmotic pressure starts pulling liquids towards the salt. Then, these juices get pulled back in the steak in the second phase because the interior has a smaller concentration of salt. This is why it is preferable to let the steak sit on a flat surface rather than a rack if you decide to salt a day before as some of the juices would drip off the meat and never get pulled back in.
Salting and letting the meat sit overnight is technically called "dry brining." Does the same thing but with less mess. I've been doing this for years after stumbling upon another RUclips vlogger called Meathead from the site AmazingRibs,com.
You could try Smoked salts. I use San Francisco hickory smoke coarse grind and LOVE IT!
Why the hell did I watch this at night? Now I’m hungry,
same lol, 02:33 at night
Starving basically. Bout to go cook if i don’t stop watching videos
New drinking game: take a shot every time he says “candidly”
Caleb Erosa I drink 94 proof bourbon. I would be passed out if I did that. You sip bourbon any way.
Where's your spirit of adventure!?
Thanks, very good video and the results are pretty much what I expected. I subscribed to your channel.
I’m trying to figure out why he didn’t mention from the start that salt tenderizes meat. It was almost like he didn’t know.
Ya... I kinda felt like he was just "experimenting and learning from his own trial and error". Like he has never heard or seen anywhere that salt tenderizes the meat. Still a good video, just kinda wierd how it all played out.
right? even my pops knew that and told me, which i thought would be a big point to point out, for the day long steak.
I learned something new. I was always under the impression that salting meat before cooking it made it tougher. Great video. New Sub.
same.
Great video, very interesting results.... following as of now
I already commented halfway through but after finishing I really have to say....man this is really well produced. Outstanding.
I think the 1 day steak should've been covered or wrapped the same as the other 2 while they were in the fridge. Salted or not, it seems to me that leaving meat uncovered would cause it to dry out around the edges & absorb aromas or tastes from other items in the fridge. Just my input.
Never thought I'd watch a 14 minute test on steaks but you offer very interesting content plus a great delivery. Really glad I found your channel.😊
All of the steaks were in the fridge for 24hrs
@@WanderingSoup Right, all 3 were refrigerated but 2 of them were covered in plastic wrap. That's what I was referring to.
I agree, leaving the steak uncovered led to it drying out. I think for fairness he should have either wrapped all steaks, or leave all uncovered.
Dry brining has been my go to method ever since discovering it. It works extremely well for thicker steaks.
Once I forgot I had steaks on the grill. They had been on the grill for at least 10 minutes without being turned. To my surprise they were incredible. Since then I never flip my strip steaks.
Great video. I really enjoy the scientific approach to cooking. The only thing I'd do differently is to cook a steak that wasn't salted. That would answer the question of whether or not leaving the steak in the fridge uncovered is responsible for any differences.
leaving meat uncovered in the fridge for a day will dry it out which contributed to the changed colour of his first one. I have not done a side by side so im assuming that the salt changed the colour too.
leaving meat uncovered in the fridge for a day will dry it out which contributed to the changed colour of his first one. I have not done a side by side so im assuming that the salt changed the colour too.
Just watched, great video - wondering if you kept the 24h steak covered while it was in the fridge, or just let it "age" naturally?
for ribeye: dry brine four hours before, reverse sear cooked to internal temp. of 100F (130F seems far too high), the taken off and blotted dry so the meat doesn't steam on the grill or frying pan. Then sear so that the exterior is very seared, final internal temp. around 120 - 125F, take off, let sit for another ten minutes as the internal temp. continues to rise. if this is on the grill, I'd add a handful of hickory smoke pellets directly on the briquets.
Nice. I've been doing this for a few years. I thought it was common knowledge :)
Hi I live in Tasmanian Australia and have been a butcher for 40 years oud beef here is aligned with British conditions salt has a unique properties it dries and flavours all meats it really is a magical Ingredient on meat it dries and flavours but you need to cook it exactly a combination of simple Ingredients minimal do not over complicate all the process
I have cooked steaks for years . I have tried everything. Try this and I think you will find the perfect steak. Get a open charcoal pit. Fill it with a lot of charcoal . Set the steaks out in the Refrigerator the night before . 2 hours before you cook them take Martins kosher salt and cracked pepper a 50/ 50 mix in a shaker and cover the steaks both sides two hours before you cook them.
When the coals are hot , take soaked hickory chips and add them to the coals. Add the steaks right away to the grill . Set a times on your phone for 3 minutes and 45 sec. walk away from the steaks and do not touch them this is the hard part. Don’t screw with them at all. It does not matter how bad they appear to be burning. Flip them once and 3:45 and let them go another 3:45 with out messing with them. Do not touch them I mean it. At 3:45 stick a thermometer in the steak and it should be at 1:35 to 1:45 . Pull the steak if it is in this temp range if you want medium rare steaks . Let the meat go about 40 seconds longer for medium , but always use a thermometer , digital are the best. You will have a great steak with awesome char on the outside , salted to perfection and the cracked pepper makes it perfect. The smoke from the wood chips gives you just the right amount of smoke flavor . If you do this. No one will make a steak as good as yours.
When I grill a steak I do it for 5 minutes and 40 seconds on each side and that’s a perfect medium rare for me
Celtic sea salt or Mediterranean sea salt are amazing on steaks, I have a morter and pestil so I crush mine a little
As an American and a huge fan of steaks, I can honestly say that this has truly been a video.
Pretty glad you liked the 24 hour method. I've been sticking to that as much as I can whenever cooking steaks and I've even noticed the big difference in flavor impact throughout the steak for years. My most recent steak was only 1 hour, but like you said, that 1 hour makes an enormous difference. Cheers!