Salt meat before or after you cook?

[Christopher Haatuft]

At work, I like to salt the steaks before they go in the pan. Usually I find it easier to get the whole steak salted if I can rub the salt in while the meat is raw. Then pat it of and place it in the frying pan. A discussion at work though, is on when to pepper it! I never pepper the steaks before frying, as I like to have the pan smoking hot, something that I belive will burn the pepper.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Salt, cbp and a little oil immediately before the stuff goes onto the heat. It takes longer to brown and in my opinion, gives a better crust.

[Michael Ruhlman]

some meat proteins are salt soluable, so i wonder if some of the surface moisture is liquified protein, which accounts for the better more complex crust and why maybe you shouldn't pat dry meat that's been salted before it goes into the pan, even though it is the common sense thing to do.

[k43]

In the Braising Q&A (2/18/05), Paula Wolfert wrote:

When I was working in Southwest France back in the late 70's and early 80's, I studied briefly with a chef named André Guillot, now gone about 10 years. He used to give cooking courses for chefs and enthusiatic cooks in Santons in Provence.

Among his most famous fans were Marc Meneau, Gerard Vie, Jean Marie Amat, Emil Jung and Richard Olney. In fact, we formed an Association of the Friends of Andre Guillot to keep his name alive, but alas he is almost forgotten today.

One of his most memorable tips for salting meat included the following:" lightly salt the meat the minute you bring it home. If you do this, you will hardly need to salt later, and in the end you’ll use half as much salt as you would normally. Lightly salted meat will tenderize and mature in flavor when stored overnight in the refrigerator. "

He also taught me that though some blood will run out, he considered it insignificant. In fact, he suggested that meat be coated lightly with grape-seed oil right after the salting to keep it from drying out; he prefered grape-seed oil, because it smoked at a much higher temperature than other oils.

[jsolomon]

some meat proteins are salt soluable, so i wonder if some of the surface moisture is liquified protein, which accounts for the better more complex crust and why maybe you shouldn't pat dry meat that's been salted before it goes into the pan, even though it is the common sense thing to do.

←

It is much more likely that those proteins are salted out than salted in at the concentrations the salt is at on the surface of the meat, at least at places where the crystal contacts the meat.

See the Hofmeister Series.

[MichBill]

In the Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly book "Meat" they outline a neat experiment to determine whether you prefer meat salted before or after cooking (pg 38).

Their conclusion is that presalted and preseasoned meat is much more flavorful and juicy than meat seasoned after cooking. After duplicating their experiment - I agree with their conclusions.

[petite tête de chou]

Salt *fish* before or after cooking? So far I've only read recommendations regarding red meat. Same "rules?"

[Christopher Haatuft]

I usually salt the fish after its been in the pan as I wipe it down to get rid of the moisture before I fry it. Its easier to determine how much salt is on it if you havent wiped it after you salt it.

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

An unresolved question for me from a past post, is when it's best to Salt Meat? There seems to be no concensus. Do you get the juciest, most tender result from salting a few hours before cooking or at the time of cooking or afterwards? or a combination?. I'm watching Matt Moran on Masterchef Australia salt his meat just before cooking and it's making me absolutely cringe in disbelief !! It flies in the face of everything I've been taught (Cordon Bleu London & Elizabeth Russell's) and everything I've read since. Can someone convince me with the science?

[Mjx]

I almost always salt before (often, a standard or a 'dry' brine) but this does depend on the results you want (discussed, in above). Science? Something to do with salt concentration and diffusion (courtesy of Harold McGee's works, Cook's Illustrated, and Modernist Cuisine), but I'm afraid I don't recall the details accurately, offhand.

[rod rock]

If i cook just for myself, then i put salt before cooking. But if i cook for someone else, i put combination, just a little before cooking and after cooking because someone more like non-salt and someone likes more salty food.

By the way, good question! Im interested to see other people's opinion!

Edited June 29, 2012 by rod rock (log)

[weinoo]

I think it depends on what's being cooked. If I've got a lamb shoulder, a pork butt or even a whole chicken, I like to salt copiously and let sit in the fridge for a day or two before cooking.

On the other hand, if I'm cooking a skinny filet of flounder, I salt right before cooking.

[Dexter]

It appears to depend on what you are cooking, how you are doing it, and when you are going to be serving it in relation to when it is cooked. Dave Arnold took a fairly studious whack at the question over at Cooking Issues.

[OliverB]

I salt before, generally when I get it out of the fridge and put what ever on while I let it come up to room temperature (an other one of those often disputed things, necessary or not? I don't care, I have it sitting there while I do other things.

I've never salted/rubbed anything a day before or even hours before, I somewhat doubt it makes much of a difference. Whole chicken might develop a nicer crunchy skin, I don't know.

Pork I often use Dizzy Pig rubs, beef I mostly only use s&p, chicken the same. Beef might get some finishing salt on the cutting board, and lately I've made "board dressing" to put the meat on for resting and slicing (garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, olive oil - all mashed up together. Great, try it!)

There's a whole bunch of science, but personally I never found it made much of a difference to do this hours or a day before (I've tried) so I just do it when I get to it while prepping dinner.

[Norm Matthews]

Years ago I remember a lady guest chef on a Martha Stewart show mention salting before makes meat or most dishes taste seasoned. Salting afterward makes it just taste 'salted'. Last night I grilled Kansas City Strip steaks. I expected son and his GF to arrive around six or seven so I salted the room temperature steaks about 5 pm. It was after 9 pm before they got done helping her sister move and that is when the steaks went on the grill. they looked absolutely dryed out but everyone commented on how well they tasted. They were grilled to medium rare to medium and were juicy and tender.

Salting a stew such a long time before would seem unnecessary since the meat cooking process is longer and the results are different.

ON edit, BTW, I used a flake Kosher salt from Penseys on the steaks with some fresh cracked pepper. No other seasonings were used.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[qrn]

On beefsteaks, and fresh salmon steaks,I always salt with the real fine grained canning and pickling salt,then let it sit on the counter for a while ,while I get the pans heated up and ready to cook,makes the saltyness less severe,and more even in the meat/fish...

Bud

[HowardLi]

Right now for me it seems like salting long before is the right way to go, except for ground meats in which I don't want too-strong binding or cohesion.

[DMS]

Alice Water recommends salting meat as soon as you bring it home from the store, wrap it back up and stick it in the fridge. I haven't tried it yet to see if it makes a difference. I usually salt when I pull meat out to come to temp before cooking/roasting/grilling.