[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

I had no idea that you studied at Le Courdon Bleu. Awesome!

I had always assumed about not salting (salt dries things out) and searing to seal, but your post confirms that for me. I never season or marinate any meat that I am grilling.

Ya I did high french cuisine and pastry (includes candies, chocolates, and anything else of a desert nature). It was career 1 until I found that I got payed the same working in a good restaurant, as working as a pizza cook in a bar. Neither payed much, so I went on to career 2 (computers), and then 3 (clinical psych/social work).

There are times when you would marinade, or do seasoning rubs (like ribs), but this is often done with fast cooking (fish or thin cuts), or pre-cooked items. Marinades with salt can also be done, as the marinade will not draw the juice out (assuming there is water content in the marinade) so readily, but marinades with acids will start the cooking process (in fact you can actually fully cook thin cuts of fish, only using acid like lemon or vinegar). Otherwise with anything else salt goes in the beginning (professionally I was trained to salt to 'perfection' where the salt brings out the maximum flavor) after any saute-ing is done.

Originally Posted by tater

There are 2 camps on seasoning. One says salt early, one late. I salt early.

As for "searing the juices in" it's easy to demonstrate this is wrong. You can sear a steak, and cook one at lower heat for longer. Weigh both steaks before you cook them, and cook to identical target temperatures. Weigh both after. See if there is a difference in wight with each method.

The difference in weight would be minimal at best as the amount of juice you loose is about a couple of tablespoons. Most scales wouldn't even pick up the difference.

Searing doesn't really seal the juices in, though it will help a bit in keeping them in longer, particularly as the searing process drives the juices on the outside towards the center. Frankly I think it is mostly done for the caramelizing effect, and then the effect of driving juice inward. It is also how you get the first hash mark. Plus it helps prevent curling.

"Slow" for a steak doesn't mean hours, it means not blazing hot, and for a little longer time. Slow cook steaks are usually thick. I never buy steaks under 1.5 inches thick, and ideally 2". Lower temp and slower works just fine. I have done this and get cut with a fork steaks with a nice crust, though I usually sear, then move to over to finish since that's how I started doing it, and it feels more normal. For thick "slow" is worth a try for sure.

From my training I would cook anything over ~1/2 inch "slow" as you put it, or not on high heat, really thick cuts would go down even lower. Also if you are going for well done you need to drop the temperature a bit more so that the outside isn't burned.

Remember that on the outside of the steak you want it caramelized, not "charred." Brown (even very dark brown) is good, black means you're doing it wrong ("cept for the "grill" marks if grilling, those get pretty dark, I'm talking the overall non-striped part).

I agree though I tend to avoid really dark brown. One should also avoid any curling or liquid pooling on the top as that is a severe sign that the meat is being cooked too long on one side.

I never get anything "icky" with salting before hand, and I salt pretty liberally. I salt the steaks when I take em out of the fridge, too. They have salt for ~1 hour before cooking. It pulls water out of the surface—which is what "aging" does (concentrating flavor by reducing some of the water).

Have you ever tried not salting them until after they are cooked? As the salt pulls more than just water to the surface, and also that water is what helps keep meat tender (as opposed to tough). I would suggest trying it some time, take two identical cuts, salt one normally, and salt the other only when serving it. You should notice a good difference between them with the other one being more tender and juicer. Though perhaps you just prefer your meat that way.

Also aging is not entirely done for what you suggest, Aging decays the meat a bit and causes the muscle mass to relax from rigor mortis and break down due to enzymes. Dry aging does reduce the water content, but the area that looses most of the moisture is discarded. Also the steak gains tenderness even though it has lost ~10% of its moisture content, because of the muscle tissue breaking down, otherwise loss of moisture = greater toughness. Lastly they do not salt the meat, as salting it would draw out the moisture too fast and draw juices (flavor) with it. Water lost during aging is lost from slow evaporation at near freezing temperatures.