Steak Experiments - When Should You Salt Your Steak (S1.E4)

How's everyone? Thanks for joining us here for another video on this journey to searing the perfect

steak

, so last week we checked to see if it made sense to warm the

steak

to room temperature before putting it in the cast iron. This week we will try it. Whether it makes sense to

salt

your

steak an hour before, just before you put it in the pan, or after you've finished searing, so stick around if you want to join us on this journey to searing the perfect steak. Be sure to subscribe below. so we're going to need three cuts what we have here is two New York Strip loins we're just going to cut one of these in half or frankly both in half now the next step as always we want to pat it to this. nice and dry get all the moisture off the surface of the steak that will ensure all the energy from the pan is transferred to the steak giving it a nice crust instead of evaporating the water perfect so now that we've done that let's take the three most attractive pieces here and we're going to season them so we're going to season one first here and this will be the one we'll give an hour rest before we put it in the pan flip it over I'll do the same on the other side , so now we're going to let this sit for an hour we'll do another one of these steaks right before we see you in the pen and then we'll do another one after so stay so the steaks have been sitting for about an hour now it's time to turn on the burner and get the cast iron to heat it up and it's ready to sear the steaks so we're going to turn the burner on here now let's put that cast iron on the fire alright so we've had these sticks sitting for d For an hour we are almost ready to put the steaks in the pan so we are going to season our final steak here flip it do the same on the other side perfect for now that we have the three tests we are going to do we are going to season this one later that we finish searing it just before eating it.

This is the test let's see which one gets the best crust which has the best flavor and which results in the most tender steak so stick around like always we want to make sure the pan heats up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit so we have our infrared thermometer I'm just going to point out that in the center of the pan we're at 450 so that's totally fine now we're going to add avocado oil and the reason we're doing avocado oil is it has the hottest smoke point high in any of the oils so I'm going to put a good dollop of that up to lift the pan make sure I have a heat protective mitt make sure there's a nice coating all around now we're going to drop our test steaks so we can.

We'll let them rest for about three or four minutes until we get that dipping reaction that caramelizes the bottom of these steaks. Now we will flip them. Let them sit for another three to four minutes until the internal temperature hits 130 and then we'll do it. peel them off and we know they're done so for our garlic cloves we just have one f How many whole clothes here we wouldn't have this skin completely we just peeled it off and we're just going to cover it with a chef's knife here and that's just going to release some of flavor and we'll throw it in the pan later like this, now we're going to flip these big ones, oh look at that, and now we're going to add butter to be generous with the amount of butter you're adding here, now we're going to add that. garlic that we just shredded we're going to add a little rosemary here as well just for flavor and we stir it in a bit before tossing it in the past now once with the melted butter we're just going to want to base this on the steaks it keeps them nice and juicy adds a little bit of extra flavor to the steak you get the rosemary goodness the garlic goodness the butter everything just by basting the top of the steak here so it's amazing ok let them last a little longer all right let's do some contact here we're looking at 125 at 130, that's about 130, right? here 130 1:31 it's also time to take the boss of the steak just look at it perfect so he has the steak that we're going to season later look that's fake we season it right before we put it in the pan and then the steak that we season an hour before we put in the pan so we're going to wrap them up let's give them 10 minutes to rest and cut them up so we've had this slightly lay out we also put a little bit of butter right on top of each of these while they're resting so they'll melt now this is the steak we have yet to season this is the one we did just before and this is the one that was an hour before and looking at the crust i actually think the best crust is the state we seasoned first the one we seasoned just before the right before putting it in the pan it still looks like maybe some of the

salt

and pepper was burned off, it hadn't actually fully dissolved and absorbed into the steak, but let's cut these out and just see how they turned out. tado so they all seem to have a very similar level of don enness so no difference in doneness but we're going to season this one put in some fresh sea salt some freshly ground pepper now we're going to give these guys a taste test starting from right to left hmm um really taste the realistic crunch and buttery garlic the rosemary mmm dutch textbook very well done the seasoning didn't really have a chance to soak into the steak, so you can really taste the full salt chunks that are still right on the surface it feels like it's a different kind of seasoning maybe you know some people might like it better but it's still my preference to actually have the seasoning sitting on the steak for a while now let's do the last taste test here yeah I'm not a fan of that You can really taste the super present salt super forward just like the pepper.

I think you'll be better off this season either immediately before the pan or an hour before just to let it absorb. I don't think there is a difference. Once in the crust there was no difference in doneness so there you have it folks. I'm going to reward the winner with the seasoning an hour before I throw it in the pan. If you liked this video, please give it a like below. that subscribe button if you'd like to continue joining us on this journey to searing steak and perfect cast iron thanks for tuning in