When it comes to grilling, smoking or cooking steaks, there is something to be said for simplicity! A good quality steak should already have a lot of flavor thanks to marbling, fat and the meat itself. It just takes a little seasoning to enhance the meat’s natural flavors. That’s where sea salt comes in.
While both professional chefs and home cooks alike often are generous with seasoning their steaks, the simple use of sea salt is enough to truly bring forth the taste of the steak without just masking it with other flavors of herbs and spices. Choice and quality of the sea salt makes all the difference, too. True Salt Co. suggests its kosher grain salt for seasoning steaks. Kosher salt is typically the most commonly used salt grain for cooking and works well very well on steaks of varying cuts. True Salt Co. offers the following tips for seasoning and cooking steaks with only sea salt:
1. Set It and Forget It (…for about 30 minutes)
One of the best-kept secrets for cooking a perfect steak is to allow the meat to come to about room temperature prior to cooking. After the first 10 minutes or so that the meat has been out resting, season it generously on both side with the kosher sea salt. This will begin the “sweating process.” Salting the steaks pulls moisture from the meat and coats itself with these water soluble proteins. The result of this process is a steak that has a caramelized “crust” that locks in juices.
2. Don’t Over Do It
While the doneness of a steak is truly subjective to each person, True Salt encourages cooks to try everything from rare to well done to discover the variety of tastes and textures that each doneness provides.
3. Let It Rest (again)
Once the steak has been cooked to desired doneness, allow the meat to rest once again before cooking and serving — for about five to 10 minutes. This period allows the moisture in the meat to settle and intermingle back into the proteins within itself, therefore resulting in a juicy, tasty steak. If a steak is cut into immediately after it’s pulled from a hot surface, the moisture will not have time to slow down and disperse back into the proteins —and those yummy juices will simply come running out. During this resting time, the meat can be covered in foil to lock in heat as well. After resting, finishing the steak with a dash of flake sea salt is the perfect way to top it before serving.
True Salt Co. reminds chefs and cooks that sometimes simplicity truly reigns supreme in the kitchen. Keeping things simple not only allows the main ingredient’s natural flavors to shine through, it also allows it to take on just one main flavor enhancer — in this case, pure, natural sea salt.