So after weeks of coming back to the culinary wonder that is Steamy Kitchen, I decided to give it a go. The basic idea is to salt the crap out of your steaks for up to an hour before grilling, as it draws out water, soaks in salt, gets yummy. After letting them sit with salt, you completely wash them off with water, dry them completely, season with some ground pepper...NO MORE SALT...and then prepare like normal. Steamy Kitchen details the process wonderfully, and even gives a humorous scientific explanation, and on the last page, a great reference graph to help with timing and measurements.
Sooo...I salted my 1 1/2 inch NY Strips with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (Note: This only works with kosher or sea salt, sorry cheapos, now go buy some good salt.), and I let them sit for about 50 minutes. First off, yes, they totally looked like a salt lick, and I kept coming back to them every 10 minutes to see how the process was coming along, and by darn it, they were oozing water. Osmosis really does work! Maybe if they would have taught me this in school using a steak, I would have totally passed science. I could grasp any concept as long as it involved a steak.
Anyways, here is a picture (excuse the quality, I was without my camera, and only had my cell phone) of just how salty yours should look. Let this picture reassure you you are not ruining your blah steaks with a horrendous amount of salt, relax, it is supposed to look like this.
After 50 minutes was up, I washed them off in the sink, dryed them off, sprinkled them with some fresh ground black pepper, and grilled them up.
The verdict...Best steak I ever made. Not at all too salty, in fact, perfectly seasoned, tender, and like butt-ah, I tell ya! A big stick of butt-ah!
6 comments:
I am not a big steak person...but I hear this is also a great way to prepare fish...I gotta try it.
I am SO trying this!
You have me convinced!
I am sooooooo gonna try this! Sounds great!
Jenn...I have never heard of doing this with fish, but we are big fish eaters, and now I am anxious to give it a go! Thanks!
And yes, you must all try it. I was thoroughly impressed with my success, but I do recommend going through and reading the whole process. Just to get things measured and timed out correctly.
Delicious red meat for all!
That sounds awesome!! Also, that has to be the best cell phone picture ever taken!
I love it! I can't wait to try it - salt is really sort of an amazing spice. I knew that you could do this with fish, but hadn't thought of steak. Does anyone know if it would work with pork, lamb, chicken or the like?
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