Just before cooking or 24-hours in advance. My preferred method is to season the steak generously with salt and pepper then let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator at least overnight or up to 48 hours.
On seasoning:
I salt the surface of the steak liberally and leave it on a drying rack in the fridge for 24 hours before starting to cook – this is called the overnight dry brine. Dry brining in the fridge makes the meat juicer, tastier and dries out the outside which helps to achieve a good crust.
Place your meat in the fridge right after applying the salt. It doesn't need to be covered, but it should be kept in the fridge until about 20 minutes before you're ready to start cooking.
"Most microbes shrivel and die when exposed to salt." He offered estimations for how long to brine whatever you might be cooking: Chicken and pork for 24 hours, steak for two days, turkey for two to three days, and fish for up to an hour. These estimations are more based on flavor than they are on food safety, though.
Been using "dry brine" before grilling for a few years. People always wonder why my steaks taste so good. I found that method a few years ago, and have found you can leave a steak, or roast for up to three weeks under refrigeration with no adverse effect and the taste and texture are absolutely amazing!
It turns out that the shelf life of cured meats is not nearly as long as one might think. And the correct way to store it is not room temperature in the pantry. Even though meats like prosciutto and salami have been cured, they need to be chilled when stored.
Moral of the story: If you've got the time, salt your meat for at least 40 minutes and up to overnight before cooking. If you haven't got 40 minutes, it's better to season immediately before cooking.
When salting steak, it takes at least 40 minutes for all the meat juices to be expelled and then reabsorbed.
Steaks will take on a little of the aroma of other food in the fridge, so it's best to keep the meat away from other produce. Let the steak sit uncovered for two days, allowing air to circulate around it.
While it can last up to two weeks unrefrigerated, salt pork can last for 4-5 months refrigerated and even longer frozen. What is this? Reading the instructions should give you an idea.
When—and how many times—you salt the meat can dramatically impact its taste. A great steak begins with a well-marbled, beefy cut such as rib eye or strip.
You must only season it with salt after it comes off the grill (actually, seasoning with salt even up to a day in advance can help the steak retain more moisture as it cooks). You must let your steak come to room temperature before searing it.
When your raw steak is kept out on the counter, it is left at room temperature. According to the USDA, you should not leave raw steak - or any raw meat - out for more than two hours. If it is a warm day and the ambient temperature is above 90 °F, then the steak shouldn't be kept out for longer than an hour.
Take your steak out of the fridge about 20 minutes before grilling to bring it to room temperature. A freezing-cold steak won't cook evenly. 5. Pare down the tools.
How to rest the meat. Take it from the heat and place it on a warm plate or serving platter. Cover the meat loosely with foil. If you cover it tightly with the foil or wrap it in foil, you will make the hot meat sweat and lose the valuable moisture you are trying to keep in the meat.
It can start to cure and get a leathery texture if left for too long with salt. Prolonged salt soaks are how you make bacon and prosciutto after all. A good trick I learned from Samin Nosrat is to freeze a salted piece of meat if you're not going to use it within 2-3 days.
Salt brings out the full flavor of food, but too much salt can turn beef stew, braised beef or steak on the grill into an unpleasant experience. You can throw out the beef and start again, but before you waste food, try to correct the over-salted beef.
Though many cookbooks rightly warn you never salt meat or poultry right before you put it in the oven– because the salt will draw out the juices and make it dry and tough–the opposite occurs when you salt well in advance of cooking. It all has to do with the behavior of proteins and cell osmosis.
Don't Rinse It Off
Once the dry-brining waiting period is up, there is no need to rinse off the surface of your food. The meat will not be overly salty, and rinsing the surface with water will undo all of the surface-drying achieved by the dry-brine process. That, in turn, will prevent browning.
No, it will help if you do not pat steaks dry after salting. However, if there is excess salt, you can pat steaks dry with a paper towel to remove the excess juice to avoid the salty taste.
Meat and poultry are cleaned during processing, so further washing is not necessary. Never use soaps or detergents on your meat or poultry products. They can contaminate your food with chemicals and make it unsafe to eat.
Most steaks can be left in the fridge safely for 3 to 5 days. If you can't remember how long it's been there, it's probably been in the fridge for too long! Writing a date on the steak when you thaw it or put it in the fridge is best practice so that you don't forget about it and store it for too long.
How long should you rest your beef? It fully depends on the size of the cut of beef but as a guide, bigger roasts should rest for 10-20 minutes and your steak should breathe for at least five minutes. But experiment with what works the best and you'll be cooking mouth-watering, juicy steaks in no time.
The whole process from salting to reabsorption takes around 40-45 minutes. And you want the steak to pull that moisture back in before cooking so it's not dried out. Therefore, the optimal amount of time to give your steak after seasoning and before cooking it on the grill is 40-45 minutes.
On The Grill
Season the steak one hour before cooking, using extra virgin olive oil, fresh ground black pepper, and kosher or sea salt. Leave it at room temperature until cooking. Brush each side with 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil.