A steak, on the other hand, has no such casing to protect it, so is it ok to poke or not? I cooked two steaks of known weight side by side. The first, I carefully turned with tongs each time. The second, I used a fourchette de cuisine that's fancy-pants for one of those two-pronged forks completely indiscriminately, mercilessly though not excessively poking the steak this way and that as I flipped it.
Afterward, I weighed both steaks again. The result? Exactly the same weight loss. The thing is, with steaks, moisture loss is due to one thing: muscle fibers tightening due to the application of heat and squeezing out their liquid. Unless you actually manage to completely pierce or slash these muscle fibers, the moisture they lose is directly proportional to the temperature to which you cook your steak.
A fork is simply not sharp enough to harm muscle fibers in any significant way. Yes, you'll see a minuscule amount of juices seeping their way out of the fork holes, but it's a really negligible amount. Indeed, that's why the many-bladed tenderizing tool known as a Jaccard is able to tenderize your meat without causing it to lose any excess moisture—it separates muscle fibers, but doesn't actually cut them or open them up.
What about that most-shunned of techniques, the old cut-and-peek? Surely, actually slashing a cooking steak open with a knife and looking inside is going to have a detrimental affect on it, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, a knife actually severs muscle fibers, allowing them to leak their contents to the outside world.
But the amount of moisture loss is really very minimal. Cut-and-peek too many times, and you run the risk of shredding your steak. In reality though, one or two peeks won't really be detectable in the end product. But there's a bigger problem with the cut-and-peek method: It's not accurate.
Because of the fact that juices get squeezed out quickly from hot meat, when you cut into the center of a still-hot steak like one that's sitting in the pan , it'll appear to be much rarer than it really is. If you continue to cook your steak until it appears right by the cut-and-peek method, it'll be overcooked by the time you actually eat it.
That thick steaks continue to rise in temperature even after being removed from the pan. What does that mean? It means that if you haven't yet, you should go out and get yourself a good, accurate digital thermometer , duh!
Now that is a steak worth fretting over! Actively scan device characteristics for identification. How to Salt Steak Right.
Just before grilling 3. After grilling Why not any other time? Grilling What Is a Reverse Sear? All the grilling experts are talking about a reverse sear, but what is a reverse sear?
A sear is the process of quick grilling the surface of your steak at high temperatures, so how do you reverse sear? To skip the history lesson, go straight to the 3 ways to reverse sear. Read more. All our grill masters out there have probably tried their hands at dry-aging beef at home.
It's an ancient art that has been reintroduced and refined as a modern technique. But what effect does aging really have on your steak? How do you achieve that succulent, tender steak flavor at home? Otto tells you everything you need to know about dry-aging steak at home and how to grill it perfectly on the Otto Grill.
You can achieve this with a regular charcoal grill or a high-quality gas grill. One of the best options, also favored by famous steakhouses, is to use a grill with infrared burners. Seasoning steaks before grilling brings out the best flavors in the meat. Not only that, but it tenderizes the meat and makes every bite succulent and delectable. Salt may be the most important spice in your cabinet and yet the most misunderstood.
Properly seasoned food does not taste salty! On the contrary, salt is a flavor enhancer that makes the flavor of the food pop. But improper seasoning or over seasoning can make something just taste like salt. When it comes to seasoning steaks, salt works by drawing the moisture out of the meat. The simplest option is to season the meat with salt and pepper immediately before grilling. The salt will quickly cook off, and it will char on the outside of the steak as the heat gets cranked up.
As one famous chef says, those charred crunch bits are what the French call flavor. When you are aiming to grill a perfect steak , you want to let the salt sit on the meat for longer. This is where it gets trickier. If you let it sit for less than an hour, the salt draws moisture out of the meat, which then gets cooked off quickly. This is not the way to go about seasoning a steak. However, given enough time, the salt will dissolve, and the moisture will begin to be reabsorbed into the steak.
The moisture, now combined with the salt, permeates the meat in an even more effective way. The wonderful thing about this technique is that it tenderizes the meat as the moisture is reabsorbed. The result is a moist, juicy, flavorful steak. All salt comes from the sea or mountains, but differences in the refining process make very different products. Not all salts are created equally, so the home chef needs to understand the difference between the types. The main types of salt you will find in the grocery store are table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and Himalayan salt.
Table Salt: Has tiny grains that are uniformly square. It also has iodine added to it, a necessary nutrient that, at one time, many people were deficient in. Some chefs like to salt a steak well in advance of cooking, even up to 24 hours in advance.
Others say salting it right before cooking is best. The main drawback of seasoning in advance is that salt applied to the outside of something tends to pull water from the center of it onto the surface. If the thing in question happens to be a steak, it will necessarily be less juicy. In fact, any steak you hold in the fridge, salt or no salt, is going to lose juices overnight.
Another drawback is that it extends your prep time. Seasoning your steaks 24 hours in advance of cooking, means you're in the kitchen 24 hours before dinner working with the steaks. You also need to make room in your fridge for these steaks for an additional 24 hours. If you're ok with starting early and want to give this method a try, here's how: Pat the meat dry with paper towels and sprinkle both sides of the steaks generously with Kosher salt.
Be sure to get the salt on the edges of the steaks as well. Press the salt crystals into the meat with your hands. Transfer the steaks to cooling racks with a sheet pan or cookie sheet underneath, cover the whole tray with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge, for up to 24 hours.
Take them out about 30 minutes before cooking, pat them dry again with paper towels because the salt will pull out some juices , season with freshly ground black pepper press the pepper into the meat as you did with the salt , and then grill as you normally would.
The reason to pat them is that a dry steak will form a browner crust when it's cooked. If you're salting right before cooking, let the steaks sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, sprinkle both sides and the edges generously with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Press the salt crystals and pepper granules into the meat.
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