How To Make Tender, Juicy Steaks With One Secret Ingredient
What more could you ask for, really, So what IS the simple secret behind this trick, The more I learn about cooking, the more I come to realize that the secret is almost always salt. Yes, salting your steaks for one hour before cooking them will cause a miraculous transformation!
From chewy and tough, to tender and juicy. But not just ANY salt will do! You need to use a coarse sea salt or kosher salt. Coarse salt helps to break down the proteins and muscle fibers in the meat, resulting in maximum tenderness. I’m getting hungry already! Salt is an interesting substance that can do a lot of different things to the food we eat. You may well be wondering, “I thought salt dried stuff out, ” And you’d be right! When using salt in the kitchen, it’s all about the timing.
Over a short period of time (like an hour or even up to overnight,) a layer of coarse salt on a steak will draw out some of the meat’s natural juices. The juices will dissolve the salt, creating a brine. Most of the brine will then be reabsorbed, where it will tenderize and flavor the meat.
If left for a longer period of time (like weeks to months,) the salt would slowly pull all of the moisture out of the meat, curing and preserving it in the process. To properly tenderize a steak, lay the steak out on a plate and cover each side with approximately 1 teaspoon of kosher/sea salt before cooking. Use your fingers to gently work the salt granules into the surface, breaking down the fibers of the meat.
Let the steak sit with this covering of salt for 45 minutes to an hour. Longer for thicker cuts. I’ve written a few different posts about Command strips, hooks, and other products over the past few years. After the waiting period, rinse the salt off your steaks under cool running water.
Use some paper towels to pat your steaks until they are good and dry, so you can get the delicious, crispy sear you want. If you don’t pat them dry, you’re basically steaming the meat, and steamed meat is bland and less flavorful. Season as desired, then grill until desired doneness. Serve and sit back and enjoy the happy faces around the dinner table.
They can save you a bundle. 4 a yard. Here is a caveat about clearance fabric — check it carefully! Make sure there are no stains, tears, or other problems with it. Once you have made your selection, choose a spool of matching thread. If you have purchased an all-cotton or cotton blend, you will need to pre-shrink your fabric.
This simply means getting it wet (easy to do in the washer) and drying it in the dryer. This prevents your curtains from shrinking or puckering if you wash them later. Before washing, I like to run a stitch along the cut ends, to prevent excessive unraveling in the washer.
Once dry, also iron the fabric. It needs to be wrinkle free when cutting and sewing for greatest accuracy. With your measurements handy, lay out your fabric on your table or work area. Measure twice, and cut once! After cutting out the pieces, I mark the hems with a fabric marker or pencil, drawing a line the length of each side of the fabric, to aide in making a straight hem.
