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September 11, 2007
Tampa Bay, Fla.,, food blogger and modern Asian cooking teacher Jaden Hair tosses out How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks.
She offers the techique, the science and the experimental results of four months of steak twice a week.
The secret:
Massively salt your steaks 1 hour before grilling.
Notice that I didn’t say, "sprinkle liberally" or even "season generously." I’m talking about taking a small handful of kosher salt and literally coating your meat until you can’t see red.
It should resemble a salt lick.
Let that meat be totally overwhelmed with the salt for 1 hour. Rinse, pat dry dry dry and then you’re ready to grill.
Before y’all throw a hissy fit, just hear me out...
We need to try this, see if it works. Any volunteers?
Posted by Sheila Lennon 
at 1:19 AM to Beef
, Tailgating
| Permalink
Sheila, I saw this recipe on Jaden's blog a couple of weeks ago and tried it last weekend. The resulting (cheap) cut was juicy and amazingly tender. Jaden knows her stuff!
Posted by: Jill on September 12, 2007 1:38 PM
Thanks, Jill.
Good to know. And it wasn't extra salty?
Posted by: Sheila Lennon on September 12, 2007 2:28 PM
I tried it last night. Took a top round and cut it in two. One I salted for an hour; the other I left alone. The look and texture was definitely different the salted piece looked darker, almost brown. Kind of like a dry aged steak (and I suppose that is the point). Two issues I came across: One was that it indeed tasted very salty. Not sure if I didn't do a good enough job rinsing. Also, I cooked both pieces for the same time, but the salted piece turned out overdone (the unsalted was med-to med rare whereas the salted was med to well), though admittedly still pretty tender, so maybe there is something to that.
Posted by: Jon on September 12, 2007 4:43 PM
N.B. The cut I used was actually top loin, not top round.
Posted by: Jon on September 13, 2007 2:50 PM
I just waded through all the comments at jaden's blog. Many thought it too salty, many didn't.
One who didn't: "We made steak last night and it was so incredibly juicy. I think he only let the salt sit for half hour. The salt was perfect - maybe the key is not let it salt for that long."
The steak also has to be thick, Jaden reiterated.
Posted by: Sheila on September 13, 2007 3:10 PM
Mine wasn't too salty at all, and I don't add salt to many things I cook. I was afraid of it being salty, so I did rinse it rather obsessively, maybe that's the difference? Worth a try, though!
Posted by: Jill on September 19, 2007 2:06 PM
Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published.
