The idea of salting the meat before cooking doesn’t only have a taste purpose, it is also about tenderness. And on that matter, all chefs don’t agree. Old believes stay strong. Some say meat needs to be salted in advance. But how long? Minutes, hours, days? Some argue that it makes it tougher and salt has to be added only once cooked. Some would salt the pan and lay the steak on it. Experiences have been conducted with nearly a scientific protocol and light has been put on what really happens during the salting process.
Meat is basically the muscle of the animal. And those muscles are made of fibers. Salting the meat has a tenderizing effect by helping those fibers to relax. But not only. Salt has also an hydrating effect. It helps the cell to hold on water. Salting only few minutes before cooking doesn’t allow that process and it is now more and more commonly admitted that the meat has to be salted at least an hour before being cooked to let that double process happen and have any effects on it.
In Argentina, the role of the asador is to make sure the fire is going and that the meat is ready to be cooked. And part of that meat preparation is salting it. Unlike many Argentinian chefs who would use coarse salt, Luis always salts his steaks about 3 hours in advance with fine salt. According to him, it penetrates deeper and more evenly into the meat. The perfect way to have a tender well-flavored steak. And those are the words of somebody who has prepared more than 1000 asados…
Steak Buenos Aires 