When to Salt Steak: Before or After Cooking?

The oldest argument at the barbecue has a simple answer

Before, during or after: everybody has a firm view. The answer depends on two things only, the thickness of the cut and how much time you have. To see why, follow what happens to a salted steak on the worktop.

What salt does, minute by minute

1. At once. Salt starts drawing water out of the surface by osmosis.
2. The first minutes. That water sits on the outside and the steak looks as if it is sweating. Put it on the fire like this and it will not sear; it boils in its own moisture.
3. From about 40 minutes. The brine that formed on the surface goes back into the meat and takes the salt with it, seasoning the steak inside as well as out. The surface dries again and is ready to take a crust.

Hence the rule: salt just before, or salt well ahead. What does not work is the middle ground.

The practical rule, cut by cut

The Spanish names are the ones on the label or at the counter; the full list is in our guide to beef cuts in Spanish.

For a chuletón the timing takes care of itself. The steak needs an hour out of the fridge before it goes on the fire, and that hour is exactly what the salt needs too, so salt it when you take it out. The rest of the method is in how to grill a chuletón. If you do not have the hour, salt it as it goes on and ignore every timing in between. The secreto, presa and pluma in the last row are explained on our Ibérico pork page.

Which salt: three words on a Spanish shelf

• Sal gruesa, coarse salt. The one for the grill. It stays on the surface, melts slowly and builds a crust.
• Sal en escamas, flaky sea salt of the Maldon kind. Keep it for the end, scattered over the meat once it is sliced. There it earns its place, because it crunches.
• Sal fina, fine table salt. It dissolves instantly and you oversalt without noticing. Leave it for the pasta water.

How much salt

More than you think. A 1 kg steak takes a scant handful of coarse salt spread over both sides: about 10 g. It looks like far too much and it is not, because most of it falls off on the grill and what stays on barely seasons the inside.

Salt both faces and the edge of fat as well. The fat is where it is needed most.

And the pepper

Pepper burns. At the temperature of a hot charcoal fire it turns bitter and masks the flavour of the beef. Add it as the steak comes off the heat, freshly ground, never before. If you want it in the crust, grind it coarse and accept that some of it will scorch.

Salt is one decision out of three

A well-salted steak can still be spoiled at the other end. Take it off at the right core temperature, 52 °C (126 °F) for medium-rare, as set out in our doneness guide, and rest it before slicing. The flaky salt goes on after that, over the cut faces, where you can taste it.