After years of experimenting with salting techniques and rubs for strip steaks (1.5 inches thick), I finally decided to turn to the experts for guidance. Do I dry brine (I.e., salt in advance) and if I do, do I eliminate the rub to avoid over salting? Do I apply a steak rub instead of dry brining and if so, when and how much? There is a lot of conflicting advice out there....Help!!
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Well, My Good Sir, I'll toss in my ¢2, an won't even bill yer card, bein's how yer family, up in here...
Strips are arguably still my favourite steak, historically, which entails a handfulla decades, or so of preference trend....
Matter of fact, they's on sale, $5.99 Choice, hereabouts, Family Pack...
Oops, I jus referenced above, an realized ya were solicitin advice from 'Th Experts', so never mind me...
They'll be along, shortly, I'd haveta reckon, if I'm any kinda judge of such things...
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Won’t tell you how to eat yer steak, just won’t. That’s yer business. I don’t use any rub or sauce on a steak, unless I’ve got some mushrooms in some oil or onions in butter, lots of it. Practically all of my rubs are made, so there is no salt in any of them for anything. Cuz I put them on just before the cook. The salt on the other hand, with a steak, can work over night, I usually do 4 hrs before or 45 or so min. I keep it simple. Simply salt & pepper on a steak, oh & the butter. My two cent & Bonsey’s two make you not a rich man. Eat good & have fun.Comment
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Between you and Mr. Bones I come up with 3 cents. Wuh? How did that work?
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As with most things, and not just food, taste is very personal and subjective. Whatever works for you is right! My preference for steaks is to dry brine, no rub, just some pepper. I really never use store bought rubs on anything, and if I do, I try to make sure that it contains no salt.Comment
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My preference is a dry brine overnight and I’m lazy so I add the no salt dry rub at the same time because it’s still wet and it sticks.
If no no planning involved. Just salt, rub and go.Comment
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Simply use/make a rub with no or low salt. The most important part is to let us know how it turned out so we can all add that to our bag of tricks.Comment
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Whatever makes your boat float.
But since you asked. I Salt the S@&$ out of mine and slap it on. I rarely use rub on a steak unless it’s for tacos or something.
a little salt in a rub is necessary IMHO. I say I don’t add salt to my rubs but I always add a little.
Some dry brine time won’t hurt.Comment
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My .02 (you should have enough in your piggy bank to buy some nice steaks to experiment with by the time this thread is done lol) is to dry brine the night before if possible, then sprinkle liberally with a seasoning (hesitate to call it a rub, because in my mind it’s not; more on this below) like Chicago or Montreal Steak Seasoning just before I kick off the coals.
The trick, in my mind anyway, with this is the same trick much of grilling and smoking - time. When you dry brine, if you give it enough time, remember what the salt is doing - traveling INTO and all through the meat. Getting it all through the meat dilutes the TASTE of that salt... if you don’t go heinously overboard with the salt when dry brining, you can’t even taste it in the meat.
On the other hand, the short amount of time the steak seasoning sits ON (key word there, ON, not IN) the meat doesn’t give any salt that may be in the seasoning time to absorb and dilute, so you do get SOME salty flavor from that... which is good, because YUM! 👍
Grill on my friend, grill on!!😃🙌Comment
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I like to dry brine, whether with just salt or with a salted steak seasoning/rub as the dry brine. Sometimes it's just an hour, sometimes it's the morning of the cook. Every once in a while I don't have time to dry brine, and they turn out fine then too
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HouseHomey Yes, that was the question. Biskets, always 24hrs-ish, or more. Butts, at least the night before. For me.
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I always dry-brine my NY strip steaks. The rub typically is just cracked pepper and sometimes I'll throw in a bit of garlic powder. If a good strip is cooked to medium rare with a good sear it has plenty of wonderful flavor all on its own.Comment
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Here we try to dry brine at least 4 hours before and at the cook hit it with just black pepper, or Montreal seasoning. I always make my Montreal without salt so I can always apply it without worrying about any salt issues.Comment
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When you sear a steak, you will burn most of the rub off, especially a rub that has sugar. I do like to dry brine and use some pepper which seems to stand up to a sear.Comment
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I second this very sage advice. Experiment (it's fun!) and develop what works for you. Even the failures can result in some fine eating.Originally posted by pkadare View PostComment
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I like to dry brine my steaks the day before I cook them. I've never used a rub on a strip steak.Comment
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I'm not so great a planner, so just some 4 seasons salt blend (Salt, pepper, garlic salt, cayenne... but mostly salt) right before it goes on the grill. Just on enough to get the surface wet, which improves smoke adherence... This is for reverse sear, obviously.
I do a lot of them sous vide before sear, so then it might be some salt with the steak in the bag, and then a bit of extra before the sear. Or some Jack Stack Steak Rub (because my wife got it for me and I want to finish it... so I've been rubbing a lot of steaks).Comment
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