Salt steaks before or after grilling?

Steaks and schnitzel top the hit list when grilling. Salt and pepper are almost always part of seasoning meat. In the main season of barbecuing, one or two hobby grill masters ask themselves again: Salt meat before or after roasting? A question that divides the mind and leads to heated discussions again and again. It is clear that salt can remove moisture from food because water travels to where the salt concentration is higher. Chemically, this process is called "osmosis".

So first a small osmosis refresher course: If there are solutions with different salt concentrations on both sides of a semipermeable membrane, then water flows through the membrane to the salty side to balance the concentration. Semipermeable means semi-permeable: this membrane - in this case the cell walls of the piece of meat - is permeable only for the solvent water, but not for the substances dissolved in it, i.e. salts.

What does that mean for meat? First of all, nothing. What is desired is an end product that is tender and juicy on the inside, crisp and aromatic on the outside. This has a lot more to do with meat quality and proper preparation; the use of salt is of secondary importance. Finally, you can grill a completely unseasoned piece of meat.

If you salt the meat just before grilling (or roasting), nothing will happen - the osmosis process does not run that quickly. The salt remains on the surface without dissolving. Professionals recommend a somewhat coarser salt for this. It is enclosed in the crust when grilling / roasting, thus creating a certain bite feel - crunch (English = crunch, crunch) - and gives the meat a depth of taste that can be greater than if the meat is salted afterwards. The meat juices remain in the muscle fibers, the meat remains juicy.

If you salt the steak about 15 minutes before grilling, you can see that moisture gradually forms on the surface; the osmosis begins its work. After another 10 to 15 minutes, however, the moisture will have disappeared again. Salt has a swelling and loosening effect on the muscle proteins in the meat, which ultimately leads to an increased water retention capacity of the meat. As a result, this means that the meat does not become dry or tough. Many cooks even swear by salting the meat twelve hours before it is cooked.

Salting after grilling is perhaps a puristic approach: The meat no longer takes on the salty taste, since there is little to no residual moisture on the surface to which the salt can bind. The aromas only come together on the palate. But that can also be attractive. On the one hand, you will only use as much salt as is absolutely necessary, almost as a finish without dominating the meat aroma. On the other hand, one could use a salt specialty in which some meat sommeliers would consider it a crime to grill them because the specific aroma would be lost.

And the moral of the story'? It will likely remain an issue forever. The fact is, there is no right or wrong, it is a matter of taste when the steak is best seasoned. In any case, drying out the piece of meat is not to be feared with either method.

By the way, pepper, of course freshly ground from the mill or crushed, or whole green peppercorns and possibly other spices, only come onto the meat after grilling; otherwise they would burn and become bitter.

Rüdiger Lobitz, www.bzfe.de