# Beef in salt crust

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 6, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445 "2003-12-06T22:10:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/1 "2003-12-06T22:10:26Z")

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What is the reason for cooking in this manner?

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### Author: ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/2 "2003-12-07T00:05:14Z")

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Purportedly it’s to retain moisture and to season the meat. It’s hard to do, easy to overcook, you have to use 3 dollars worth of salt, believe me, it’s not worth it.

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### Author: ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/3 "2003-12-07T00:53:11Z")

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This is probably a _really_ dumb question, but does the beef taste incredibly salty?

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### Author: ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/4 "2003-12-07T04:28:24Z")

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I’ve always wondered about that because they do it a lot on Iron Chef and I’ve thought about trying it.

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### Author: ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/5 "2003-12-07T05:16:20Z")

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You have to wrap the meat in something before packing salt onto it. Usually, it’s grape leaves (this is all from iron chef btw). Personally, it seems like a waste of salt to me.

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### Author: ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-in-salt-crust/217445/6 "2003-12-07T12:50:25Z")

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I’ve done this. The meat doesn’t become salty if you do it right. You don’t have to wrap it in grape leaves - but you do have to take it out of the salt bed before it cools off. The meat, when cooking, oozes juices out so the meat doesn’t get too salty. But it was a huge hassle to get the same effect as cooking in a roasting pan using a lid. You just don’t get the drama of having to crack open dinner with a hammer.