# Salt drawing juices out of meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151 "2010-01-08T13:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/21 "2010-01-10T05:24:38Z")
Hungry, again. This is as bad as cooking channels! If you want juices to stay where they are in the meat, don’t forget to let it rest after cooking. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/22 "2010-01-10T05:37:00Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Hungry, again. This is as bad as cooking channels! > > If you want juices to stay where they are in the meat, don’t forget to let it rest after cooking. Sir, you contradict yourself. I am starving, cooking on the grill, and you want me to _wait_ to eat the beautiful, rare, bleeding, luscious pink meat? Fie Sir, Fie! ---
**Author:** ![luxiia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8baadc/32.png) [@luxiia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luxiia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/23 "2010-01-10T06:21:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Alton Brown suggests cooking the roast at a low temperature (250º?) until its internal temperature is 128º, and then roasting at 500º for the nice crusty layer – which is the opposite of the way I (and most people) cook a roast. He does it the way we’d expect [here](http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/holidays_and_parties/channel/0,1000341,FOOD_32087_11828,00.html), for a turkey - roasting at 500 degrees, and then lowering. Combined with the “breast plate” and the brine, as I tried this year, it made for one ridiculously tender bird. 🙂 ETA: The Maillard Reaction, as I understand it, draws carbs/sugars to the surface, thus creating the brown crust. Again, nothing to do with the juice, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Maillard\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Maillard\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maillard_Duck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/24 "2010-01-10T06:48:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Alton Brown suggests cooking the roast at a low temperature (250º?) until its internal temperature is 128º, and then roasting at 500º for the nice crusty layer – which is the opposite of the way I (and most people) cook a roast. Cooks Illustrated has a great method for cooking thick-cut steaks that is similar. (I’m sure that others came up with it first, but I read about it in Cooks Illustrated.) You put the raw steaks in a low (275 F) oven for about 20 minutes, until they are just a bit below the desired final internal temperature. Then you sear them really fast in a really hot pan. It’s the opposite of the conventional wisdom, but the result is a juicy steak that is precisely the right temperature throughout. There’s no band of overcooked meat between the seared outside and the center. But mostly I just throw steaks on the grill, which is pretty damned tasty, too. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/25 "2010-01-10T16:07:46Z")
> [@JustThinkin](#): > > The way I understand it, from Cooks Illustrated, is that salt draws moisture out of the meat and dissolves the salt. If you leave it on long enough, the now-salty moisture gets pulled back into the meat, seasoning the meat very nicely. Brining works the same way, I think. It works for me. I came in here to mention this, which I also read in Cooks Illustrated. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/26 "2010-01-12T14:34:42Z")
I tried the method from the previous thread, salting the hell out of a cheaper steak, giving it a quick rinse, and cooking it. I ended up with an incredibly salty piece of meat. What did I do wrong? Has anyone else tried it and had this problem? ---
**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:** [January 12, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/27 "2010-01-12T14:58:29Z")
I salted both sides of a huge sirloin with kosher salt for an hour, washed it off and grilled it. Mrs. Plant loved it. One edge of mine was salty, I think I should have washed it better. Mine was tender, but I eat it rare, so I don’t believe it to be a good test. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151/28 "2010-01-12T15:00:07Z")
Again with the _Cooks Illustrated_. I think their point was tthat the amount of salt is important. Too much and you are drawing out mosture, too little and oyu do nothing. Just the right amount, over time, will draw out some mosture which will then be drawn back into the meat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-drawing-juices-out-of-meat/524151.md?page=1)