Just realized I was over-seasoning cheap cuts of meat

Cooked chuck roast for years. Always loaded it with salt and pepper before searing. Came out tough every time. Then a butcher at my local market told me, "You're drawing out all the moisture before it even hits the pan." Now I season right after searing and use a $2 dry rub instead. Meat comes out way more tender for half the effort. Anyone else ruin cheap meat this way?

2 comments

2 Comments

sam_rivera23d ago

yeah @the_sean nailed it with the 12 hour salt thing. what i started doing is salting my chuck roasts the night before and just leaving them uncovered in the fridge. gets the salt deep but the surface dries out which helps the sear. way better than seasoning right before or after. also found out that cheap cuts like chuck actually do better with a longer slower cook even after searing, not a hot blast. so i do the salt trick, sear hot maybe 2 mins each side, then throw it in a 300 degree oven for like 3 hours. comes out fork tender every time now. the moisture thing is real but timing is everything.

the_sean23d ago

Had a similar issue with chuck roasts for years... turns out I was also using too high a heat. The butcher's tip about seasoning after searing is solid, but you might wanna try salting like 12 hours ahead instead of right before. That lets the salt actually get into the meat without pulling moisture out during cooking. I do that with my shoulder cuts now and it made a bigger difference than switching to a dry rub.

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