Sous Vide and Salt
In the past we have treated sous vide cooking and salting similar to traditional methods, where you salt before the cooking process. However, some new findings are showing that at the long times and low temperatures involved in sous vide the salting can actually make the meat less juicy.
The main reason salt makes meat less juicy is because it begins to cure the meat, denaturing the proteins, and drawing out moisture. This results in dry meat, one of the common complaints for long-cooked sous vide beef.
This is especially apparent in red meat that is cooked for a long amount of time (greater than 4 or 5 hours) or meat that is a part of the cook, chill, and hold process.
During our tests we've found mixed results. The no-salt version was definitely juicier, there was less liquid in the bag, and the liquid was more clear. However, the salted version seemed to have a beefier flavor. We did the tests on a chuck steak, tasted after cooking for 4, 24, and 48 hours. Chuck steaks are very juicy in general and we plan to try more tests with a leaner cut such as eye of round to see if the difference is more pronounced.
At any rate, the decision to pre- or post-salt is one more variable to keep in mind as you cook sous vide meals. When cooking red meats for long periods of time or using the cook, chill, and hold process we now recommend not salting until after the meat comes out of the pouches and is ready for searing. We also encourage you to experiment and
share your findings with us.
For more information about salting and sous vide check out the great posts by Ideas in Food
Corrective Seasoning: Chasing Juicy and the French Culinary Institute:
To Salt or Not To Salt –That’s the Searing Question.
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